HOF contracts
CANTON, Ohio -- Browsing around the exhibits at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, we came upon this observation, which the NFL Players Association could note if it gave tours to rookies at football's shrine.
A locker with artifacts from the career of great quarterback Otto Graham is one of the exhibits. It includes the contract Graham signed with the Cleveland Browns of the All-American Football Conference in 1948. Graham was the best quarterback in the league. He made $12,000 that year.
A couple of rooms away is an AFL exhibit, and in one case is the contract Bills safety George Saimes signed in 1966. This was Saimes' third year in the league, and he had been first-team all-AFL in 1964 and 1965. His salary for that season was $15,000. So salaries hadn't inflated much in 17 years. (On the other hand, $15,000 was not too shabby. The average household income was about $6,000 or $7,000.)
---Mark Gaughan
