My tribute to Lyle Alzado. First, and most important, is that he gave a lot of time and money to charity which is always overlooked. He raised $10 million dollars for charity which given todays NFL salaries may seem small but with the salaries of the 1970's and early 80's, that is a huge number.

He was one of the legendary defensive ends in NFL history. He played from 1971-1985 for the Denver Broncos famed "Orange Crush" defense (71-78), The Cleveland Browns famed "Cardiac Kids" (79-81), and for the Los Angeles Raiders (82-85) where he gained his most notoriety with a bigger media spotlight.

He will forever be linked to steroids as Lyle was one of the first athletes to admit to steroid use and to talk about how rampant steroids were in the NFL. This led to his career being viewed as tainted. However, he retired in 1985 and the league began steroid testing in 1987, so if Alzado never said a word, few people would remember. He took a brave step to admit it when so many others deny it to this day. He tried to make a comeback in 1990 but injured his knee in training camp. He was diagnosed with brain cancer in 1991 and died in 1992. He believed his steroid abuse ($30,000 a year) caused his rare brain cancer but that is disputed by experts. No doubt that it opened a lot of people's eyes to steroid abuse in the NFL.

He was also in 15 movies (none of them good unless you have a bad movie fetish) and many TV ads.

112.5 sacks in 196 games (averaged 57% chance of getting a sack per game), 1977 Defensive Player of the Year, led the Broncos in sacks 5 out of 7 years (blew his knee out in the first game of 1976) and the Browns in sacks 2 out of 3 years). Played in 2 Superbowls (XII and XVIII) and recorded two sacks in Superbowl XII). Add to that the multiple post season honors (incuding the equivalent of the NFL Man of the Year award in 1977); the seniors committee for the Hall of Fame should start to look closer at Lyle Alzado in the coming years. If his name was not linked with steroids, I believe he would already be in.

If you think Lyle Alzado shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame because he used steroids, you probably also think Alzado was the only one on steroids, and that would make you a moron. Lots of players from the 70's and 80's were on Steroids. Players today use HGH. That doesn't make it right, but he should not be viewed as the lone user when other users are in the Hall of Fame.

Monte Johnson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOhwKicK_e8&feature=youtu.be

Phil Villapiano
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJEi2Vi5P5w

Soul Patrol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZBCOqUotAs

Jack Tatum
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMWVMxIlHyQ

George Blanda
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYgmOsdRi3o

Cliff Branch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhlgY0timTA

George Atkinson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb2QVH4iUc0

"Dr. Death" Skip Thomas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQAaq7C9DrI

James Jett
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLYR-wgeBTw

Otis Sistrunk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fP0EPcuIrEg

"the mad bomber" Daryle Lamonica
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX6i0a8t0KY

Ben Davidson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDwOtFwb_4s

Greg Townsend
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrUrEpmillE
"The Tooz" John Matuszak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMesUPtu5MQ

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