The Hall Searches for Lost Film of Enshrinement Speeches

The Pro Football Hall of Fame is on the hunt for film or video of every Enshrinement speech. The Hall is beginning work on a documentary series for the Centennial Celebration entitled "100 Yards and A Century of Character". 

The Pro Football Hall of Fame is reaching out nationally to find "lost treasures," with its starting point as the 1963 Enshrinement Ceremony of the charter class of Pro Football Hall of Famers. 

Partnering with libraries, historical societies, area newspapers and websites from the Hometown of Hall of Famers. The Hall began their investigation in Duluth, Minnesota looking for the 1963 Enshrinement speech of native Ernie Nevers and found historian Chuck Frederick.

Frederick says, “I have followed Ernie’s career for years and am excited to work with the Hall on this great adventure.”

Nevers, of course, was the superstar player and main draw for the Duluth Eskimos, a team that barnstormed the country in 1926, drawing enough fans and earning enough revenue to save the, then-struggling, National Football League from financial ruin.

“This is the great search for the ‘lost treasures,’ ” says George Veras, Executive Producer for the PFHOF. “If a fan sends Chuck a lost treasure that is acceptable to the Hall, we will fly him and Chuck to the Hall to make the donation at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.”

If you have something to share, contact the News Tribune’s Chuck Frederick, who also is the author of “Leatherheads of the North: The True Story of Ernie Nevers and the Duluth Eskimos,” and who was contacted by the Hall of Fame. Frederick can be reached at (218) 723-5316 or [email protected].

If you have a photo, film or video from any Enshrinement Ceremony, please contact The Hall's Jason Rentner at [email protected].