Clifton HOF honor richly deserved

January 19th, 2016

Former Martin-Westview Charger, Tennessee Vol and Green Bay Packers lineman Chad Clifton will be inducted into the Packers' hall of fame. Other shrines may beckon Clifton (photo by Jim Steele of volunteersportsradio.com).

My sister played basketball at McKenzie Junior High and McKenzie High School. I recall a time, when she was first seeing the floor for the MJH Rebelettes, as they were known then, traveling to that old Trezevant gym.

You remember it, don’t you? It was that block building where a palatial bank now stands on Highway 79. And it had that trademark parquet floor. Back in those days, Trezevant ruled the roost in basketball, both junior high and high school. That fact held true in the mid 1970s. In the fall of 1976, my sister’s team had to play the Lady Blue Devils in that old gym.

The Rebelettes were overmatched from the get go and the reason was because of Trezevant’s twin towers: Glenda and Gloria…as in Clifton. The Clifton girls were a talented pair of twin towers. As a result, they wiped the floor with MJH.

Fast forward three years, during a snowy night at the old McKenzie High School gym, Martin-Westview was visiting the Rebelettes and Rebels. Before the snow hit, the Lady Chargers easily defeated McKenzie, again, thanks to Glenda and Gloria.

I had a lot of friends in Trezevant, but really didn’t know the Cliftons. About five years later, I walked into Martin Primary School on an assignment for the newspaper and saw the nameplate of the lady behind the desk. Her name was Dotsie…Clifton. I asked if she was who I thought she was and she delightfully told me she was. We caught up about mutual friends and had a good chat.

And thus began my acquaintanceship with the Cliftons as well as some exciting times.

About that time, she had a son named Chad who was, at that time, about 8. Soon enough, we’d all know about that young man.

It was disclosed this past weekend that Chad Clifton was going to be inducted into the Green Bay Packers’ hall of fame. It’s a richly deserved honor. He excelled at every level in whatever he did and I have an idea a few more halls of fame will beckon the former Martin-Westview standout.

He was a 6-4 eighth grader helping his junior high team win the county title. I remember the football game against Milan during his junior year. He punished the Bulldogs even though the Chargers lost. Westview made it to the state quarterfinals, but Chad was still a big secret.
Then came basketball. He was a behemoth in the post and honestly, given his sister’s success on the hardwood, I thought basketball was going to be Clifton’s ticket.

But when the 1994 pre-season anticipation started, I was stopped by Martin businessman Danny Knapp at The Hearth restaurant. He apprised me that Clifton was one of the top high school football prospects in Tennessee, according to the Chattanooga Free Press. That kind of surprised me. I knew Clifton was big, but again, I had it in my mind that he was going the hoops route. Why? It was nothing he told me. It wasn’t that I thought he was a lousy football player. Up until that time, my most prominent memories of Clifton’s athletic prowess was on the basketball floor.

When the Chargers took the football field in 1994, it was crazy. I remember seeing Notre Dame assistant Tom Clements leaning up against the fence. He was the Sugar Bowl MVP for the national champion Fighting Irish in 1973 as they beat Alabama 24-23 in a thriller. I later recall seeing Alabama’s Gene Stallings driving up Oxford St. Same for Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz. Tennessee’s Phillip Fulmer even poked his head in my office door to say hello.

Westview was sort of mediocre that year, finishing 5-6 and losing in the first round of the 2A playoffs to Briarcrest, but the speculation of where Clifton would be headed to college ramped up to a fever’s pitch. I recall talking to him after he visited Notre Dame, Bama and Tennessee. He told me, and others, he wished he could go to all three. During a basketball game, I walked into the Westview “Round House” and saw Clifton wearing a camouflage Tennessee hat. I asked him if that was significant. He just grinned without saying a word.

You knew he was going somewhere. He was a Parade all-American and on everybody’s recruiting list and he was a Mr. Football awardee. The Sunday night before signing day, he called me to tell me he was headed to Tennessee. Signing Day came and Clifton sat at the head table in the Westview library, surrounded by family and Westview coaches. The room was filled with teammates, friends, media and supporters throughout the Martin community.

When he signed, he picked up a license tag with the orange Power T on it, stood up, displayed the tag and flashed kind of an esoteric, satisfied grin. Here he was, a 17-year-old kid, at that time, looking at a blank canvas and a palate with hundreds of colors. His future was bright.

When he started playing at Tennessee, the Vols’ blind side was virtually impossible to penetrate, thanks to Clifton. He protected Peyton Manning’s backside with record-breaking proficiency. I asked Manning what he thought of Clifton at the Vols’ media day in 1997. He did the same for Tee Martin the next two years.

“If he continues to get better, he could be one of the best to ever play here at Tennessee,” Manning said.

Fulmer concurred: “He’ll be an All-American before he leaves here.”

Before he left Tennessee, he was a team captain, led the team to two SEC titles and played for two national championships, winning in 1998. In 2000, he was a second-round pick of the Green Bay Packers and soon took over as a starting tackle charged with the task of protecting Brett Favre.

“He’s just a big ol’ country boy,” Favre told one of my reporters when I sent him to Green Bay to cover Clifton. Favre sang Clifton’s praises. Soon, the Packers were winning the Super Bowl and Clifton’s national-championship ring soon had company. Pro Bowl appearances dotted his career and he was regarded as one of the NFL’s best offensive linemen.

When Favre retired, the Packers introduced us to quarterback Aaron Rodgers, also famed for his “double check” while pitching for State Farm. His brother Jordan played quarterback for Vanderbilt. While at SEC Media Days, I was doing some prep work for my interview with him and told him that I covered Clifton all the way back to his junior high days.

The younger Rodgers grinned and said, “Oh really? Yeah…we like him,” followed by a laugh. I got the message loud and clear. Clifton kept the heat off Rodgers’ blind side.

Then, as soon as it all started, it was over. Green Bay released Clifton in 2010 because of nagging injuries, though I hear he keeps himself in good enough shape to play. My understanding is that he’s never officially retired from the NFL, though he’s a few months shy of 40.

He played in 165 games for the Packers, which is about 15 games short of NFL hall-of-famer Joe Delamielluere, who was one of the best offensive linemen in his day. Former Cleveland Brown offensive lineman Gene Hickerson, who played at the same Trezevant school that the Clifton sisters played, was in 200 NFL games and he’s in the hall of fame. Clifton was a two-time Pro Bowler, a Super Bowl champ and was among the top 100 players ranked in 2011. His numbers knock at Canton’s door.

The Packers will enshrine him to be sure, but I have a feeling a few more halls will summon. Certainly the Tennessee state hall of fame should be a stop. Is the college HOF a possibility? Why not? He set records for fewest sacks allowed while at Tennessee, earned second-team All-American honors and was all SEC. How about Canton? The NFL could do a lot worse.

My suggestion for Clifton is to get a speechwriter. He may be busy for the next several years thanking everybody for the honor.

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