Is It Hardy’s Turn?
May 12th, 2015
The Buccaneers’ Ring of Honor inductee for 2015 will be announced tomorrow, and there’s no clear favorite in the mix, as there has been the past two seasons.
There are plenty of deserving candidates. And no, it’s too early to exalt Taverras King.
Joe is happy to do a little lobbying for Bucs icon Hardy Nickerson, Tampa Bay’s current linebackers coach.
The last two Ring of Honor inductees, Warren Sapp and Derrick Brooks, give loads of credit to Nickerson for his leadership and mentorship when they arrived in Tampa. And Nickerson himself was a five-time Pro Bowler with the Bucs from 1993-1999. The Bucs have had very few of those.
Nickerson was the pulse of one of the nastiest defenses the NFL has ever seen. Plus, who wouldn’t want to watch a serious of Nickerson’s bone-crushing hits on the JumboTron.
Again, Joe knows there are many deserving candidates, such as Doug Williams, Ricky Bell, Ronde Barber, John Lynch and more.
May 12th, 2015 at 2:37 pm
A Train
May 12th, 2015 at 2:38 pm
Doug Williams
May 12th, 2015 at 2:39 pm
Gene Deckeroff!!!
May 12th, 2015 at 2:42 pm
#47
May 12th, 2015 at 2:43 pm
I’m with ESPO. A-Train! A-Train! A-Train!
May 12th, 2015 at 2:43 pm
James Wilder. Would have been Hall of Fame had played for another team. Bucs ran his body into the ground. I can make a strong case he is the best RB Bucs ever had considering the supporting cast around him. Alstott and Dunn at least split carries and never had to carry the load the way Wilder did. He nearly broke OJ’s record on the terrible 1980’s Bucs team with The Throwin’ Samoan.
May 12th, 2015 at 2:44 pm
Wilder
May 12th, 2015 at 2:45 pm
Hardy deserves it. He made it respectable again for players to come to Tampa from other teams and changed thit team’s culture to winning again. It was a tumultuous period in this team history were they could have easily been moved to another city. I’ve always call the new stadium ‘The house that Hardy Built’.
May 12th, 2015 at 2:48 pm
Hardy turned the ship around when he got here. The Bucs were “soft” and getting pushed around on Sundays before Hardy arrived. He set the tone and we should be thanking Hardy for our SB victory. He brought us respectability because he demanded it and nobody messed with him. Hardy gets my vote all day long. Like Joe stated – go ask Sapp and Brooks who they learned from.
May 12th, 2015 at 2:50 pm
Wilder or Williams…before #56….of course #56 belongs there too….he stood on and held the corner as the franchise made the turn towards respectability….he was awesome !
May 12th, 2015 at 2:53 pm
Wilder should be the next one.
May 12th, 2015 at 2:55 pm
A train fo sheezeee
May 12th, 2015 at 2:57 pm
ALSTOTT UP THE GUT!!
May 12th, 2015 at 3:00 pm
Joe, I heard on draft night that there will be two inductees this year. Not sure why or who though, so tomorrow may be a surprise.
May 12th, 2015 at 3:01 pm
Many Buc fans are from the late 1990’s onward……..there were great Buccaneers that deserve recognition for their careers as Bucs and as GREAT NFL players…before the popular guys from the Super Bowl era….their time will come
May 12th, 2015 at 3:03 pm
Hey guys why did he leave in ’99? Just curious.
May 12th, 2015 at 3:04 pm
$56 left over money….Jags offered him more than the Bucs
May 12th, 2015 at 3:06 pm
How can it not be Wilder? Love Hardy Har Har, but, how is Wilder not in the ring?
May 12th, 2015 at 3:08 pm
Not his time…but Kevin House …one day
May 12th, 2015 at 3:10 pm
#20 better be in there at some point.
May 12th, 2015 at 3:11 pm
Gene Deckerhoff !!!
May 12th, 2015 at 3:13 pm
Scot Brantley…one day
May 12th, 2015 at 3:17 pm
Man I miss the old uni’s…..not the clown outfits they are wearing now.
May 12th, 2015 at 3:17 pm
I like the Gene Deckerhoff nomination above… did not think about it much until Realist and Luv mentioned it but it really does make sense. That poor man has had to watch some horrendous football played in some empty stadiums over the years. Love Gene.
May 12th, 2015 at 3:18 pm
@JoeJoes Fungi Nails
For his Football play? or for knocking out the Big Fraud for calling him a Redneck on the radio?
May 12th, 2015 at 3:19 pm
Lets show some freakin’ respect-and give the man his just due
Put Gene Deckerhoff in the Ring of Honor
Where He Belongs
May 12th, 2015 at 3:20 pm
James Wilder HAS to get the nod, especially over Ricky Bell. God bless him, he had a couple decent season’s and that was it, if the inductees get sympathy points, then Ricky Bell would be etched in stone, but his play just doesn’t warrant a place in local infamy. Then Alstott should get the nod, followed by Lynch, Barber…THEN Nickerson. JMO
May 12th, 2015 at 3:22 pm
I’m reading from multiple sources that the ROH inductee will be …
DOUG WILLIAMS
At least that will help mend the bridge torched by Dominik.
May 12th, 2015 at 3:45 pm
Doug Williams for sure
May 12th, 2015 at 3:46 pm
Lynch – Alstott – Barber from the SB era
Doug Williams – from the old days
Hardy – from the transition
My best bet – Lynch and/or Alstott
May 12th, 2015 at 3:47 pm
It’ll probably be Alstott, even though I don’t believe he’s the most deserving, but god I’d love it if it was Mean Gene the Talking Machine
As an FSU fan in my early 30s, I’ve had the pleasure of having Deckerhoff call the games for both my college and pro teams for basically my entire life….he won’t get it, but he deserves it
IMO the most deserving goes
Ricky Bell
James Wilder
Doug Williams
Hardy Nickerson
I actually think the #1 most deserving is the greatest nickel corner in the history of the league, Ronde Barber, but it’s too soon for him
May 12th, 2015 at 3:48 pm
David Says:
May 12th, 2015 at 3:03 pm
Hey guys why did he leave in ’99? Just curious.
JoeJoes Fungi Nails Says:
May 12th, 2015 at 3:04 pm
$56 left over money….Jags offered him more than the Bucs
——————————————-
Joe Joe you should be banned from this site. You know nothing and continue to display your lack of knowledge. The bucs cut Hardy due to money. He then signed with another team. He was cut.
May 12th, 2015 at 3:55 pm
Dewey Selmon!
May 12th, 2015 at 3:56 pm
Tiny Limb
I fail to see the point you are making….the key point was Hardy left over money…Hardy wanted more than the Bucs were offering…being cut was merely a by product and not important….
May 12th, 2015 at 3:59 pm
My apologies to JOe Joe fungus. We cut Brad Culpepper in 2000, but let hardy leave because they had Jamie Duncan following him up. I remember being so mad at the bucs to let Culpepper and Nickerson leave the same year after reaching the NFC championship. I was so upset.
May 12th, 2015 at 4:01 pm
How about Ricky Bell?! TOTAL Stud and a GREAT Buc!!
May 12th, 2015 at 4:04 pm
Yeah…Brad being cut on the last training camp cut down was outrageous…especially after the year he had just before….I was on the St.Pete Times message board then and went berserk….aplloG accepted
May 12th, 2015 at 4:33 pm
Alstott!!!
May 12th, 2015 at 4:47 pm
Wilder. He gets no respect because he played for losers. He was the entire offense for a few years there. Just look up the Bucs record books.
May 12th, 2015 at 4:48 pm
If the A-train does make it in, He better be glad that it is the “Ring of Honor” and not the “Ring of Blocking”!!!
May 12th, 2015 at 4:54 pm
Wilder was a TOUGH punishing …punishing runner……with soft hands catching swing passes out of the backfield …turning up with a full head of steam……gawd was he good !
May 12th, 2015 at 4:58 pm
ATRAIN!!!!!!!
#40
May 12th, 2015 at 5:40 pm
There are a couple on here who don’t view Alstott as worthy, even if you think he couldn’t block, you had to consider the success he had here and how the fans loved him like crazy. I’m sorry, but 70+ td’s coming out of the backfield where EVERYBODY knew he was toting the rock, and still was able to impose his will on anybody trying to tackle him is flat out badd a$$.
Doug Williams had some bright moments here, but his numbers were just horrible and lets not forget he ditched us twice (first time was understandable).
May 12th, 2015 at 6:17 pm
I can’t tell you guys how happy I was when Hardy signed. I couldn’t believe we actually got him! Heart and soul!!
May 12th, 2015 at 6:47 pm
Atrain TD in NFC Championship game, TD in SuperBowl..
Beast running people over…
May 12th, 2015 at 9:09 pm
James Wilder was special, so was Ricky Bell. Those two should be honored after Doug Williams, for all of the original Bucs fans. Jimmy Giles should be there too.
May 12th, 2015 at 9:12 pm
Come to think of it, maybe Giles is already up there.
May 13th, 2015 at 1:54 pm
Brian Kelly, or A-Train!
Brian Kelly was one under rated Buc!