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Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall
of fame for professional American football in the United States with an emphasis on the
National Football League . Opened in Canton, Ohio, on September 7, 1963, with 17 charter
enshrinees,. The Pro Football Hall of Fame is unique among North American major league
sports halls of fame in that officials are not inducted. 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. History
Canton, Ohio was selected as the location for the Hall of Fame for three reasons: First,
the NFL was founded in Canton in 1920 (at that time it was known as the American Professional
Football Association); second, the now-defunct Canton Bulldogs were a successful NFL team
based in Canton during the first few years of the league; and finally, the community
of Canton successfully lobbied the NFL to have the Hall built in their city. Groundbreaking
for the building was held on August 11, 1962. The original building contained just two rooms,
and 19,000 square feet (1,800 m2) of interior space.
In April 1970, ground was broken for the first of many expansions. This first expansion cost
$620,000, and was completed in May 1971. 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.
In November 1977, work began on another expansion project, costing US$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. The building remained largely unchanged until
July 1993. The Hall then announced yet another expansion, costing US$9,200,000, and adding
a fifth room. This expansion was completed in October 1995. The building's size was increased
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-foot (6.1 m) by 42-foot (13 m) Cinemascope screen.
Inductees Through 2014, all inductees except one, played
some part of their professional career in the NFL (the lone exception is Buffalo Bills
guard Billy Shaw, who 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 and United States Football League experience, and there is a
division of the Hall devoted to alternative leagues such as this, to this point no players
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 parallel Canadian Football Hall of Fame;
only one player (Warren Moon) and one coach (Bud Grant) are in both halls.
The Chicago Bears have the most Hall of Famers among the league's franchises with 32 enshrinees.
Selection process Board of Selectors
Enshrinees are selected by a 46-person committee, largely made up of sportswriters, officially
known as the Board of Selectors. Usually, the representative is a beat writer
for the major newspaper in that city, even though this isn't always the case; for instance,
the Atlanta Falcons are represented by Len Pasquarelli (who no longer writes for the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution), and the Jacksonville Jaguars are represented by WJXT sports director
Sam Kouvaris. There are also 11 at-large delegates (usually
cities that lose NFL teams keep representation on the board; Los Angeles is the only current
city to have lost an NFL team and not been granted an expansion team), and 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. Voting procedure
To be eligible for the nominating process, a player or coach must have been retired at
least five years. Any other contributor such as a team owner or executive can be voted
in at any time. Unlike the Baseball Hall of Fame, which explicitly waives its five-year
waiting period for players who die during that time or while active, the Pro Football
Hall of Fame has no provision to waive its waiting period.
Fans may nominate any player, coach or contributor by simply writing to the Pro Football Hall
of Fame via letter or email. The Selection Committee is then polled three times by mail
to eventually narrow the list to 25 semifinalists: once in March, once in September, and once
in October. In November, the committee then selects 15 finalists by mail balloting. Nine
members of the Selection Committee also serve as a subcommittee known as the Seniors Committee
to screen candidates who finished their careers 25 or more years prior. The Seniors Committee
then adds two finalists from that group which makes a final ballot of 17 nominees.
The Selection Committee then meets the day before each Super Bowl game to elect a new
class. To be elected, a finalist must receive at least 80 percent support from the Board,
with at least four, but no more than seven, candidates being elected annually. If less
than four candidates get 80 percent of the vote, then the top four vote-getters will
get in that year. If more than seven get 80 percent, then only the top seven vote-getters
will be inducted. Induction ceremony
The induction ceremony is usually held the first full weekend in August. An enshrinement
festival is held throughout the week in Canton leading up to the induction ceremonies.
Enshrinees do not go into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a member of a certain team.
Rather, all of an inductee'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), 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 golden jacket
and previous inductees nearly always wear theirs when participating at new inductee
ceremonies. Previous induction ceremonies were held during
the day (Sunday from 1999–2005, Saturday in 2006), situated on the steps of the Hall
of Fame building. Starting in 2002, the ceremony was moved to Fawcett Stadium. Since 2007 the
enshrinement ceremony has been held on Saturday night.
Pro Football Hall of Fame Game The Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, an annual
NFL pre-season exhibition game, is held the day after the induction ceremony and officially
kicks off the NFL Preseason. Criticism
The Pro Football Hall of Fame uses only media representatives to select inductees. This,
along with its policy of inducting only a maximum of seven players a year (six in certain
years past), with a current maximum of two "senior" candidates and five "non-seniors,"
has been criticized by sports columnists, former players, and football fans. Such critics
would like to see solutions such as expanding the number of selectors, rotating panel members
on and off the selection committee, and allowing former players to participate in the voting.
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,
with defensive players in general and defensive backs and outside linebackers in particular,
special teams players, wide receivers, deserving players who primarily played on bad teams,
and those from the "seniors" category, being slighted. This has included a 2009 New York
Times article which criticized the Hall for not including punter Ray Guy on its ballot,
also noting that the Hall does not have an inductee representing the position. (While
inductee Sammy Baugh played regularly as a punter, as well as defensive back, he is most
widely known as a quarterback.) Another glaring oversight is sports-journalist Howard Cosell.
An August 2010 Sports Illustrated article hints that he may have even been "blacklisted"
by the NFL. There has also been criticism that certain players get overlooked because
their team underproduced during their career. The Hall has also recently been the object
of complaints by retired players from both the NFL and AFL, who claim that the Hall has
not helped injured, disabled and mentally distressed retirees, including numerous members
of the Hall of Fame, obtain a reasonable care and retirement package from the NFL and the
players' union, the NFLPA. The selectors have also been criticized for
their unwillingness to acknowledge Canadian Football League (CFL) experience as a factor
in qualifying potential inductees. For example, Cookie Gilchrist's six straight CFL All-Star
selections (followed by four consecutive AFL All-Star picks) appear to bear no weight on
his consideration (Gilchrist also had antisocial tendencies stemming from the onset of chronic
traumatic encephalopathy, which led him to decline most Hall of Fame honors during his
lifetime). The most commonly cited reason for this is because there is already a Canadian
Football Hall of Fame for that purpose. This, of course, puts players who played for a shorter
time in both leagues, and had success in both (such as Gilchrist and Doug Flutie), at a
significant disadvantage. As of 2012, only one player (Warren Moon) and one coach (Bud
Grant) are in both the Canadian and American Halls.