{"id":1890,"date":"2011-08-05T14:57:21","date_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:57:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/capitalsports.us\/?p=1890"},"modified":"2012-02-13T23:22:39","modified_gmt":"2012-02-14T04:22:39","slug":"reluctant-inductee-chris-hanburger-joins-hall-of-fame-saturday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/?p=1890","title":{"rendered":"Reluctant inductee Chris Hanburger joins Hall of Fame Saturday"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Former UNC linebacker Chris Hanburger, who played from 1965-1978 for the Washington Redskins, will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame Saturday. He chose his son, 37-year-old Chris Jr. of Apex, to present him. <\/p>\n

But Hanburger, in an interview with me, indicated that while he was deeply honored to be chosen for the HOF, he wasn’t particularly excited about it. Hanburger, a private man, didn’t like the prospects of traveling and large crowds.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m not a real sociable person. Never have been, never will be,” he said. “I\u2019m just more comfortable hanging around the house.”<\/p>\n

Hanburger and Evelyn, his wife of 48 years, moved from the DC area – where he owned a car dealership – to Darlington, S.C. He said while it would have been nice to be closer to his son, he wasn’t fond of all the traffic in the Triangle area. “My son was trying to get me to come to that area but I told him I\u2019d never come there,” he said. “They were building everywhere. There was nothing but two lane roads and traffic was backed up everywhere.”<\/p>\n

Chapel Hill was more his speed when he was in college. “It\u2019s a great school with a beautiful campus,” he said. “When I was there it wasn\u2019t too big. It was a great atmosphere and I enjoyed my time there.”<\/p>\n

But when he moved on, he moved on. <\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, I haven\u2019t stayed in touch with too many folks. I haven\u2019t even had much contact with the folks I played with at Carolina,\u201d Hanburger said, including his roommate and teammate Glenn Ogburn. \u201cI think I\u2019ve only been back a couple of times since I graduated. I didn\u2019t even go to graduation. I had enough trouble getting out \u2013 I was getting away as fast as I could.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he has an allegiance to the school and to the Redskins, he primarily keeps up with those two teams through the newspaper.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never got wrapped up in football \u2013 even today it\u2019s no big deal. I very seldom watch (football) on TV,\u201d Hanburger said. \u201cI can\u2019t remember the last time I watched an entire game. I may watch a quarter or, at most, a half. I read a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hanburger, who recently completed reading a book written in the present tense about the American Revolution, said he became a voracious reader as he got older. In talking about his seven grandchildren, the one he talked about most wasn\u2019t a football star but the eight-year-old who reads every chance he gets. <\/p>\n

Hanburger reads a lot about U.S. history and the military. A self-described Army brat born at Fort Bragg, Hanburger traveled all over the country as a kid.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a military family, that\u2019s just something you do and you don\u2019t think about it,\u201d he said. \u201cI believe in a very strong military. I\u2019m very supportive of them. They are the real heroes, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hanburger never considered himself a hero by playing football. \u201cTo me it was just a job,\u201d he said. \u201cI enjoyed doing it and I tried to do it to the best of my ability all the time. But it wasn\u2019t the end of the world for me. I was fortunate to even get a chance to play. I was thankful that I could play as long as I did. It certainly made things in life a little easier for me and my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he didn\u2019t make the kind of money players today do. \u201cPlaying football was a thing you did for half a year and then you had something else you better be doing if you were going to pay the bills,\u201d Hanburger said. \u201cThe first year I played in \u201965, I made $7,500 dollars and I got two grand for signing.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he doesn\u2019t blame today\u2019s players for getting as much money as they can get. \u201cIf the system today allows them to make the kind of money they make, whether it\u2019s right or wrong, it\u2019s not for us to judge really,\u201d Hanburger said. \u201cIt\u2019s a big business. Guys playing today are very fortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n

While former Redskins Hall of Fame quarterback Sonny Jurgensen describes Hanburger as \u201cserious,\u201d Hanburger says he had fun playing. He especially liked playing under Coach George Allen. <\/p>\n

\u201cI thoroughly enjoyed playing under George Allen, mainly because of the defensive system he had,\u201d said Hanburger, who was the defensive captain and leader. \u201cWe controlled it completely from the field. We didn\u2019t have to have signals sent into us. We just had a lot of fun with the system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ironically, when asked about some of the players he played with that he respected, he chose offensive guys. He praised center Len Hauss and running back Larry Brown in particular, in addition to Duke grad Jurgensen, as good players and good people.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got a tremendous amount of respect for Sonny,\u201d Hanburger said of Jurgensen who was raised in Wilmington. \u201cSonny was a very unusual quarterback. He had a unique ability to get the ball where he wanted it. He knew when to sorta float it in there or throw it hard in there. He was just unbelievable out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

A lot of opposing running backs and wide receivers thought Hanburger, who used his speed and instincts to make plays, was pretty unbelievable too. If they remember. Hanburger was known for tackling hard up around the head and neck, something that in today\u2019s game would be penalized. The so-called clothesline tackle became his signature move.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly reason I did it was it worked for me,\u201d Hanburger said matter-of-factly. \u201cMy philosophy in tackling was to get close to the person – you had less chance of missing a tackle. Guys coming up today they are diving down at the runner\u2019s feet. They aren\u2019t taking them head on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hanburger probably would rather take on a runner today than endure the big crowds and accolades awaiting him in Canton, Ohio. <\/p>\n

Redskins General Manager Bruce Allen, son of George, said the honor is as much for the Redskins fans and teammates as it is for Hanburger. \u201cChris\u2019 speech will probably be about one minute long,\u201d he said, \u201cbut the party we are having for him and his teammates is going to be a great tribute for him and the Redskins.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hanburger, who turns 70 on Aug. 13, will be inducted Saturday night along with the much more flamboyant and attention-seeking Deion Sanders plus Marshall Faulk, Richard Dent, Shannon Sharpe, Les Richter and Ed Sabol.<\/p>\n

Hanburger played professionally for 187 games over 14 seasons, all with the Redskins. He was elected to the Pro Bowl nine times and was an All-NFL selection four times. He had a career-high four interceptions during the 1972 season when the Redskins went to their first Super Bowl. When he left the game after the 1978 season, he held the NFL record for returning three fumbles for touchdowns. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former UNC linebacker Chris Hanburger, who played from 1965-1978 for the Washington Redskins, will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame Saturday. He…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,87,1,80],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured-stories","category-redskins","category-uncategorized","category-north-carolina-tar-heels","wpcat-79-id","wpcat-87-id","wpcat-1-id","wpcat-80-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1890"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1890\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3282,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1890\/revisions\/3282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}