Looking Back at HOF Contributors: Ron Wolf

Two contributor finalists will be selected this week on Thursday, August 23. The Contributor category is for individuals who made outstanding contributions to professional football in capacities other than playing or coaching. The HOF Bylaws to the selection process were instituted in August 2014 in which a contributor will be included among the annual list of finalists for election.
 
The Committee is comprised of nine members of the overall selection committee. Through mail vote, the 2019 Contributor nominees are being reduced to a list of 10 semifinalists. Then, on a rotating basis, five of the nine members of the committee meet at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton to discuss each of the Contributors.
 
Here's a look back at the five contributors who have been elected:

Ron Wolf’s road to the Hall of Fame started on Oct. 22, 2014 when he, alongside Bill Polian, was selected as a Contributor Finalist.

“What an honor!,” Wolf stated moments after learning of his nomination. “I’m overwhelmed. I realize that none of this would be possible without an awful lot of support from a lot of other people. So, for me, this is more an organizational thing than just one individual.”

He was elected to the Class of 2015 on Jan. 31, 2015 by the selection committee who met in Phoenix, Arizona, the day before the Super Bowl.

Wolf’s NFL career began as a scout for the Raiders in 1963 and he spent 23 seasons in the team’s front office during three separate tenures. As a 37-year-old, he was hired as the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager in 1976. The team earned a bid in the NFC championship game by its fourth season. He also headed up the New York Jets personnel operations.

Wolf made his lasting mark as the Executive Vice President/General Manager of the Green Bay Packers and longtime player personnel director for the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders.

With the Packers, Wolf almost instantly resurrected one of the NFL’s most storied franchises after arriving in Green Bay late in 1991. Over the next decade he transformed Green Bay into a dominant team. The Packers claimed three straight NFC Central Division titles and back-to-back Super Bowl appearances. The 1996 Packers posted the first 16-win season in franchise history that included a thrilling 35-21 win over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXI.