Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Alec Anderson (American football, born 1894)


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was redirect‎__EXPECTED_UNCONNECTED_PAGE__ to List of players who appeared in only one game in the NFL (1920–1929). Star  Mississippi  01:15, 9 July 2024 (UTC)

Alec Anderson (American football, born 1894)

 * – ( View AfD View log | edits since nomination)

Fails WP:GNG and WP:SPORTBASIC, prong 5 ("Sports biographies must include at least one reference to a source providing significant coverage of the subject, excluding database sources.") I tagged the article for these reasons back in 2022. After more than 18 months without improvement, I redirected it to List of players who appeared in only one game in the NFL (1920–1929). User:BeanieFan11 reverted and suggested I take it to AfD, so here we are. The only non-database source that's been added is this brief piece, noting that Anderson was selected as a mid-season replacement as captain of the 1920 Georgetown football team. The source has no depth at all - it is not SIGCOV and certainly not enough to satisfy WP:GNG. Cbl62 (talk) 21:07, 1 July 2024 (UTC)
 * BTW, my WP:BEFORE searches only turned up brief mentions, but no SIGCOV. E.g., , , . Cbl62 (talk) 21:19, 1 July 2024 (UTC)
 * There's some coverage, e.g. 1 2 3. He was prominent enough that newspapers in the future referred to small centers in the area as being "another Alec Anderson". He was also named to the Times Herald all-time All-Georgetown football team in 1939. I think I could develop this into a C-class article at minimum and possibly into a GA if given the chance (in accordance with WP:NBASIC – If the depth of coverage in any given source is not substantial, then multiple independent sources may be combined to demonstrate notability), like I've done before with other early NFL players, e.g. Frank Steen or Stan Robb. BeanieFan11 (talk) 21:48, 1 July 2024 (UTC)
 * I appreciate the effort, but most of what you've found (like what I found) is brief reportage on one of two things: (i) his mid-season appointment as a substitute team captain at Georgetown (BTW, Georgetown lost every game under Anderson's captaincy), and (ii) a minor injury that he suffered while in college. That seems pretty weak as a basis for notability. And one DC sports columnist listing of Anderson on his 1939 list of his favorite Georgetown football players is not remotely close IMO to something that supports notability. Combine that with the fact that there's zilch, zero, nada of substance about his one-game NFL "career". All of this leaves me with the conclusion that Anderson was not a notable NFL player.  I know you disagree, but I sincerely believe it and wish we would devote all of this time to improving stubs on NFL players who are actually notable, rather than stretching and straining to create a Frankenstein-ish article by cobbling together bits and pieces of passing mentions about someone's high school and college career. Cbl62 (talk) 22:27, 1 July 2024 (UTC)
 * You can call quality articles on NFL players such as Stan Robb "Frankenstein-ish" if you want, but, officially, it is called a good article. WP:NBASIC – the notability criterion for people – is clear that If the depth of coverage in any given source is not substantial, then multiple independent sources may be combined to demonstrate notability. In what way is Wikipedia made better by having Alec Anderson 	Guard 	Washington Senators 	1921 	No 	Boston College, Holy Cross, Georgetown instead of a good article on the subject? BeanieFan11 (talk) 15:01, 2 July 2024 (UTC)
 * I've given my thoughts on Anderson. If you want to devote your impressive talents and clear passion to a barely-notable (or IMO non-notable) player like Alec Anderson, you do you. On the other hand, if you would like to collaborate on improving a low-quality, high-importance article (one that tens or hundreds of thousands of people would read), drop a note at my talk page, and I'm all in. Cbl62 (talk) 16:31, 2 July 2024 (UTC)
 * I'm having trouble with the "another Alec Anderson" link - it knows I have a WL login but says I need to be signed up for a free trial to see the article, which seems off. Can you quote what the source is saying? I agree that referring to other players as "another Alec Anderson" is a pretty good sign that he's notable. -- asilvering (talk) 18:29, 7 July 2024 (UTC)
 * If you're logged into your Newspapers.com account and at the Wikipedia Library url, it should work. But anyway, the quote says: "Here's little Jerry Minihan, who is carded to play center in the Georgetown varsity ... Minihan has fairly earned his job in the middle of the Georgetown line and, with two more years of football at the Hilltop, is quite likely to develop into another Alec Anderson, the best midget center Georgetown ever had." BeanieFan11 (talk) 19:02, 7 July 2024 (UTC)
 * Hm. This all looks like he was notable in a "people knew who he was" sense but not quite a "wikipedia notable" sense. If you were to pull a WP:HEY on the article I and others might be otherwise convinced, but I don't really see it here. -- asilvering (talk) 19:29, 7 July 2024 (UTC)


 * Note: This discussion has been included in the deletion sorting lists for the following topics: Sportspeople, American football,  and Massachusetts. Hey man im josh (talk) 22:38, 1 July 2024 (UTC)
 * Redirect to of List of players who appeared in only one game in the NFL (1920–1929) per nom. Fails GNG as the sources above appear to be routine mentions.  Willing to reconsider if additional coverage is found so please ping me.  Frank   Anchor  14:50, 4 July 2024 (UTC)
 * Redirect to List of players who appeared in only one game in the NFL (1920–1929): Subject does not have the needed WP:SIGCOV from multiple secondary sources to meet the WP:GNG. All that has been presented here are routine mentions, and a search for sources in newspaper archives didn't come up with anything better. Let&#39;srun (talk) 23:43, 4 July 2024 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.