For Guy, being the best isn't good enough

The latest injustice could be executed as soon as today, or it could be drawn out a few more weeks until Feb. 4. Either way, Ray Guy isn't losing any more sleep over it.

"I used to worry about it, but I don't no more," said the man considered to be the greatest punter in the history of football and unquestionably the most famous.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame will cull its list of 2006 candidates to 15 semifinalists today. Guy - already among 25 who made it this far - could reach that list for the sixth time since becoming eligible in 1992.

Guy, a Swainsboro, Ga., native and Thomson product, is the only pure punter ever to even be considered by the 39-member committee of selectors who convene every Saturday before the Super Bowl to decide who is worthy of enshrinement into football's greatest fraternity.

With a stellar class that includes shoo-ins such as Reggie White, Troy Aikman and John Madden, the odds are stacked against Guy getting one of the maximum six invitations for induction.

Why?

"They say a punter is not an athlete or a big enough contributor," Guy said as he made his way into the reception at Radisson Riverfront Hotel Augusta where the nation's top collegiate punter was honored Tuesday with an award bearing Guy's name and likeness. "Which is ridiculous."

When it comes to Guy, they don't know how ridiculous it is. He wasn't just some leg that went boom. He was drafted by four different Major League Baseball teams including the Reds (twice) and Braves for his arm that produced a no-hitter while at Southern Mississippi.

But I digress. The point is, Guy was the greatest freakin' punter ever, and that should be enough for his Hall of Fame rsum. If it's not, then no punter is ever likely to get in.

"You almost need some punter that's out of this

world," said Charles Chandler, a Hall of Fame selector from The Charlotte Observer. "Ray Guy was as close as they come."

Apparently, that's still not good enough for too many lifetime selectors on a panel biased against specialists.

"There is a feeling among some selectors that a guy who punts doesn't deserve to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame," said Washington Post reporter Len Shapiro, another one of the 39 selectors. "Even though it is called foot-ball. That's the whole argument."

It's an argument that is insulting to one of the vital cogs of the game. Any coach will tell you there are three essential elements of football - offense, defense and special teams - but Hall of Fame voters don't see it that way. There is only one true specialist in the hall, place-kicker Jan Stenerud.

Chris Mohr, the retired Falcons punter also from Thomson, says it's "not fair and not right" for punters to be shut out of Canton, Ohio.

"Every position is represented in the Hall of Fame except punter," Mohr said. "The Hall of Fame is not complete until every position is represented. If you're going to put the best person ever to play the position, Ray Guy should be in there."

Other than being a punter, the knock against Guy is that his career numbers don't necessarily stand out as much as you would think. His career average of 42.4 yards, for instance, doesn't even rank among the NFL's top 20.

But punting isn't a craft that can be so easily quantified. Guy routinely sacrificed distance for height, understanding that the longer the ball was in the air the better his coverage team had of getting into position to prevent a return. He basically created the observance of "hang time."

Hall of Fame running back Larry Csonka endorsed Guy on Tuesday. Like everyone else, he did a double take when the Raiders made Guy the first and only punter to be drafted in the first round, but he soon understood why.

"They said he punts so damn well he'll change the game," Csonka said. "There used to be a ceiling on punters. Ray broke that ceiling."

Actually, he hit two of them, at the Astrodome and Super Dome, which only enhanced his fame. He was so good they actually once tested his balls for helium.

There is plenty of statistical evidence to elevate Guy. He never once skipped a day of work in 207 games. He never had a punt returned on him for a touchdown. He played in seven Pro Bowls. He won three Super Bowls. He kicked an 88-yarder in high school, a 93-yarder in college and one NFL season had five punts more than 60 yards. In his final season, he pinned 35 percent of his 89 punts inside the 20 and had 71 percent of them unreturned.

When it comes down to it, selectors simply don't have the same insight as the Raiders did in 1973 to pick the punter. They'd rather take some other position player who gets in more than five or six snaps a game.

"It's apples and oranges," Shapiro said.

"Do you put a big, stiff center in there who hikes a ball between his legs and blocks a little bit? It's a team sport. Everybody has to be involved."

All any punter asks is the same consideration.

"It's a part of the game," said Guy. "I wish they'd give it a little more credit."

Even if he's among the finalists announced today, Guy probably won't get the credit he deserves. Shapiro and Chandler each call this a "difficult class" for a punter to slip through.

It might eventually take some outside-the-box thinking for Guy to get in. Chandler was one of the strongest advocates for Lynn Swann's induction in his 14th and final opportunity in 2001. What worked was asking selectors to close their eyes and picture in their minds the images of greatness in the Super Bowl. Swann's acrobatic catches stuck out and got him through.

Guy can only be enhanced by the same criteria.

"If you close your eyes and think, he's the No. 1 guy you see at that position," Chandler said. "Historically, you think of him."

"This guy was pretty special," Shapiro said.

This Guy was the best - end of story. That should be good enough.

Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.