Location in the United States Location in Ohio | |
Established | September 7, 1963 |
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Location | 2121 George Halas Dr NW, Canton, Ohio |
Coordinates | 40°49′16″N81°23′52″W / 40.82111°N 81.39778°W |
Type | Professional sports hall of fame |
President | Jim Porter |
Website | profootballhof.com |
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, 1963, [1] the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coaches, officials, franchise owners, and front-office personnel, almost all of whom made their primary contributions to the game in the National Football League (NFL).
As of the Class of 2023, there are a total of 371 members of the Hall of Fame. [2] Between four and nine new inductees are normally enshrined every year. For the 2020 class, a 20-person group consisting of five modern-era players and an additional 15 members, known as the "Centennial Slate", were elected to the Hall of Fame to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the NFL. [3]
The Chicago Bears have the most inductees, with 32 (40, including players with minor portion of their career with team).
Part of the American football series on the |
History of American football |
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Origins of American football |
Close relations to other codes |
Topics |
The city of Canton, Ohio successfully lobbied the NFL to have the Hall of Fame built in Canton, citing three reasons. First, the NFL was founded in Canton on September 17, 1920, [4] (at that time it was known as the American Professional Football Association). Second, the now-defunct Canton Bulldogs were a successful pro football team and the NFL's first repeat champion (in 1922 and 1923). Third, the Canton community held a fundraising effort that garnered nearly $400,000 (equivalent to $2,978,000in 2022) to get the Hall of Fame built. [5] Groundbreaking for the building was held on August 11, 1962 [6] [7] and the Hall of Fame was opened to the public on September 7, 1963. [1]
The original building contained just two rooms and 19,000 square feet (1,800 m2) of interior space. [8] In April 1970, ground was broken for the first of many expansions. This first expansion cost $620,000, and was completed on May 10, 1971. [1] The size was increased to 34,000 square feet (3,200 m2) by adding another room. The pro shop opened with this expansion. This was also an important milestone for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, as yearly attendance passed the 200,000 mark for the first time. This was at least in some part due to the increase in popularity of professional football caused by the advent of the American Football League and its success in the final two AFL-NFL World Championship games. [8]
In November 1977, work began on another expansion project, costing $1,200,000. It was completed in November 1978, enlarging the gift shop and research library, while doubling the size of the theater. The total size of the hall was now 50,500 square feet (4,690 m2), more than 2.5 times the original size. [8]
The building remained largely unchanged until July 1993. The Hall then announced yet another expansion, costing $9,200,000, and adding a fifth room. This expansion was completed on October 1, 1995, [1] and increased the building's size to 82,307 square feet (7,647 m2). The most notable addition was the GameDay Stadium, which shows an NFL Films production on a 20-by-42-foot (6.1 m × 12.8 m) Cinemascope screen. [8]
In 2013, the Hall of Fame completed its largest expansion and renovation to date; the total size of the hall is now 118,000 square feet (11,000 m2).
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Hall of Fame Village, an estimated $900 million expansion project adjacent to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, completed Phase I of construction in 2022, a Phase II is planned, although no news has been put out recently. [9] [10]
Through 2022, all players in the Hall, except Buffalo Bills guard Billy Shaw, played at least some part of their professional career in the NFL; Shaw played his entire career in the American Football League (AFL) prior to the 1970 AFL–NFL merger.
Though several Hall of Famers have had AFL, Canadian Football League, World Football League, United States Football League, Arena Football League and/or Indoor Football League experience, and there is a division of the Hall devoted to alternative leagues such as these, to this point no player, coach or contributor have made the Hall without having made significant contributions to either the NFL, AFL, or All-America Football Conference.
For CFL stars, there is a corresponding Canadian Football Hall of Fame; only one player, Warren Moon, and two coaches, Bud Grant and Marv Levy, are enshrined in both halls.
Again for the Arena Football League, there is also a corresponding Arena Football Hall of Fame; similarly, only one player, Kurt Warner, has been enshrined into both halls. The Indoor Football League, in which Terrell Owens played one season, [12] has also established a Hall of Fame.
The Chicago Bears have the most Hall of Famers among the league's franchises with either 40 or 32 enshrinees depending on whether players that only played a small portion of their careers with the team are counted. [13]
Enshrinees are selected by a 50-person committee, largely made up of media members, officially known as the Selection Committee. [14]
Each city that has a current NFL team sends one representative from the local media to the committee; a city with more than one franchise sends one representative for each franchise.
There are also 15 at-large delegates, including one representative from the Pro Football Writers Association. Except for the PFWA representative, who is appointed to a two-year term, all other appointments are open-ended, and terminated only by death, incapacitation, retirement, or resignation.
To be eligible for the nominating process, a player or coach must have been retired for at least five years; any other contributor such as a team owner or executive can be voted in at any time.
Fans may nominate any player, coach or contributor by simply writing via letter or email to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Selection Committee is then polled three times by mail (once in March, once in September, and once in October) to eventually narrow the list to 25 semi-finalists. In November, the committee then selects 15 finalists by mail balloting.
A Seniors and Contributors Committee, subcommittees of the overall Selection Committee, nominate Seniors (those players who completed their careers more than 25 years ago) and Contributors (individuals who made contributions to the game in areas other than playing or coaching). The Seniors Committee and Contributors Committee add one or two finalist(s) on alternating years, which makes a final ballot of 18 finalists under consideration by the full committee each year. Committee members are instructed to only consider a candidate's professional football contributions and to disregard all other factors. [15]
The Selection Committee then meets on "Selection Saturday", the day before each Super Bowl game to elect a new class. To be elected, a finalist must receive at least 80% support from the Committee. At least four, but no more than nine, candidates are elected annually. [14]
In 2020, a special Blue-Ribbon Panel selected an additional 15 new members, known as the Centennial Slate, to be inducted into the Hall of Fame to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the NFL. Among these 15 members, ten would be seniors. [16] On January 11, during the weekend of the NFL divisional playoffs, Hall of Fame president David Baker went on the set of The NFL Today to personally tell Bill Cowher, who was working as an analyst on that pregame show, that he was selected as one of the members of the Centennial Slate.
One day later, Baker went on the set of Fox NFL Sunday to inform Jimmy Johnson, working as an analyst on Fox's studio show, that he was also selected. [17] The rest of the Centennial Slate members were revealed on January 15. [3]
The remaining 13 members of the Centennial Slate elected to the Hall of Fame in 2020 are: Jim Covert, Winston Hill, Harold Carmichael, Duke Slater, Ed Sprinkle, Steve Sabol, Alex Karras, Bobby Dillon, Donnie Shell, George Young, Cliff Harris, Mac Speedie, and former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue. [18]
They were enshrined in 2021 due to COVID-19, but are still considered part of the Centennial Class of 2020.
The enshrinement ceremony is the main event of the annual Enshrinement Week Powered by Johnson Controls that kicks off every NFL season. The celebration is held in Canton, throughout the week surrounding the enshrinement ceremony. [19] All members of the Hall of Fame are invited to attend the annual ceremony. [15]
Enshrinees do not go into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a member of a certain team. Rather, all of an enshrinee's affiliations are listed equally. While the Baseball Hall of Fame plaques generally depict each of their inductees wearing a particular club's cap (with a few exceptions, such as Catfish Hunter and Greg Maddux), the bust sculptures of each Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee make no reference to any specific team. In addition to the bust that goes on permanent display at the Hall of Fame, inductees receive a distinctive Gold Jacket, and previous inductees nearly always wear theirs when participating at the new inductee ceremonies. [20]
Previous induction ceremonies were held during the next day (Sunday from 1999 to 2005, Saturday in 2006), situated on the steps of the Hall of Fame building.
Starting in 2002, the ceremony was moved to Fawcett Stadium (now Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium), where it was held from 1963 to 1965. Since 2007, the enshrinement ceremony has been held on the Saturday night, since 2017 two days after the Hall of Fame Game. [21] In 2022, the ceremony was moved to noon ET. [22]
The Hall of Fame Game, the annual NFL preseason opener, is played in Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium at Hall of Fame Village in Canton, Ohio. In 2017, the Hall of Fame Game was held for the first time on Thursday night. The preseason classic kicks off Enshrinement Week Powered by Johnson Controls and officially kicks off the NFL preseason.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame museum includes a permanent exhibit recognizing the inductees of the Black College Football Hall of Fame. The two organizations partnered in 2016, also creating the Black College Football Hall of Fame Classic played at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. [23] [24]
The Ralph Hay Pioneer Award is an American football award given by the Pro Football Hall of Fame periodically to an individual who has made significant and innovative contributions to professional football. The award is named after Canton Bulldogs owner and National Football League founder and chief organizer Ralph Hay. It was originally called the Daniel F. Reeves Pioneer Award, named after Los Angeles Rams owner and hall of fame inductee Dan Reeves. The award is the highest and the most prestigious honor given by the Pro Football Hall of Fame, other than enshrinement. [25] As of 2022, Steve Sabol, Art McNally, Marion Motley and Bill Willis are the only people to receive the award and also become a Hall of Fame inductee.
Elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame | |
Year | Recipient | Notability | Note(s) |
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1972 | Fred Gehrke | Designer of the first football helmet logo | |
1975 | Arch Ward | Founder of the Chicago College All-Star Game and All-America Football Conference | |
1986 | John Facenda | Voice of NFL Films | Awarded the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award in 2021 [26] |
1992 | David Boss | Photographer, artist, and logo designer | |
2001 | George Toma | Groundskeeper at Arrowhead Stadium | |
2004 | City of Pottsville, Pennsylvania | Birthplace of the Anthracite League and Pottsville Maroons | |
2007 | Steve Sabol | Co-founder of NFL Films | Inducted to the Hall of Fame as a contributor in 2020 |
2012 | Art McNally | Supervisor of officials for the NFL and World League, 1968–95 | Inducted to the Hall of Fame as a contributor in 2022 |
2016 | Joe Browne [27] | 50-year employee of the NFL central office | |
2022 | Marion Motley [28] | Reintegrated professional football in 1946 | Inducted to the Hall of Fame 1968 |
Woody Strode | Reintegrated professional football in 1946 | ||
Kenny Washington | Reintegrated professional football in 1946 | ||
Bill Willis | Reintegrated professional football in 1946 | Inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1977 |
The small number of candidates elected each year has helped foster what some perceive as an inequality of representation at certain positions or in certain categories of player, to the exclusion of defensive players in general (defensive backs and outside linebackers in particular), special teams players, wide receivers, and those from the "seniors" category. There has also been criticism that deserving players have been overlooked because they played most or all of their careers on poor teams. [29]
In 2009, a New York Times article criticized the Hall for not including punter Ray Guy on its ballot. [30] Guy was eventually inducted as part of the 2014 class for the Hall of Fame.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is unique among North American major league sports halls of fame in that officials have been generally excluded. Only two figures, both inducted for their work as supervisor or director of officiating as opposed to game officiating—1966 inductee Hugh "Shorty" Ray [31] and 2022 inductee Art McNally—have been enshrined; McNally is the only inductee in the Hall to have experience as an in-game official. [32] [33] The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and Hockey Hall of Fame have each inducted game officials as members.
Another prominent absence from the Hall is sports-journalist Howard Cosell, who has yet to either be awarded the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award or even get fully inducted despite his well-known association with Monday Night Football ; an August 2010 Sports Illustrated article hints that Cosell may have even been "blacklisted" by the NFL. [34] [35]
As the late 2010s approached, a number of controversial and polarizing figures began to reach eligibility for the Hall. For example, Darren Sharper's career achievements make him a candidate for the Hall, but there is debate over whether he should be inducted due to his conviction on multiple rape and drug distribution charges after he retired. [36]
Terrell Owens' exclusion from the Hall in his first two years of eligibility despite his strong individual statistics was a subject of public debate: [37] while Owens was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2018, he refused to attend the enshrinement ceremony. [38]
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and preserving the history of basketball. Dedicated to Canadian-American physician James Naismith, who invented the sport in Springfield, the Hall of Fame inducted its first class in 1959, before opening its first facility on February 17, 1968.
Alvin Ray "Pete" Rozelle was an American businessman and executive. Rozelle served as the commissioner of the National Football League (NFL) for nearly thirty years, from January 1960 until his retirement in November 1989. He became the youngest commissioner in NFL history at just the age of 33. He is credited with making the NFL into one of the most successful sports leagues in the world.
Alan Cedric Page is an American retired Minnesota state Supreme Court judge and former professional football player.
Winston Cordell Hill was an American professional football player who was an offensive tackle in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL), primarily with the New York Jets. He played college football for the Texas Southern Tigers.
William Ray Guy was an American professional football punter who played for the Oakland / Los Angeles Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). Guy was a first-team All-American selection in 1972 as a senior for the Southern Miss Golden Eagles, and was the first pure punter ever to be drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft, when the Raiders selected him with the 23rd overall pick in the 1973 NFL Draft. He won three Super Bowls with the Raiders. Guy was elected to both the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2014. An eight-time All-Pro, Guy is widely considered to be the greatest punter of all-time.
Elvin Lamont Bethea is an American former professional football player who spent his entire career as a defensive end with the Houston Oilers of the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL). He played college football at North Carolina A&T State University and was the first person from the school to be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, having been inducted in 2003.
Stephen Douglas Sabol was an American filmmaker. He was the president and one of the founders of NFL Films, along with his father Ed. He was also a widely exhibited visual artist.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame Game is an annual National Football League (NFL) preseason exhibition game in Canton, Ohio, held the weekend of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's induction ceremonies. The game is played at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium, part of Hall of Fame Village and located adjacent to the Hall of Fame building. The first game was played in 1962, when ground was broken for the Hall of Fame.
The 1977 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held May 3–4, 1977, at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, New York. The league also held its first supplemental draft, which took place after the regular draft and before the regular season.
The 1976 National Football League Draft was an annual player selection meeting held April 8–9, 1976, at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, New York.
The 1974 NFL Draft took place at the Americana Hotel in New York City, New York, on January 29–30, 1974. Each of the 26 NFL teams were granted 17 selections for a total of 442 picks.
Andrea Kremer is a multi-Emmy Award-winning American television sports journalist. She previously called Thursday Night Football games for Amazon Prime Video making sports history, along with Hannah Storm, by becoming the first all-women booth to call any major men's team sport, not just football. Kremer is also Chief Correspondent for the NFL Network and previously led the network's coverage and in-depth reporting on health and safety. Her other current roles include correspondent for HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel as well as co-host of We Need To Talk, the first ever all-female nationally televised weekly sports show on CBS. Until the 2011 season, she worked as a sideline reporter for NBC on the network's coverage of Sunday Night Football.
Arthur Ignatius McNally was an American football executive who was director of officiating for the National Football League (NFL) from 1968 to 1991. Before becoming director of officiating—succeeding Mark Duncan, who had held the position from 1964 to 1968—McNally served as a field judge and referee in the NFL for nine years from 1959 to 1967. During a 22-year span, he officiated over 3,000 football, baseball, and basketball games, which included one year in the National Basketball Association (NBA). In 2022, McNally became the first NFL game official to be enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Hugh Light "Shorty" Ray was an American football player and official. He was the first technical advisor on the rules and supervisor of officials for the National Football League (NFL) from 1938 to 1952. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1966.
The 1971 National Football League Draft was held January 28–29, 1971, at the Belmont Plaza Hotel in New York City, New York. The Boston Patriots, who did not officially change their name to New England Patriots until after the draft, used the first overall pick of the draft to select quarterback Jim Plunkett. It was the first draft where the first three selections were quarterbacks.
William Goldwyn Nunn Jr. was an American sportswriter, newspaper editor and football scout for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the National Football League (NFL) and is a 2021 member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Due to the fame of his son, actor William G. Nunn III, he was also known as Bill Nunn Sr.
The San Francisco Dons football program were the intercollegiate American football team for University of San Francisco located in San Francisco, California. The team competed in NCAA Division II as a Division II Independent football program. The school's first football team was fielded in 1917. The program disbanded in 1982.
The Arena Football Hall of Fame is the official Hall of Fame of the Arena Football League (AFL). The inaugural class was announced in 1998 and the Hall was not formally organized until 2011. Prior to 2011, there were four classes: 1998–2000 and then another in 2002. The Arena Football Hall of Fame is the highest honor for players, coaches, and contributors involved in the AFL. The voting process consists of fans and current Hall of Fame members voting on the finalists. The finalists are selected by the League Office in which they collect ballots from the Arena Football Hall of Fame Advisory Board, a group which consisted of former players, executives, journalists and media personnel with a long-time involvement in the league. The league began to decline in 2015, so no Hall of Fame announcements have been made since this year. The league folded for a second time in 2019. After the league's second closure, ArenaFan, a long-running fan site, announced it had taken over operations of the Arena Football Hall of Fame.
The 9th Annual NFL Honors was an awards presentation by the National Football League that honored its players from the 2019 NFL season. It was held on February 1, 2020, at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami, Florida and was pre-recorded for same-day broadcast on Fox in the United States at 8:00 PM/7:00 CT. Five inductees announced during taping of the ceremony will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio August 5–9, 2021, the event having been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was hosted by Steve Harvey for the second consecutive year.