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Two years ago, USA Today asked my to give my top 100 NFL players who played at HBCUs. I accepted the challenge even knowing that a lot of the players I had never seen play before. One of those players was former Oakland Raiders and Baltimore Colts great tight end Raymond Chester.

The former first round draft choice by the Raiders in 1970 and Morgan State star played 12 years in the National Football League (and one season in the USFL). He made 364 receptions for 5,013 yards, 48 touchdowns, and averaged 13.8 yards per reception. In 1970 he was named Newspaper Enterprise Association NFL Rookie of the Year and was part of the Raiders that won Super Bowl XV during the 1980 season.

In doing my research for the USA Today piece, I only ranked one non Pro Football Hall of Famer was ranked ahead of the hall of famers as I placed Donnie Shell in the mix with those already in the hall because I truly believed Shell was a hall of famer. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Famer, Class of 2020. The players I ranked immediately after them were fringe guys who in my opinion should be in. I had Chester ahead of Winston Hill and Harold Carmichael who were both Class of 2020 inductees. In researching whether Chester was a hall of famer, I asked my father, who follows the game closely and he indicated that he was a hall of famer in his opinion. I also read a piece in Sports Illustrated that spoke about Chester and why he wasn’t in the hall of fame when compared to this contemporaries who were.

Those two opinions was all I needed to know about whether or not Chester should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. So now I ask, why isn’t Chester in the Pro Football Hall of Fame?

This conversation with Chester is part of our HBCU Legends Series as we talked about Chester’s career at Morgan State and playing for the legendary Earl Banks, his first stint with the Raiders, being traded to the Colts, coming back to the Raiders, and why he is not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Click to download or listen to the podcast.