Finalists For Hall Of Fame Election at 17

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Two first-year eligible players, wide receiver Cris Carter and cornerback Darrell Green, are among the 17 finalists who will be considered for election into the Pro Football Hall of Fame when the Hall’s Board of Selectors meets in Phoenix, AZ during Super Bowl XLII week on Saturday, February 2.

Joining the two first-year eligible players are 12 other modern-era players, one contributor and two players nominated earlier by the Hall of Fame’s Senior Committee. The contributor finalist is former National Football League Commissioner Paul Tagliabue. The Senior Committee nominees, announced in August 2007, are Chicago Cardinals back Marshall Goldberg and Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Emmitt Thomas. The other modern-era player finalists include defensive ends Fred Dean and Richard Dent; linebackers Randy Gradishar, Derrick Thomas and Andre Tippett; guards Russ Grimm, Bob Kuechenberg and Randall McDaniel; punter Ray Guy; wide receivers Art Monk and Andre Reed; and tackle Gary Zimmerman.

Dean, Dent, Goldberg, Gradishar, Grimm, Guy, Kuechenberg, Monk, Reed, Tagliabue, Derrick Thomas, Tippett, and Zimmerman have all been finalists in previous years. Although they have been previously eligible, this is the first time Emmitt Thomas and McDaniel have made the finalist list.

Of course, Marshall Goldberg and Emmitt Thomas were selected as senior candidates by the Hall of Fame’s Seniors Committee at their August 2007 meeting. The Seniors Committee reviews the qualifications of those players whose careers took place more than 25 years ago. The remaining 15 modern-era finalists were determined by a vote of the Hall’s 44-member Board of Selectors from a list of 124 preliminary nominees that earlier was reduced to a list of 26 semifinalists (that included a tie for the 25th semifinalist position). To be eligible for election, modern-era players and coaches must be retired at least five years while a contributor need not be retired.

Of the 2008 finalists, Goldberg has been eligible for 46 years (the Hall of Fame opened in 1963, at which time Goldberg would have been first eligible), Emmitt Thomas 25 years, Gradishar 20, Kuechenberg 19, Dean 18 years, Guy 17, Grimm 12, Tippett 10, Monk eight years, Dent and Zimmerman six years, Derrick Thomas four years, Reed three years, McDaniel two years, and Carter and Green are in their first year of eligibility. Contributors, such as Commissioner Tagliabue, need not to be retired to be considered for Hall of Fame election. Therefore there is no specific year at which he first became “eligible” for consideration.

This has been a hotly contested issue here at EMQB and I look forward to more of your comments and opinions about these final 17 names. All of these men had great careers and all are deserving of entry into the Hall. But obviously, not all of them will make it. Which of these players are on your final list?

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