Canton, Ohio is the site of the National Football League Hall of Fame since its inception on September 7, 1963 when 17 charter enshrines were inducted into what would become the ultimate goal for many an athlete over the next 5 decades.
The original 17 included such legends of the game as Red Grange, Sammy Baugh, Bert Bell, George Halas, Earl Lambeau, Ernie Nevers, Jim Thorpe and Bronko Nagurski……pretty heady company to say the least.
To be selected a member of the NFL Hall of Fame is one of the most coveted honors in professional sports. Today there are 267 members.
Canton, Ohio may seem today to be an odd location for the NFL Hall of Fame but in 1920 what was to become the National Football League was formed right there in Canton. At the time it was known as the American Professional Football Association. There was even a successful NFL team there for awhile during the early days of the league known as the Canton Bulldogs.
After several expansions of the original 19,000 square foot structure has been expanded several times and now contains over 82,307square feet of space including a research library, a theater and a gift shop. One of the most popular attractions to Canton is the GameDay Stadium which shows NFL Films productions on a 20 x42 foot Cinemascope screen.
The selection process for these hallowed halls has been criticized as being a bit tedious but the committee in Canton has now gotten it down to 17 finalists including modern day stars Johathan Ogden, Larry Allen, Michael Strahan and Warren Sapp. The only coach to make the ballot this year is Bill Parcells with Eddie DeBartolo, Jr. and Art Modell being the only owners represented.
There are 15 modern era finalists and two senior class candidates, linebacker Dave Robinson and DT Curley Culp. Each hopeful must receive 80% of the vote to make it into the hall. The list this year also includes a now rather infamous group of wide receivers that have been close before and might have a tough time making it in this year as well. They are Cris Carter, Tim Brown and Andre Reed.
Candidates not previously mentioned are Jerome Bettis, Wil Shields, Kevin Greene, Charles Haley and Aeneas Williams.
The winners will be announced at Super Bowl XLVII and the induction ceremony is traditionally held during the first weekend in August in Canton.
