New York Giants Ring of Honor member and Pro Football Hall of Famer Emlen Tunnell was recently named to the 33rd Team’s list of the 11 best safeties of all time.
Tunnell, a two-time NFL champion (once with the Giants and once with Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers) and nine-time Pro Bowler, came in at No. 11 on the list complied by researcher Elliott Kalb.
Tunnell was one of the greatest safeties to play the game. He played 14 years, 11 with the Giants in a career that ended in 1961. He was the first Black player signed by the Giants, the first Black player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame and (according to Tunnell’s 1975 obituary in The New York Times) the first Black person hired to a coaching position in the NFL’s modern era.
In 1952, Tunnell gained more yards (923) on interceptions and kickoff returns than the NFL rushing leader did running the ball. He earned the nickname “offense on defense.”
He intercepted a then-record 79 passes in his 14 seasons with the Giants and Green Bay Packers. He was certainly the best safety that played in the 1950s.
Tunnell was previously named to the NFL’s All-Decade Team of the 1950s, as well as the league’s 50th and 100th anniversary teams.
Tunnell played for the Giants from 1948-58, and with Green Bay from 1959-61.
The first ten players on the list from Nos. 1 through 10 are: Ronnie Lott, Ed Reed, Ken Houston, Troy Polamalu, Brian Dawkins, Larry Wilson, Donnie Shell, Cliff Harris, Johnny Robinson and John Lynch.
