Welcome to part four of our study looking at the NFL All-Decade Teams. Today, we look at the 1950s.

Offense:

Position	Player Name:	Team(s):	College Attended:	In Hall of Fame?
Quarterback	Otto Graham	Cleveland Browns	Northwestern	Yes
	Norm Van Brocklin	Los Angeles Rams Philadelphia Eagles	Oregon	Yes
	Bobby Layne	Detroit Lions Pittsburgh Steelers	Texas	Yes
Running back	Frank Gifford	New York Giants	Southern California	Yes
	Ollie Matson	Chicago Cardinals Los Angeles Rams	San Francisco	Yes
	Hugh McElhenny	San Francisco 49ers	Washington	Yes
	Lenny Moore	Baltimore Colts	Penn State	Yes
Fullback	Alan Ameche	Baltimore Colts	Wisconsin	No
	Joe Perry	San Francisco 49ers Baltimore Colts	Compton Community	Yes
End	Raymond Berry	Baltimore Colts	South Methodist	Yes
	Tom Fears	Los Angeles Rams	UCLA	Yes
	Bobby Walston	Philadelphia Eagles	Georgia	No
	Elroy Hirsch	Los Angeles Rams	Michigan	Yes
Tackle	Roosevelt Brown	New York Giants	Morgan State	Yes
	Bob St. Clair	San Francisco 49ers	Tulsa	Yes
Guard	Dick Barwegan	Chicago Bears Baltimore Colts	Purdue	No
	Jim Parker	Baltimore Colts	Ohio State	Yes
	Dick Stanfel	Detroit Lions Washington Redskins	San Francisco JC San Francisco	No
Center	Chuck Bednarik	Philadelphia Eagles	Pennsylvania	Yes

Defense:

Position	Player Name:	Team(s):	College Attended:	In Hall of Fame?
Defensive end	Len Ford	Cleveland Browns Green Bay Packers	Michigan	Yes
	Gino Marchetti	Dallas Texans Baltimore Colts	San Francisco	Yes
Defensive tackle	Art Donovan	New York Yanks Dallas Texans Baltimore Colts	Boston	Yes
	Leo Nomellini	San Francisco 49ers	Minnesota	Yes
	Ernie Stautner	Pittsburgh Steelers	Boston	Yes
Linebacker	Joe Fortunato	Chicago Bears	Virginia Military Institute Mississippi State	No
	Bill George	Chicago Bears	Wake Forest	Yes
	Sam Huff	New York Giants	West Virginia	Yes
	Joe Schmidt	Detroit Lions	Pittsburgh	Yes
Cornerback	Dick “Night Train” Lane	Los Angeles Rams Chicago Cardinals	Scottsbluff	Yes
	Jack Butler	Pittsburgh Steelers	St. Bonaventure	No
Safety	Jack Christiansen	Detroit Lions	Colorado State	Yes
	Yale Lary	Detroit Lions	Texas A&M	Yes
	Emlen Tunnell	New York Giants Green Bay Packers	Iowa	Yes

Special Teams:

Position	Player	Team(s) played for	College	Hall of Famer
Placekicker	Lou Groza	Cleveland Browns	Ohio State	Yes

Looking at the distribution of talent, the Baltimore Colts had eight former players represented on the 1950s All-Decade Team. The next closest in terms of players represented are the Rams and the Lions who have five each, who are then followed by the Giants and 49ers with four each. The 1950s NFL All-Decade Team marked the first time a special teams player (Lou Groza of the Browns) was named as a member.

By looking at the make-up of the 1950s All-Decade Team we can see that the college football landscape started to experience parity in the 1940s when most of these players were still in school. Many more of the schools we’ve come to think of as classic football universities are represented on this 1950s All-Decade Team, although there are still a number of non-football schools represented. Morgan State, Tulsa, Pennsylvania, Virginia Military Institute, Scottsbluff, St. Bonaventure, and Colorado State are all represented with former players making this list. Also two community colleges, Compton Community and San Francisco Junior College, are represented for the first time. But the most surprising thing, collegiately speaking, about the make-up of the 1950s NFL All-Decade Team is that the college most represented is the University of San Francisco.

As we stated before, what prompted this look at the NFL’s All-Decade Team was the question as to how many players have made the All-Decade Team, meaning they’ve been a great player for roughly a decade if not more, but failed to make it into the Hall-of-Fame.

1950s All Decade Team Players Who Didn’t Make It Into The Hall Of Fame:
Alan Ameche – Fullback – Baltimore Colts
Bobby Watson – End – Philadelphia Eagles
Dick Barwegan – Guard – Chicago Bears, Baltimore Colts
Dick Stanfel – Guard – Detroit Lions, Washington Redskins
Joe Fortunato – Linebacker – Chicago Bears
Jack Butler – Cornerback – Pittsburgh Steelers

Players selected: 34
Players not in Hall of Fame: 6
18% of 1950s All Decade Team Players are not in the Hall of Fame

The next chapter will cover the 1960s NFL All-Decade Team.

Other chapters in this study:
IQFB.com Examines The NFL All-Decade Teams: The 1920s
IQFB.com Examines The NFL All-Decade Teams: The 1930s
IQFB.com Examines The NFL All-Decade Teams: The 1940s
IQFB.com Examines The NFL All-Decade Teams: The 1950s
IQFB.com Examines The NFL All-Decade Teams: The 1960s
IQFB.com Examines The NFL All-Decade Teams: The 1970s