2015 Hall of Fame class announced

by Andy | Jan 31, 2015 | Hall of Fame

The late Junior Seau highlights the 2015 Pro Football Hall of Fame class.

Courtesy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame

The Charger and Patriots great is the lone first-year eligible enshrinee. He’ll be joined by seven others, including senior candidate Mick Tingelhoff and two contributors in the first year that category has existed: Ron Wolf and Bill Polian, both of whom built multi championship teams.

Other enshrinees will include: Jerome Bettis, Tim Brown, Will Shields and Charles Haley.

The selections mean that despite having four semifinalists, the Greatest Show on Turf – including first timers Kurt Warner and Orlando Pace – were left out of the final selection. Three coaches – Jimmy Johnson,  Tony Dungy and Don Coryell – were also not selected.

Marvin Harrison was another notable candidate not selected. Harrison, Pace, Warner, Tony Dungy and Kevin Greene were the final five modern era candidates eliminated from consideration by Hall voters. (more…)

Opponent, teammate pull for Tingelhoff’s HOF enshrinement

by Andy | Jan 31, 2015 | Hall of Fame

Photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings

We’re mere hours from learning who will make the cut for Hall of Fame enshrinement in 2015. At a minimum, this year’s senior candidate has plenty of support.

Shortly after learning in mid-2014 that Mick Tingelhoff had been by the Hall of Fame’s senior committee as its lone candidate, long-time Packers defensive end Willie Davis indicated that he was surprised.

But he did not mean that as a slight in any way against the 17-year Vikings great.

“I thought he was already in and couldn’t believe that he wasn’t.” Davis says. (more…)

2015 Hall of Fame Finalists Unveiled

by Andy | Jan 8, 2015 | Hall of Fame

Two members of the St. Louis Rams’ Greatest Show on Turf era survived the cut down from 26

Courtesy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame

semifinalists to 15 finalists eligible for this year’s class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Kurt Warner and Orlando Pace along with San Diego LB Junior Seau are first-time eligible candidates who advance to the next round of votes.

They join 12 more modern-era candidates who will be voted on during the weekend of the Super Bowl.

The 12 are: (more…)

Pro Football HOF unveils semifinalists for 2015

by Andy | Nov 18, 2014 | Hall of Fame

Four St. Louis Rams are among eight first-time eligible candidates who were named by Pro Football Hall of Fame voters as semifinalists for the class of 2015. Kurt Warner, Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt and Orlando Pace were part of the “Greatest Show on Turf” that won a Super Bowl and played in another during the late 1990s and early 2000s.

The other four first-timers named semifinalists were Edgerrin James, Kevin Mawae, Junior Seau and Ty Law, rounding out a class

Courtesy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame

that voter Dan Pompei called one of the strongest first-year eligible classes in a long time.

The NFL Network unveiled those eight and 18 more candidates who remain alive as semifinalists on Tuesday night during an hour-long special.

While it’s a strong first-year class, those candidates don’t have an easy ride to induction. Most see Seau as a lock and several more say Warner and Pace are likely candidates, as well, but their cases for enshrinement in their first years of eligibility are less certain. And they face tremendous competition among the 18 semifinalists who are beyond their first years of eligibility. (more…)

Wolf, Polian are first HOF Contributor Candidates

by Andy | Oct 22, 2014 | Hall of Fame

The Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Contributor Committee has nominated Bills and Colts GM Bill Polian and Packers GM Ron Wolf as the first two candidates for enshrinement through the new contributor position created earlier this year.

Polian and Wolf were selected from a list that reportedly included 11 candidates:

• Paul Tagliabue
• Eddie DeBartolo
• Pat Bowlen
• Art Modell
• Art McNally
• Steve Sabol
• Gil Brandt
• Bobby Beathard
• George Young
• Polian
• Wolf

Polian and Wolf will advance automatically to the final vote, along with senior committee nominee Mick Tingelhoff, where they will need a “yes” vote from 80 percent of the full committee in order to earn induction into the Hall of Fame.

Polian was instrumental in building the Buffalo Bills into four-time Super Bowl participants in the 1990s and he also drafted Peyton Manning to Indianapolis, which led to a Super Bowl win and a number of playoff appearances. Wolf rebuilt a long-wayward Packers team, trading for Brett Favre and winning a Super Bowl in the process.

The addition of the contributor slots has been controversial. Many favored separating executives, referees and other non-players from the players to give them a better chance to compete. Regular readers to this space largely agreed, but were critical that doing so meant one fewer senior committee selection in three of the next five seasons.

More coming on this announcement later. Share your thoughts on these two nominations below.

 Loading ...