Class of 2006 Finalists Notes

Hall of Famers Published on : 1/11/2006

IF ELECTED. . .SPECIAL NOTES ON 2006 FINALISTS

THE ROSTER OF HALL OF FAME MEMBERS COULD INCREASE FOR 14 NFL TEAMS

The Dallas Cowboys have three finalists and the Washington Redskins have two finalists who spent all or a significant part of their careers with that team. The Atlanta Falcons, Buffalo Bills, Denver Broncos, Green Bay Packers, Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings, New York Giants, Oakland Raiders, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Tennessee Titans/Houston Oilers, are represented by one finalist who spent all or a significant part of the their careers with those teams.

If elected . . .

Roger Staubach

Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin, and/or Rayfield Wright would be the 8th, 9th, and/or 10th Dallas Cowboys Hall of Fame member. Tony Dorsett, Tom Landry, Bob Lilly, Mel Renfro, Tex Schramm, Roger Staubach, and Randy White are the current Cowboys Hall of Fame members.

Russ Grimm and/or Art Monk would be the 16th and/or 17th Washington Redskins Hall of Fame members. They would join George Allen, Cliff Battles, Sammy Baugh, Bill Dudley, Albert Glen "Turk" Edwards, Ray Flaherty, Joe Gibbs, Ken Houston, Sam Huff, Sonny Jurgensen, George Preston Marshall, Wayne Millner, Bobby Mitchell, John Riggins, and Charley Taylor.

Claude Humphrey would be the first player to play a significant part of his career with the Atlanta Falcons to be elected to the Hall of Fame.

Jim Kelly

Thurman Thomas would be the 6th Buffalo Bills Hall of Fame member. He would join Joe DeLamielleure, Jim Kelly, Marv Levy, Billy Shaw, and O.J. Simpson.

Gary Zimmerman would join John Elway as the second member of the Denver Broncos elected to the Hall of Fame.

Reggie White would join 20 other Green Bay Packers previously elected to the Hall of Fame including Herb Adderley, Tony Canadeo, Willie Davis, Forrest Gregg, Arnie Herber, Clarke Hinkle, Paul Hornung, Cal Hubbard, Don Hutson, Henry Jordan, Curly Lambeau, James Lofton, Vince Lombardi, Johnny "Blood" McNally, Mike Michalske, Ray Nitschke, Jim Ringo, Bart Starr, Jim Taylor, and Willie Wood.

Derrick Thomas would be the 8th Kansas City Chiefs Hall of Fame member. He would join Bobby Bell, Buck Buchanan, Len Dawson, Lamar Hunt, Willie Lanier, Jan Stenerud, and Hank Stram.

Bob Kuechenberg would be the 10th long-time member of the Miami Dolphins to be elected. Nick Buoniconti, Larry Csonka, Bob Griese, Jim Langer, Larry Little, Dan Marino, Don Shula, Dwight Stephenson, and Paul Warfield are the other Dolphins Hall of Fame members.

Gary Zimmerman would also be the 8th Minnesota Vikings player elected to the Hall of Fame. He would join Carl Eller, Jim Finks, Bud Grant, Paul Krause, Alan Page, Fran Tarkenton, and Ron Yary.

Harry Carson , would be the 18th member of the New York Giants to be elected. Red Badgro, Roosevelt Brown, Benny Friedman, Frank Gifford, Mel Hein, Sam Huff, Tuffy Leemans, Tim Mara, Wellington Mara, Steve Owen, Andy Robustelli, Ken Strong, Fran Tarkenton, Lawrence Taylor, Y.A. Tittle, Emlen Tunnell, and Arnie Weinmeister, preceded him.

John Madden would join 12 other Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders previously elected to the Hall of Fame including, Marcus Allen, Fred Biletnikoff, George Blanda, Willie Brown, Dave Casper, Al Davis, Mike Haynes, Ted Hendricks, Howie Long, Jim Otto, Art Shell, and Gene Upshaw.

Reggie White would also be the 9th Philadelphia Eagle elected to the Hall of Fame. Previously elected Eagles include Chuck Bednarik, Bert Bell, Bob Brown, Sonny Jurgensen, Tommy McDonald, Earle "Greasy" Neale, Pete Pihos, and Steve Van Buren.

L.C. Greenwood would become the 18th member of the Steelers to be elected. Other Steelers Hall of Fame members include Mel Blount, Terry Bradshaw, Bill Dudley, Joe Greene, Jack Ham, Franco Harris, John Henry Johnson, Walt Kiesling, Jack Lambert, Bobby Layne, Chuck Noll, Art Rooney, Dan Rooney, John Stallworth, Ernie Stautner, Lynn Swann, and Mike Webster.

Warren Moon would join Elvin Bethea, George Blanda, Earl Campbell, Ken Houston, and Mike Munchak on the Tennessee Titans/Houston Oilers Hall of Fame honor roll.

THE MODERN-ERA POSITION ROSTER WILL CHANGE AFTER 2006 ELECTION (The Modern-Era is defined as a majority of an enshrinee's career occurred after 1946)

If elected . . .

Harry Carson and/or Derrick Thomas would be the 16th and/or 17th modern-era Hall of Fame linebacker(s) joining Bobby Bell (also DE), Nick Buoniconti, Dick Butkus, George Connor (also DT and OT), Bill George, Jack Ham, Ted Hendricks, Sam Huff, Jack Lambert, Willie Lanier, Ray Nitschke, Joe Schmidt, Mike Singletary, Lawrence Taylor, and Dave Wilcox.

L. C. Greenwood, Claude Humphrey and/or Reggie White would become the 13th, 14th and/or 15th modern-era defensive end(s) to be elected to the Hall of Fame. Other Hall of Fame defensive ends are Doug Atkins, Elvin Bethea, Willie Davis, Carl Eller, Len Ford, Dan Hampton (DT-DE), Deacon Jones, Howie Long, Gino Marchetti, Andy Robustelli, Lee Roy Selmon, and Jack Youngblood.

Charlie Joiner

Michael Irvin and/or Art Monk would join 17 other modern-era receivers in the Hall of Fame. Other Hall of Fame modern-era receivers include Lance Alworth, Raymond Berry, Fred Biletnikoff, Tom Fears, Elroy Hirsch (also a halfback), Charlie Joiner, Steve Largent, Dante Lavelli, James Lofton, Don Maynard, Tommy McDonald, Bobby Mitchell (also a halfback), Pete Pihos, John Stallworth, Lynn Swann, Charley Taylor (also a halfback), and Paul Warfield.

Russ Grimm and/or Bob Kuechenberg would be the 10th and/or 11th modern-era player(s) who played primarily as a guard to be elected. The other Hall of Fame guards previously elected are Joe DeLamielleure, John Hannah, Stan Jones (also T and DT), Larry Little, Tom Mack, Mike Munchak, Jim Parker (G-T), Billy Shaw, and Gene Upshaw.

Troy Aikman and/or Warren Moon would join 21 modern-era quarterbacks in the Hall of Fame, including George Blanda (also a kicker), Terry Bradshaw, Len Dawson, John Elway, Dan Fouts, Otto Graham, Bob Griese, Sonny Jurgensen, Jim Kelly, Bobby Layne, Dan Marino, Joe Montana, Joe Namath, Bart Starr, Roger Staubach, Fran Tarkenton, Y.A. Tittle, Johnny Unitas, Norm Van Brocklin, Bob Waterfield, and Steve Young.

Weeb Ewbank

Thurman Thomas would join 24 other modern-era running backs in the Hall of Fame including Marcus Allen, Jim Brown, Earl Campbell, Larry Csonka, Eric Dickerson, Tony Dorsett, Frank Gifford, Franco Harris, Paul Hornung, John Henry Johnson, Leroy Kelly, Ollie Matson, Hugh McElhenny, Lenny Moore, Marion Motley, Walter Payton, Joe Perry, John Riggins, Barry Sanders, Gale Sayers, O.J. Simpson, Jim Taylor, Charley Trippi, and Doak Walker.

Gary Zimmerman and/or Rayfield Wright would be the 15th and/or 16th modern-era players who played primarily as a tackle to be elected. Other Hall of Fame tackles include Bob Brown, Roosevelt Brown, Lou Creekmur, Dan Dierdorf, Forrest Gregg, Lou Groza (also PK), Mike McCormack, Ron Mix, Anthony Muñoz, Jim Parker (G-T), Bob St. Clair, Art Shell, Jackie Slater, and Ron Yary.

John Madden would be the 15th modern-era coach elected to the Hall of Fame, including George Allen, Paul Brown, Weeb Ewbank, Joe Gibbs, Sid Gillman, Bud Grant, George Halas, Tom Landry, Marv Levy, Vince Lombardi, Chuck Noll, Don Shula, Hank Stram, and Bill Walsh.

Class of 2006 will come from list of finalists

The list of 15 finalists includes four first-year eligible players, nine other modern-era candidates, and two senior nominees.

Rackers mementos arrive in Canton

Arizona Cardinals place-kicker Neil Rackers established the new NFL mark for field goals in a season in 2005. The shoes he wore and the ball he kicked during Week 17 when he set the record arrived at the Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio on Wednesday.