May 2

In this episode of the Football History Headlines, we discuss some May 2 events for John Elway, Earl Campbell and James Lofton as well as many more HOF Legendary stories.

May 2, 1978 - The first pick in the 1978 NFL Draft by the Houston Oilers was Earl Campbell from University of Texas. Campbell had a remarkable career in the NFL and was eventually enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1991. Other members of the 1978 Draft class that have joined him in Canton according to the Pro Football Reference website are Stanford wide receiver James Lofton who was picked 6th in that draft by the Green Bay Packers and Alabama tight end Ozzie Newsome was chosen by the Browns at the 23rd  overall selection.

May 2, 1983 - Elway traded to Broncos
Back on April 26, 1983 we discussed the 1983 NFL Draft as Stanford University quarterback John Elway was the first pick by the Baltimore Colts. The Colts were not able to work out a deal with their player of choice prior to the Draft and allegedly turned down multiple trade offers for the spot and still decided to choose Stanford QB. Elway made it no secret that he did not want to play for Baltimore and said so in multiple quotes. He even threatened to play baseball instead playing with the Colts unless he was traded to a West Coast team. The Colts kept trying to work out a deal with Elway and then finally on May 2nd, over a week after the Draft this headline came out in the St. Joseph News-Press via the New York Times News Service, “Colts send Elway to Broncos.” The article says that for the rights of Elway the Colts received the Broncos top pick in the Draft, Chris Hinton, a guard from Northwestern who was the fourth overall pick in the 1983 NFL Draft. The Blue Horseshoe also took 3rd year quarterback Mark Hermann from Denver as well as the Broncos 1984 1st round pick. Elway was excited to be headed for Denver and with the trade devoted himself to the NFL forgoing the earlier threats of MLB. What a career he had with Denver. Elway took the Broncos to five Super Bowl games, winning two Titles and was selected to the Pro Bowl 9 times in his career. Elway was also inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in the 2000 class and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004. 

May 2 was indeed a big day in the career of John Elway as on 
May 2, 1999 he announced his retirement from the NFL.

Here are the bios on some birthday boys that are either in the College Football Hall of Fame or the Pro Football Hall of Fame that were born on this day. There is plenty more about them to read by either clicking their high-lighted name or at the top of this page clicking the "On This Day in Football History" and going to May 2 Football History.

May 2, 1887 -  St. Louis, Missouri - The halfback from Texas A&M from 1905 to 1907 Joe Utay was born.  The College Football Hall of Fame proudly placed a display in honor of Joe Utay into their legendary museum in 1974.

May 2, 1945 - Fort Worth, Texas - The Arkansas Razorbacks tackle from 1964 through the 1966 season, Loyd Phillips arrived into the world.  Phillips was honored with induction into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1992 after the National Football Foundation tallied their votes.

May 2, 1955 - Mineral Wells, Texas - Richard Ritchie the Texas A&I Quarterback from 1973 to 1976 was born. The National Football Foundation selected Richard Ritchie for entrance into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1998. 

The picture in the banner above is from the US Library of Congress' collection and was contributed by Carol M. Highsmith circa 2014 and is titled " Game images from a contest between the National Football League Dallas Cowboys and the Denver Broncos at the Cowboys' home field AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas ."