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If you’re among the nearly 5,000 who are fans of the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Facebook then you already know what our page looks like. If you’re not, then go ahead and become a fan. You’ll find us at www.Facebook/ProFootballHOF.

The page gives us a good pulse on what football fans want from us. A comment posted on our wall yesterday gave us a great idea for a story today on Profootballhof.com. Many football fans heard on Sunday about how Ted Ginn made history by returning a pair of kickoffs for TDs. But, lost among the many highlights were the specific details around his amazing day against the Jets.

So, we thought we’d test our fans with a daily trivia question posted on our Facebook page. It asked who was the last player to return two kickoffs for touchdowns in the same game. The answers from our fans varied. We posted the answer later in the afternoon. Then, one fan shared that he knew the answer but was wondering if Mel Gray or Eric Metcalf had ever done it.

It became quite evident that the rare accomplishment needed documented. So, if you go to today’s story, you’ll get the full details around the eight players in NFL history who’ve returned two touchdowns in the same game.

One simple posting on our Facebook page reminds us as well as you that the more engaged you become with us – whether through Facebook or on Twitter, or by commenting on my blog – the more we can give you what you want!

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In early August just as I was preparing for our annual enshrinement ceremony, I read with great enjoyment that Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive end Lee Roy Selmon will be honored as the first member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers new Ring of Honor.

When the Buccaneers return from London, they get a week off and then return to Raymond James Stadium to face the Green Bay Packers on Nov. 8. It is at that game that they’ll honor the franchise’s first-ever draft pick and the first Buccaneer to earn a bust in Canton.

I’ll get to Lee Roy in a moment. But first, let me talk about what the Bucs are doing. If you visit our section on the history of the NFL teams, you’ll notice a tab labeled “Team Greats” for each of the current 32 clubs. This is where we promote how the teams honor their individual greats. It’s here where you can find direct links to the Dolphins Honor Roll, the Packers Hall of Fame, the Denver Broncos Ring of Fame among the many other ways teams honor the best players, coaches, and others from their past.

If you click on the Buccaneers, you’d see a link to the history section of their website. In a couple of weeks, we’re changing that so our website will link directly to the Bucs’ Ring of Honor.

You see, all of us at the Hall of Fame come to work each and every day with one goal in mind. And that’s to uphold our mission statement (see it here).

If you just clicked on that link, you noticed that our mission statement starts with the line, “to honor individuals who have made outstanding contributions to professional football.”

The Pro Football Hall of Fame, including the recent six-man Class of 2009 – Bob Hayes, Randall McDaniel, Bruce Smith, Derrick Thomas, Ralph Wilson, Jr., and Rod Woodson – has only 253 members. Of that group, 219 were players.
“Our” players represent the greatest 219 players from the 20,000-plus who’ve played in the National Football League since it started in Canton, Ohio in 1920.

That doesn’t mean that there haven’t been hundreds and hundreds of other great players who won’t make it to Canton but nevertheless had spectacular careers.

We applaud all of the teams who go to these great lengths to pay tribute to those individuals who’ve helped make the NFL the envy of all other sports leagues.

So, hats off (or should I say helmets off) to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the new Ring of Fame.

Lee Roy Selmon is the obvious choice to be the first honored in the team’s Ring of Fame. And that has nothing to do with the delicious menu at his restaurants in the Tampa area. I ate at his place during the Super Bowl last year and my dinner was outstanding. And, no Lee Roy didn’t pay me for that quick promo.

Selmon has always been the face of this franchise. When the expansion team started up in 1976, he was the first ever draft pick. He quickly established himself as one of the most dominating pass rushers of his era.

While many recall that the Bucs’ began by going 0-26, many forget to remember quite how quickly the franchise’s fortunes turned. Tampa went from 0-14 in ’76, 2-12 in ’77, and 5-11 in ’78 before winning the NFC Central Division with a 10-6 record in 1979 just its fourth season. Two years later, the team won another division title. Through it all, Selmon was the Bucs leader.

He amassed 78.5 sacks during his career and added nearly 400 more quarterback pressures. Seeing No. 63 coming was one of an NFL quarterback’s worst nightmares from 1976 through 1984. The six-time Pro Bowl lineman hung up his cleats after the ’84 season.

Eleven years later, he was standing on the front steps of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio being honored as the first member of the Buccaneers to be enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

On November 8, he again enjoys the limelight as the team places him permanently into the Ring of Fame.

Congratulations to Lee Roy. And, congrats to the Buccaneers!

 

Selmon, Lee Roy, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

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Yesterday I came across a tweet by @NFLprguy who shared the note that NFL games are averaging 17.4 million viewers, most since ’89 and up 14% from a year ago. I see these types of facts all the time but Thursday’s comment just drives home the fact that this country absolutely adores the NFL.

Count me among them. Maybe that’s why I’ve already got that slightly melancholy feeling that the 2009 NFL season is going by way too fast. All the hype of the off-season and anticipation for the regular season to start gets us so pumped up for the season. Now, in a blink of the eye, we’re already at the quarter mark of the season. Next blink, we’ll be watching Super Bowl XLIV in South Florida.

Okay, maybe it’s not quite that fast. But it is already Week 5 and some moments that have moved from front-and-center of NFL highlights are now considered “history.” So, let me share my top favorite “historical” moments of the first four weeks of the ’09 season.

10. Mark Sanchez’s start to the NFL season. He became the first rookie QB to start and win the first three of his team’s games. The last player to do that was Greg Cook of the Cincinnati Bengals in 1969.

9.  Darren Sharper picking off a pass and racing 99 yards for a touchdown. He is the leading interceptor among active players in NFL today and already has five picks with his new team, the Saints. His TD return was his 10th interception returned for a score in his career. Only one player has more and that’s Class of 2009 enshrinee Rod Woodson.

8. Last Monday night’s Packers-Vikings game. I was skeptical that the game would live up to its billing. But, all the build-up just added to the incredible feeling that surrounded this game. It did not disappoint.

7. For only the second time ever, two rookie coaches won are 4-0. Congrats to Canton’s own Josh McDaniels in Denver and to Jim Caldwell in Indy. I can’t say I recall any football pundits calling this one before the season kicked off.

6. The Cowboys new stadium. What a building and what a great record crowd for its first regular season game.

5. Peyton Manning’s start to the season. Just days after we placed his 2008 MVP uniform on exhibit in Canton, he goes out and continues a pace that makes one think he may just become the first player to be named MVP for a fourth time.  He is just the third QB ever to start a season with four straight 300-yard passing games. He’s incredible to watch.

4.  How about five different teams – Denver, Indianapolis, Minnesota, New Orleans and the New York Giants – without a loss yet. Five teams at 4-0 has only happened twice before in the NFL (1968, 2003).

3. We always love when a “family member” does well. So, kudos are in order for Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker Mike Singletary who has his San Francisco 49ers off to a great start.

2. Speaking of family members, it was an awesome scene in late September when more than 20 Hall of Famers returned “home” to Canton for our annual Golf Classic. The camaraderie, stories, and general fun had by all of these football legends is just great to witness. They also placed the Super Bowl XLIV trophy on exhibit in our Lamar Hunt Super Bowl Gallery. It’s the first time we’ve had the actual season’s trophy on display for fans. Come and see it before we have to send it to South Florida in February.

1. Selection process. It’s a year-round process that gains more attention every year. Perusing our Facebook and Twitter pages, it’s apparent that fans have very strong feelings about who is worthy of a bronze bust. We were excited to launch the Voice Your Choice campaign presented by JCPenney/VanHeusen during Week 2. Fans now have a forum to share their knowledge and opinions. I can only imagine how much action the site will continue to get as we move toward the 25 semifinalists cut down in November. Visit JCP.com/fans>>>

Well, maybe four weeks have passed very quickly. But looking on the bright side, there’s still 13 weeks left in the regular season! I can hardly wait for Sunday and what game-changing event becomes “history” on Monday.
 

Singletary, Mike

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Last night, I stood in an office chatting with Hall of Famer Jim Taylor. The former Green Bay Packers fullback was about to carry the Vince Lombardi Trophy for Super Bowl XLIV through a crowd of invited guests and more than 20 of his fellow Hall of Famers and place it on exhibit in our new Lamar Hunt Super Bowl Gallery.

He was the only member from the Packers Super Bowl I championship team on hand for the event and as such was given the honor of placing the trophy, named after his former coach, on exhibit. This marks the first time ever that the actual trophy will be on exhibit at the Hall (we’ve had a replica trophy on display for many years). In fact, it’s the first time any fans can see the actual trophy before it’s unveiled in the Super Bowl host city.

What dawned on me in this brief conversation with Taylor is just how much the Super Bowl has grown. Any fan can absorb this fact by touring our new Super Bowl Gallery but this message was reinforced by watching Taylor as he took a look at this year’s trophy.

He glanced down as the shiny Super Bowl Trophy that will be awarded in February to the champions of Super Bowl XLIV and marveled at how quickly 44 years had passed.  There were a few of us from the Hall’s staff along with security guards from Brinks who had just delivered the trophy chatting about football. The conversation quickly turned to Taylor’s thoughts on the Super Bowl. Most striking was how Taylor just seemed to shake his head in disbelief at how great of a symbol that relatively small trophy has become.

We asked him if the Packers had passed the trophy around the locker room. And he nonchalantly said, “no, we were just happy the long season was over!”
Yet, he continued to reminisce about the Packers win and seemed like a proud grandfather on just how big of an icon the trophy has become. He grabbed a hold of the Super Bowl XLIV trophy and happily led the way to place it on exhibit.

It was a special moment. Now, it’s going to be fun to watch the reactions of the thousands of fans who will get a glimpse at the NFL’s most prized possession over the next several months as it resides as the centerpiece to our spectacular new Lamar Hunt Super Bowl Gallery.

Taylor, Jim, Green Bay Packers

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