Steve Tasker: Hall of Fame Bound?

The debate has come up again to whether or not Steve Tasker should be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He had many great accomplishments during his career in Buffalo, but most of them were on special teams. Will this be the year that a player, other than a kicker, is inducted into the hall of fame solely for his special teams contributions?

To Bills fans, Tasker was a favorite. He seemed like an underdog his entire career, always overcoming obstacles to receive respect as a pro football player.

The first obstacle that he had to overcome was his size. Tasker was just 59 tall and weighed 181 pounds, making him one of the smaller players in the NFL. He would have to work hard to be noticed. He played well enough at wide reciever to be drafted 226^th overall out of North Western in 1985 by the Houston Oilers. The Oilers, however, did not realize the potential of Tasker and cut him from the roster the next year. The Bills realized his potential and signed him. He played his first game as a Bill on November 9, 1986.

On October 30, 2002, Tasker was nominated for the NFL hall of fame, but he did not make the final cut. In 2003, he was again nominated, and many local and national writers have been making a case for him being inducted.

One writer who has believed that Tasker deserves the recognition that comes with being a hall of fame inductee is John DOnofrio of the Lockport Union Sun and Journal. According to DOnofrio, Tasker was "the greatest of all time" and he "will be in the hall of fame. DOnofrio remembered that Tasker was in every game doing something.

Indeed, Tasker WAS in every game doing something. To get noticed, Tasker would first have to show his coaches what he could do on special teams. Tasker was known to Buffalo fans for the devastating hits that he would put on ball carriers during punt and kick coverage. Tasker was usually the first player down the field and timed his running so that he would arrive to nail the returner at the exact moment that the player caught the ball. His hits seemed as if they were made specifically for the highlight reel.

They are a rarity in the NFL, but Tasker seemed to have a knack for blocking punts. Blocked punts can change the momentum of a game and help in determining the outcome. From 1986 to 1988 Tasker blocked three punts. Each one of these resulted in points being scored for the Bills. He had a total of seven blocked punts in his career.

Tasker also made contributions as a kick returner. In 1995 he led the NFL in punt return average. He had a career long kickoff return of 67 yards.

Tasker has many career records for special teams players. He has the most trips to the pro bowl for s special teams player (7), he was the only special teams player to be named MVP of the pro bowl (1993), and he was the second player to block a punt in a Super Bowl.

Towards the end of his career, Tasker finally received significant playing time on offense. On November 24^th, 1996, Tasker had 160 yards receiving against the New York Jets. In that one game he showed that he may have been an offensive threat had he not been playing solely on special teams for most of his career.

Many agree that Steve Tasker was the greatest special teams player ever, but is special teams a big enough part of the game to get a player into the hall of fame?

Since Tasker retired in 1997, poor special teams play have been one of the reasons for the downfall of the Buffalo Bills. The famed homerun throwback in 1999 caused the Bills to lose a playoff game to the eventual Super Bowl runner up Tennessee Titans. Special teams were important enough that they determined the outcome of a playoff game and kept the

Bills from possibly going to another Super Bowl.

Tasker is the type of player who would have been smart enough to stop a trick play like this. Not having a special teams player as great as Tasker cost the Bills the game. Hall of Fame voters should realize how important special teams are in the NFL and how they can determine a game.

Tasker has received recognition for his special teams play. In 2000, the thirty-six voters for the hall of fame voted Tasker as the best special teams player ever. If the voters believe this, do they also agree that the greatest special teams player deserves to be in the hall of fame?