How long must Drew Pearson wait?

Published Jan. 31, 2012 9:10 a.m. ET

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Coming to the Super Bowl every year is a real pleasure for a football junkie. It is a chance to see the meeting place of everyone who is anyone in the NFL historical archives mixing with the present-day stars. It can be a bit much, but I never get tired of celebrating the greatest sport of them all one more week before we send it away on its offseason vacation.

As everyone jokes, there is actually a game at the end of the long week (which we will get to soon enough), but along the way there are several items of business that must be conducted. Easily, the most interesting item, to me, is the annual Hall of Fame selection meetings, where new players are selected to be enshrined in to the hallowed hall in Canton, Ohio.

This year, 15 finalists will be considered, as well as two additional senior committee finalists. These 17 names will be broken down and carefully examined over the course of many hours on the day before the Super Bowl. Those with Dallas ties include Charles Haley, Tim Brown and legendary coach Bill Parcells. It will be interesting to see whether any or all of those three make it.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame continues to pride itself on being a very difficult building to enter for a candidate. But, every time I see another year come and go, it makes me wonder about another Cowboys great, Drew Pearson. I have a hard time understanding why he is absent from the yellow-jacket club.

Pearson's career speaks for itself, if you have even the slightest grasp of NFL history. Hardly a NFL Films reel can be shown without Pearson's greatness spilling onto the screen. He made plays. Historic plays. Plays in historic games that will never be forgotten by those who witnessed them.

And yet, he has not been inducted. The Senior Committee could right this wrong down the road, so Person must wait, as he did for the Cowboys Ring of Honor for so many years. But it is imperative for those of us in the media who feel this is a severe oversight to not let the issue die until he is in.

Many will tell you it is simply a raw numbers issue. And, in fairness to those who may have that argument, his numbers are exceeded by several from his era. If it is simply a question of total receptions or yards, Charlie Joiner, Steve Largent and James Lofton will have quite an advantage over Pearson. On the other hand, you can put all of their postseason numbers together and Pearson could measure right up.

What makes Pearson a legend was simply knowing the league. Knowing the most dangerous receivers on the most dangerous teams and seeing that Pearson was always a factor. His 22 playoff games in his 11 seasons attest that he played in games that mattered when the world was watching. And the fact that you can picture many of his playoff moments of greatness right now as you read this suggests that this shouldn't be too complicated to consider.

And yet, here we sit. He is out, while those with similar resumes — Lynn Swann and John Stallworth — are both in.

It has been said a million times "to the victors go the spoils", and I get that. But, that would seem to suggest that the Cowboys never had their day. This isn't a case of Andre Reed (no rings in four Super Bowls) vs. Michael Irvin (three rings in three tries). Reed never won the big game Pearson did. Reed belongs in the hall, too, but the fact he will likely get in this week and Pearson might have to wait much longer is just not right to me.

If Jackie Smith makes the catch in the end zone or the Benny Barnes pass interference is called differently, is Pearson in and some guy in Pittsburgh is still petitioning to get Swann in the Hall? Is that how we measure decade long careers?

Swann is in the HOF for reasons that numbers cannot justify. Here are the three receivers from the two rivals of the 1970s:

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