Justice Served: Hickerson Voted to HOF

Die-hard Browns fans can breath a sigh of relief today - our efforts have paid off. After weeks of advocating, Browns offensive guard Gene Hickerson was voted into the Hall of Fame, an honor that will be official during the preseason in August. Hickerson played a major role in blocking for the legendary Jim Brown and Leroy Kelly. He will be the 16th member of the Cleveland Browns to enter the Hall of Fame.

Hickerson, who is 72 years old, was with the Browns for a total of 15 seasons. He first joined the Browns back in 1957 when he was a seventh-round draft choice. If only we could get seventh-round draft choices as good as him these days, right? With the exception of the 1961 season in which he suffered a broken leg, Hickerson played in every game of his career. Browns fans from various places, including the Orange and Brown Report, were pushing this issue day after day. Although it's tough to tell whether or not it actually makes a difference, it shows how loyal the fans will always be to this organization. Now, related to the current-day Browns, the team hired wide receivers coach Wes Chandler on Thursday to attempt and improve the number of drops that guys like Braylon Edwards had last season. Unfortunately, Chandler's track record in the NFL is any more enlightening than the other coaches we have hired: he coached the Minnesota Vikings thin group of receivers in 2005 before being out of football last season. He also had two seasons worth of coaching with the Dallas Cowboys, including one year with receiver Antonio Bryant. When he was with the Cowboys, they actually didn't have too bad of a season in terms of receivers. The Browns also promoted Cory Undlin to the secondary/assistant special teams coaching position. He will aid coveted defensive backs coach Mel Tucker and special teams coach Ted Daisher this season. Undlin was our defensive quality control coach the past two seasons.