The highlight of a career for a professional athlete is to be inducted into his or her sport’s hall of fame. One of the most distinguished Halls of Fame is the Pro Football shrine in Canton, Ohio.
The best of the best who ever played professional football are enshrined there. A day walking through the hallowed halls there will put one face-to-face with the busts of Red Grange, Ernie Nevers, Jim Brown, Johnny Unitas, Sonny Jurgensen, Jim Thorpe, et al.
The highlight of a career for a professional athlete is to be inducted into his or her sport’s hall of fame. One of the most distinguished Halls of Fame is the Pro Football shrine in Canton, Ohio.
The best of the best who ever played professional football are enshrined there. A day walking through the hallowed halls there will put one face-to-face with the busts of Red Grange, Ernie Nevers, Jim Brown, Johnny Unitas, Sonny Jurgensen, Jim Thorpe, et al.
In the early days of the hall and the enshrinement of players into it, there was no need to ponder over a candidate’s reputation off the field. It was perfectly reasonable to consider only what a potential hall of famer did on the field.
Today, with the omnipresent media not only reporting what happens on the field of play but also what a player does off the field and with the successful promotion over the years by the sports media of sportsmanship and character and the wholesomeness of competition, perhaps it has become necessary to consider a candidate for the hall not just by his performance on the field but also his performance on the stage of life. Should former players who have had run ins with the law or have bad character flaws be enshrined within the sacred walls of the Pro Football Hall of Fame? Should only those players who can be held up as good role models for our kids be showcased? After all, the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York has an ineligible list which includes former players who were involved with gambling or gamblers or have been accused with possibly “throwing” a game. These players are banned from consideration for enshrinement into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Should a player’s standing within the community as well as his standing with his fellow players be in the mix when they are considered for selection? If so, then that means that it takes more than stats to put a player into the hall.
And what of players who in their days on the field dominated the statistics and then only years after they have left the game their records are broken by others. Don’t they deserve to be in the Hall? I refer to such greats as Art Monk and Larry Brown, both of the Washington Redskins. Monk played with the Redskins’ Super bowl teams of the 1980s and early 90s and Brown was influential in getting the Redskins to Super Bowl VII in 1973.
Rules for Enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame
The people assigned with the task of selecting those players who are worthy for a place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame is a 39 member Board of Selectors. This group consists of one media representative from each city that has a National Football League franchise. New York has two representatives on the board because there are two teams in New York. The board also includes a representative of the Pro Football Writers of America as well as six at-large delegates.
The only criteria for a player to be considered is that he must be retired for at least five seasons and he had to have been named to at least one Pro Bowl team. Anyone, including a plain ordinary fan of the sport, can nominate a player for enshrinement. Players who have been retired for 25 years or more are considered by a senior committee which includes nine veteran members of the overall Selection Committee.
Members of the Selection Committee receive a list of 100 or so names. This list consists of players who have been previously considered as well as new names that had not been considered before. The members of the Committee vote to reduce the list first down to 25 and then down to 15.
The Saturday before the Super Bowl in the city that is hosting the game, the members of the Selection Committee meet to consider the 15 as well as two players categorized as seniors and vote for the player they believe should be in the Hall. A class of no more than six and no less than three is selected.
Rick Gosselin of the Dallas Morning News is a member of the Selection Committee. He said that when he is considering a player for election into the Hall, “statistics are a barometer. Individual and team honors also weigh into the process. I talk to players and coaches from that particular player’s era and ask them about the legitimacy of his candidacy and how he may compare with other Hall of Famers. Off the field stuff, good or bad, is not supposed to factor in. It is what the guy does on the field that matters.”
Ira Miller of the San Francisco Chronicle and another member of the Selection Committee explained that he is most concerned with the player’s impact on the game. “The first question I always ask is, `Can you write the history of the game without this man?’ If the answer is no, I consider him. If the answer is yes, I often will drop him from consideration,” he said.
Woodrow Paige of the Denver Post and a member of the Selection Committee said that he pays very little attention to a player’s stats. Instead, he takes into account the player’s career. He gave the example of John Elway, who was enshrined into the Hall this year. Elway had won two super bowls and had played in more. Paige also pointed to the career of Joe Montana, who also played in several super bowls. “A Supreme Court justice said that he didn’t know the definition of obscenity, but he knew it when he saw it. I feel the same way when it comes to a player who should be in the Hall of Fame. I know it when I see it,” he said. Paige said that he talks to players in researching a candidate and he volunteered that there have been players he didn’t like when they played, but he voted for them for the Hall. “Reputation off the field has nothing to do with it,” he added, “only what happens on the football field.”
Cliff Christl of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel commented that he believes a Hall of Fame player should have had a special skills — the ability to make big plays in big games, the ability to dominate the line of scrimmage, etc. He said that he also takes longevity into account. “Not total years played, but the number of years played at a highly productive level. For example, I believe Randy Moss is clearly a Hall of Fame talent. Now would I vote for him if his career ended tomorrow after six seasons? I don’t think so. After seven? Maybe. After eight, if he maintains his level of production, probably. On the other hand, I don’t think Cris Carter was a Hall of Fame talent. Despite his stats, somebody will have to do a lot of convincing to get me to vote for him,” explained Christl.
Victor Gold writes on sports, politics, and entertainment/culture for the Washingtonian Magazine. Prior to that, he was a sports writer covering football, baseball and boxing for the Washington Post. Gold believes that pro sports and the media that covers it has made a big thing out of sportsmanship, character, and values in sports. “There’s some hypocrisy here when they are talking about character and then elect someone to the Hall of Fame you don’t want your kids to admire,” he said. “What does sports mean to people? What does sportsmanship mean? A player’s reputation off the field should be a factor. Players elected to the Hall should be a symbol for our young people.”
Gold believes that statistics should be a factor, but the player’s overall character both on and off the field and his involvement as a team leader and team player should also be considered.
How can these elements be considered in the process? Although many members of the Selection Committee seek out information about a player who is a candidate for the Hall by talking to others who have played with and against him, shouldn’t the players and coaches involved in the player’s career be more officially involved in the selection process? Shouldn’t they have a vote?
How Other Halls of Fame Do It
The Hockey Hall of Fame is one that puts extreme weight on former players and coaches of the sport to do the selection. In fact, the Hockey Hall of Fame Selection Committee consists of only former players, coaches, executives or writers who have covered the sport. Moreover, only members of the Selection Committee can nominate candidates for enshrinement. According to the rules of this Hall, members of the Selection Committee consider a player’s ability, his sportsmanship, character, and his contribution to the team or teams and to the game of hockey in general.
The Baseball Hall of Fame relies on members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America to select enshrinees. Only writers who have been active for at least 10 years are eligible to vote.
For a baseball player to be eligible he must have been an active player in the Major Leagues 20 years to five years prior to election. He must have played in 10 seasons and cannot be included on the baseball ineligible list. The criteria for voting for a player is the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team or teams on which he has played. The fact that a player may have batted .400 or more for one year, pitched a perfect game, hit 60, 65, 70, or 73 home runs or had performed some other outstanding achievement does not automatically elect him into the hall.
The Basketball Hall of Fame process starts with a screening committee. There are actually four screening committees — a USA committee; a women’s committee; a veterans’ committee, which considers players whose careers ended 35 years before his or her nomination; and an International committee. The members of these committees will recommend individuals for enshrinement. Each committee includes seven members. To advance a candidate on in the process that candidate must receive five votes from the appropriate screening committee.
Those candidates who have received the five votes go on to the scrutiny of the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees determines if the player has damaged the integrity of the game of basketball. If it is found that a player has damaged the integrity of the game, that player is dropped from consideration. Players deemed worthy by the Board of Trustees go on to review by the Honors Committee. As is the case with the screening committee, there are four Honors Committees each consisting of 24 members. Each committee has a core membership of 12. Twelve specialists are added. According to the Basketball Hall of Fame, “These specialists have an intimate understanding of the specific category of play considered by their committee.” A candidate must receive a minimum of 18 votes from an Honors Committee to be enshrined into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
The people who participate on the various committees are or have been involved with basketball and are players, ex-players, coaches, executives, and even athletic directors.
Expand the Selection Committee
Rick Gosselin noted that “the great majority of my peers on the committee solicit the opinions of coaches and players on candidates. So those voices are already being heard. Coaches and players are also brought in as consultants when the senior candidates are being discussed. I’ve heard Bill Walsh, Bill Parcells, Chuck Noll and many others quoted by committee members during candidate discussions at the annual meeting. So it’s not like the former players and coaches have been cut out of the process. What they say on and off the record weighs heavily in who gets inducted each year.”
Cliff Christl also seeks counsel from former players and coaches as well as personnel people. He volunteered that for many years he wrote detailed scouting reports for various publications including the old Don Heinrich Football Preview magazine. He said that doing that work he talked to countless scouts and coaches about players during the period from about 1974 through 1988. “I still refer to those reports,” he said. “I also study the stats of each candidate and compare them to their contemporaries.”
The players’ and coaches’ opinions are considered. But it is those people who actually vote who have the final say. Perhaps the Pro Football Hall of Fame should consider expanding the Selection Committee to include former players and coaches. These individuals have a different perspective on the players being considered. They can measure a player’s leadership abilities in the locker room better than a sports writer and they can know if the candidate being considered is a complete, all-around player who has the intangibles that can’t be measured but mark the best of the best.
Christl is probably right when he said, “My experience has been that players and coaches tend to look out for ex-teammates, their own players, friends, etc.” However, by opening up the voting to include former players and coaches from the entire league, the idea of former players and coaches looking after ex-teammates becomes a wash because so many other former players and coaches who did not play on the same team as a candidate are also a part of the process.
Moreover, perhaps the Pro Football Hall of Fame should take up an idea that the Baseball Hall of Fame has, an ineligible list. If the sport means what it says about character, sportsmanship, integrity, etc. then the Hall of Fame should adopt those principles and live by them. If a player knows that his reputation off the field is going to be graded too, perhaps he will be careful and more cautious about the decisions he makes. In the long run, everyone and everything concerned benefits. The integrity of the game of football is maintained and individual lives are influenced to do the right thing.