 | |
| Established | September 7, 1963; 62 years ago (1963-09-07) |
|---|---|
| Location | 2121 George Halas Dr. NW,Canton, Ohio, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 40°49′16″N81°23′52″W / 40.82111°N 81.39778°W /40.82111; -81.39778 |
| Type | Professional sportshall of fame |
| President | Jim Porter |
| Website | profootballhof.com |
ThePro Football Hall of Fame is thehall of fame forprofessionalAmerican football, located inCanton, 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 theNational Football League (NFL).Canton is often used as shorthand ormetonym for the Hall of Fame.
As of 2025[update], there are a total of382 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]
TheChicago Bears have themost inductees, with 34 (42, including players with minor portion of their career with team).
| Part of theAmerican football series on the |
| History of American football |
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| Origins of American football |
| Close relations to other codes |
| Topics |
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The city ofCanton, Ohio, successfully lobbied theNFL 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 theAmerican Professional Football Association). Second, the now-defunctCanton Bulldogs were a successful pro football team and the NFL's first repeatchampion (in1922 and1923). Third, the Canton community held a fundraising effort that garnered nearly $400,000 (equivalent to $3,167,000 in 2024) 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 April1970, 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 theAmerican Football League and its success in the final twoAFL-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 anNFL 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).
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(March 2023) |
TheNFL Hall of Fame Village is a multi-phase, mixed-use development located in Canton, Ohio, designed to enhance the experience of visitors to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Groundbreaking for the project began in 2016, with the vision of creating a premier destination for football fans and the wider community, combining entertainment, retail, residential, and hospitality spaces. The development is located adjacent to the Hall of Fame itself and aims to celebrate the history of the National Football League while promoting the future of the sport.[9]
The NFL Hall of Fame Village is centered around the Hall of Fame's campus, and its first phase includes a variety of attractions, such as an interactive museum, a large sports and entertainment complex, and a hotel. The village's centerpiece is theHall of Fame Resort & Entertainment Company, which oversees the development and operation of the various amenities.[10]
Future phases of the development are planned to include more sports venues, a sports medicine facility, an expanded convention center, and residential housing. Additionally, a significant feature of the project is theTom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium, which serves as the home of the annual Pro Football Hall of Fame Game and other sporting events.[11]
In addition to drawing fans and visitors, the NFL Hall of Fame Village is also envisioned as a hub for sports technology, innovation, and education, providing a platform for collaboration among companies and organizations in the sports industry. The ongoing development is expected to create a lasting economic impact on Canton and the surrounding region.[12]
Through 2025, all players in the Hall, exceptBuffalo Bills guardBilly Shaw, played at least some part of their professional career in the NFL; Shaw played his entire career in theAmerican Football League (AFL) prior to the 1970AFL–NFL merger.
Though several Hall of Famers have had AFL,Canadian Football League (CFL),World Football League (WFL),United States Football League (USFL),Arena Football League (also AFL) and/orIndoor Football League (IFL) 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, orAll-America Football Conference (AAFC).
For CFL stars, there is a correspondingCanadian Football Hall of Fame; only one player, quarterbackWarren Moon, and two coaches,Bud Grant andMarv Levy, are enshrined in both halls.
Again for the Arena Football League, there is also a correspondingArena Football Hall of Fame; similarly, only one player, quarterbackKurt Warner, has been enshrined into both halls. TheIndoor Football League, in which wide receiverTerrell Owens played one season, has also establishedits Hall of Fame.[14]
TheChicago 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.[15]
Enshrinees are selected by a 50-person committee, largely made up of media members, officially known as the Selection Committee.[16]
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 thePro 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.[17]
The Selection Committee then meets on "Selection Saturday", the day before eachSuper 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.[16]
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.[18] On January 11, during the weekend of the NFL divisional playoffs, Hall of Fame presidentDavid Baker went on the set ofThe NFL Today to personally tell coachBill 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 ofFox NFL Sunday to inform coachJimmy Johnson, working as an analyst on Fox's studio show, that he was also selected.[19] 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 were: wide receiverHarold Carmichael, offensive tackleJim Covert, free safetyBobby Dillon, free safetyCliff Harris, offensive tackleWinston Hill, defensive tackleAlex Karras, strong safetyDonnie Shell, tackleDuke Slater, endMac Speedie and defensive endEd Sprinkle, alongside contributors, president and co-founder of NFL FilmsSteve Sabol, general managerGeorge Young and former NFL commissionerPaul Tagliabue.[20]
They were enshrined in 2021 due toCOVID-19 pandemic, but are still considered part of the Centennial Class of 2020.
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The enshrinement ceremony is the main event of the annualEnshrinement Week Powered by Johnson Controls that kicks off every NFL season. The celebration is held in Canton, throughout the week surrounding the enshrinement ceremony.[21] All members of the Hall of Fame are invited to attend the annual ceremony.[17]
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 theBaseball Hall of Fame plaques generally depict each of their inductees wearing a particular club's cap (with a few exceptions, such asCatfish Hunter andGreg 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.[22]
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 (nowTom 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.[23] In 2022, the ceremony was moved to noon ET.[24]
The Hall of Fame Game, the annual NFL preseason opener, is played inTom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium at Hall of Fame Village inCanton, Ohio. In 2017, the Hall of Fame Game was held for the first time on Thursday night. The preseason classic kicks off Enshrinement Week and marks the start of theNFL preseason.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame museum includes a permanent exhibit recognizing the inductees of theBlack College Football Hall of Fame. The two organizations partnered in 2016, also creating theBlack College Football Hall of Fame Classic played at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.[25][26]
The Ralph Hay Pioneer Award is anAmerican 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 afterCanton Bulldogs owner andNational Football League founder and chief organizerRalph Hay. It was originally called the Daniel F. Reeves Pioneer Award, named afterLos Angeles Rams owner and hall of fame inducteeDan Reeves. The award is the highest and the most prestigious honor given by the Pro Football Hall of Fame, other than enshrinement.[27] As of 2022,Steve Sabol,Art McNally,Marion Motley andBill 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Fred Gehrke | Designer of the firstfootball helmet logo | |
| 1975 | Arch Ward | Founder of theChicago College All-Star Game andAll-America Football Conference | |
| 1986 | John Facenda | Voice ofNFL Films | Awarded thePete Rozelle Radio-Television Award in 2021[28] |
| 1992 | David Boss | Photographer, artist, and logo designer | |
| 2001 | George Toma | Groundskeeper atArrowhead Stadium | |
| 2004 | City of Pottsville, Pennsylvania | Birthplace of theAnthracite League andPottsville Maroons | |
| 2007 | Steve Sabol | Co-founder ofNFL Films | Inducted to the Hall of Fame as a contributor in 2020 |
| 2012 | Art McNally | Supervisor of officials for the NFL andWorld League, 1968–95 | Inducted to the Hall of Fame as a contributor in 2022 |
| 2016 | Joe Browne[29] | 50-year employee of the NFL central office | |
| 2022 | Marion Motley[30] | Reintegrated professional football in 1946 | Inducted to the Hall of Fame 1968 |
| Woody Strode | |||
| Kenny Washington | |||
| Bill Willis | 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 outsidelinebackers 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.[31]
In 2009, aNew York Times article criticized the Hall for not includingpunterRay Guy on its ballot.[32] 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 thatofficials have been generally excluded. Only two figures, both inducted for their work as supervisor or director of officiating as opposed to game officiating—1966 inducteeHugh "Shorty" Ray[33] and 2022 inducteeArt McNally—have been enshrined; McNally is the only inductee in the Hall to have experience as an in-game official.[34][35] TheNational Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum,Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame andHockey Hall of Fame have each inducted game officials as members.
Another prominent absence from the Hall is sports-journalist and broadcasterHoward Cosell, who has yet to either be awarded thePete Rozelle Radio-Television Award or even get fully inducted despite his well-known association withMonday Night Football; an August 2010Sports Illustrated article hints that Cosell may have even been "blacklisted" by the NFL.[36][37]
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.[38] Official guidelines state that off the field character issues are not allowed to influence the selection process[38] and have not affected the ability of figures such asO. J. Simpson andLawrence Taylor to remain enshrined in the Hall.
Terrell Owens' exclusion from the Hall in his first two years of eligibility despite his strong individual statistics was a subject of public debate:[39] while Owens was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2018, he refused to attend the enshrinement ceremony.[40]
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