May 28 2022 82 mins
In Episode 1 "How We Arrived Here," Host Jason Watkins and Co-Host Kerwin Terry Explain the Motivation behind "Way Past Due," and give listeners background information on Otis Taylor and what he meant to professional football around the AFL-NFL Merger ...
For all-time professional football greats like Kansas City Chiefs wideout Otis Taylor and Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Lemar Parrish, both of whom played during the era surrounding the AFL-NFL Merger, enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame is WAY PAST DUE.
The video podcast series "Way Past Due" centers mainly on the now 42-year Hall of Fame exclusion of Otis Taylor, Super Bowl IV winning wide receiver, and 1971 United Press International Most Valuable Player that even Hall of Famers from the era view as on a level above their own.
"There are some athletes that you just know are better," Hall of Fame and NFL Top 100 Safety Ken Houston explained. "I compare it to being around (boxer) Muhammad Ali. You just knew he was the best, the most skilled. And that was Otis Taylor to me."
"The most feared man in football," Hall of Famer and Chiefs teammate Johnny Robinson said of Taylor.
But Taylor and other HBCU players have fallen victim to stereotypes and bias when it came to playing in the AFL, notably that the more-racially-inclusive AFL prior to the merger was an inferior league to the more-established and less-colorful NFL.
Taylor, Parrish, and as many of 180 others now find themselves among an ever-growing backlog of players that aren't being recognized for their contributions to the popularity of a league that is now the richest on the planet.
And that recognition is WAY PAST DUE.
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