In honor of their 102th Founder’s Day, our close friends over at The Shadow League are honoring the 12 greatest members of Phi Beta Sigma to ever play football.
Please check out the list and then tell us if your thoughts about it in the comment section below!
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12. ALEX BROWN – A two-time All-American at the University of Florida, Brown was selected to Sports Illustrated’s All-Pro team in 2005 after recording 75 tackles, six sacks and breaking up eight passes, in addition to forcing three fumbles. His 43½ sacks are fourth all time in Chicago Bears history.
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11. HUGH DOUGLAS – Douglas was the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year in 1995 and a two-time All-Pro selection. He ranks fourth on the Philadelphia Eagles’ all-time sack list, behind the great Reggie White (124), Trent Cole (85.5), and Clyde Simmons (76.5), with 54.5 during his six seasons with the team.
10. BRAYLON EDWARDS – A unanimous All-American at the University of Michigan, Edwards was the first receiver in Big Ten Conference history to record three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. Picked by the Browns with the third overall selection in the 2005 NFL Draft, he made his first Pro Bowl in 2007, becoming the first Cleveland receiver to do so in almost 20 years.
He set a franchise record with 1,289 receiving yards and 16 touchdown catches that year. Off the field, he pledged in 2007 to pay the college tuitions for 101 Cleveland high school students if they maintained a GPA of 2.5 or higher and actively engaged in community service.
9. WILLIS MCGAHEE – One of the greatest running backs in the history of college football, (What’chu talkin’ bout) Willis owns the University of Miami single-season all-purpose yardage record with 2,108, which he set in 2002.
A Heisman Trophy finalist, his Hurricanes team is widely regarded as the best NCAA Division I squad of all time. A two-time NFL Pro Bowler despite a gruesome knee injury during his final college game, he played for the Bills, Ravens, Browns and Broncos over his 12-year career.
8. BUBBA PARIS – The father of Courtney and Ashley Paris, who are the greatest twins to ever play women’s basketball, Bubba was an academic and football All-American at the University of Michigan. The massive offensive lineman won three Super Bowls in 1984, 1988 and 1989 with the San Francisco 49’ers.
7. BEN COATES – Coates didn’t begin playing football until his senior year in high school and wasn’t on anybody’s radar when the Patriots picked him in the fifth round of the 1991 NFL Draft out of North Carolina’s Livingstone College.
(Photo Credit: patriots.com)
He became Bill Parcells’ next coming of Mark Bavaro during his third season. 1994 was his breakout year when he caught 96 passes, which was the most that a tight end had ever caught in a single season, beginning a string of five consecutive Pro Bowl appearances. He won a Super Bowl with the Ravens in 2000 and is a member of the NFL’s 1990’s All-Decades Team.
6. RICHARD SHERMAN – In addition to being better at life than you, Sherman was a wide receiver and a cornerback at Stanford. If Tom Brady is one of the biggest steals ever in the NFL Draft, then so is Sherman, who was taken in the fifth round in 2011.
Considered by many to be the best secondary player in the league today, the only active player with more interceptions right now is Denver’s Aqib Talib. The loquacious, hilarious, driven native of Compton, California has been a three-time First Team All-Pro, owns a Super Bowl ring and was the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2014. You Mad Bro?
Click here to see video about what he said when asked about Phi Beta Sigma.
5. CLAUDE HUMPHREY – The third overall draft pick of the Atlanta Falcons out of Tennessee State in 1968, Humphrey was a five-time First Team All-Pro. Over his twelve years with the Falcons and the Eagles, he accumulated 126 ½ sacks and helped Philadelphia advance to Super Bowl XV. Ya’ll might know him as Big John The Counterfeiter from the Repo Men episode of The Dukes of Hazzard.
(Photo Credit: atlantafalcons.com)
4. L.C. GREENWOOD – A 6-foot-6 defensive end, Greenwood is one of the greatest defenders in the illustrious history of the Steelers franchise. A member of the ferocious Steel Curtain, he was a six-time Pro Bowler and four-time Super Bowl champion. In Super Bowl X, he sacked Cowboys QB Roger Staubach four times in Pittsburgh’s 21-17 victory. Greenwood is one of the most glaring omissions from the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
(Photo Credit: stillcurtain.com)
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