Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/George Bednar


 * 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 delete. Deor (talk) 13:04, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

George Bednar

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Non-notable college football player who was chosen in the 1964 NFL and AFL drafts, but never played in a regular season NFL or AFL game. Subject not entitled to a presumption of notability under the specific guidelines of WP:NCOLLATH (no major awards, etc.) or WP:NGRIDIRON (never played regular season game in NFL, AFL or other top-tier league). Notwithstanding assertions in article and various 2007 obituaries that subject played for NFL's St. Louis Cardinals, NFL.com (see here) and Pro-Football-Reference.com (see here) confirm no player by that name ever played in the NFL or AFL. Other references show that Bednar was drafted in both the NFL and AFL, but never played. A review of the most recent Notre Dame football media guide confirms that Bednar did play tight end for the mediocre Notre Dame teams of the early 1960s.

Everybody with me so far? Okay, here's where it gets interesting: when Bednar died in 2007, he got ink with a wire service obituary that inaccurately claimed (in some versions) that he was the inventor of the Harvey Wallbanger cocktail. Wrong. He was not the inventor (see the Wikipedia article for details), but he was a salesman for the distributor of Galliano (key ingredient in the drink) and was responsible for promoting the cocktail. That's a long way of saying the subject is a minor footnote in the history of a now largely passe cocktail. The subject clearly falls in the grey area between completely NON-NOTABLE per GNG and NON-NOTABLE per WP:ONEEVENT. Accordingly, I suggest we REDIRECT to Harvey Wallbanger, and ensure the subject's immortality there with one or two well-sourced sentences and a couple of footnotes. Bottom Line: there is not enough substance available to justify a stand-alone Wikipedia article for George Bednar. Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 11:06, 3 August 2014 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Sportspeople-related deletion discussions.  Jinkinson   talk to me  11:49, 3 August 2014 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of American football-related deletion discussions.  Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 15:56, 3 August 2014 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Food and drink-related deletion discussions. Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 16:02, 3 August 2014 (UTC)


 * Comment. The article is in truly horrible shape and has been since the stub was created seven years ago.  Also, the Wallbanger claim seems dubious at best and should be corrected if inaccurate. That said, I can't express an opinion yet as to whether or not, based on his football career, he passes WP:GNG or other criteria.  I'll take a stab at investigating. Cbl62 (talk) 23:01, 3 August 2014 (UTC)
 * Caveat emptor notice: I was intrigued by the cocktail stuff and will be sipping on one or more Harvey Wallbangers as I do my research ... have always been looking to be the Galliano in my bar to good use! Cbl62 (talk) 23:05, 3 August 2014 (UTC)
 * Speaking as former bartender, Cbl, a HWB is about the only decent cocktail you can make with Galliano. When I was in law school, I slung drinks in a place that had a single, 20-year-old bottle of Galliano -- never opened.  It was one of the old Galliano bottles, too, one of the obnoxiously tall ones that did not fit on any of the regular bottle shelves.  Carthago delenda est ====> Bednar must be redirected!  Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 23:20, 3 August 2014 (UTC)


 * Delete. Drink was ok, but article not so much. I've rewritten the article to ensure that the article is sourced, at least while we assess it.  Based on my review of multiple databases, I could not find coverage of Bednar with any depth whatsoever, except for the 2007 obit from the Wilkes-Barre hometown newspaper that appears to be rife with errors.  Not enough IMO to pass WP:GNG.  As for WP:NGRIDIRON, Bednar was listed on the Cardinals roster during the week of Sept. 19, 1964 (i.e., after the first regular season game was played), but I find no record of his being on the roster in any other week.  Also no references to him in any game coverage that I could find, and as noted by Dirtlawyer, nfl.com seems to indicate he never appeared in a pro game.  I would expect more coverage about someone who played for Notre Dame (he did play for ND according to reliable sources) and who was picked to play in the Blue-Gray and College All-Star games, but I'm not finding it.  Linemen just don't seem to get the coverage that players at other positions do. Cbl62 (talk) 23:59, 3 August 2014 (UTC)
 * The Notre Dame teams of 1960 to 1963 were some of the most mediocre Irish teams ever fielded, before Dan Devine Ara Parseghian revived their fortunes in the mid-1960s. The 2012 ND football media guide confirmed he was a letterman and his NFL Draft status; neither is in dispute.  All of that having been said, his claim to fame, such as it is, was being the promoter of the Harvey Wallbanger.  BTW, where are you getting access to the old Sporting News images?  I could use those for All-American references -- TSN's on-line articles all disappear within months, so even the All-America teams for the 2000s cannot be accessed through the TSN website.  Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 00:15, 4 August 2014 (UTC)
 * Complete TSN archives available for relatively small annual subscription at https://paperofrecord.hypernet.ca/ I use it mostly for my old baseball articles, as they didn't even start covering football until after WWII. Cbl62 (talk) 00:18, 4 August 2014 (UTC)
 * Yeah, the problem is that the TSN All-America football teams have been considered major selectors by the NCAA for determining consensus All-Americans, and there is no Google Archive, etc., where you can go to the view old TSN articles. Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 00:50, 4 August 2014 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of United States of America-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 15:19, 4 August 2014 (UTC)


 * Delete Fails to meet WP:GNG and there's nothing to show he meets WP:NGRIDIRON or WP:NCOLLATH. Jakejr (talk) 05:15, 8 August 2014 (UTC)
 * Delete as above TheFrontDeskMust (talk) — Preceding undated comment added 22:26, 10 August 2014 (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.