The Pro Football Hall of Fame will add to the 318 busts in Canton and the eight more soon to come with a Centennial Class of inductees. The only questions are how, how many and how will the Hall of Fame honor them?
Clark Judge of the Talk of Fame Network reports that the Hall of Fame has agreed in principle to move forward with the special class of inductees in conjunction with the NFL’s 100th anniversary celebration.
Joe Horrigan, the Hall’s former executive director who retired this month after 42 years, told Judge it “is going to happen.”
The details are yet to be determined, but a special class will clear some of the backlog of qualified seniors, coaches and contributors. Seven first-team all-decade players remain in the senior pool, with only one, former Cowboys safety Cliff Harris, having ever made it on the list of finalists, according to Rick Gosselin of the Talk of Fame.
“Let me put it this way,” Horrigan said. “It has been, in principle, approved. Our board meets later this month – our Hall-of-Fame board of directors – and we’ll go to them again with more detailed plans different from what we produced for them two months ago.
“But I will tell you this: We do not have the final blessing on it, only because we have to work out details. Now the question of whether or not they support the idea that everybody does [isn’t really a question]. . . .Now we just have to come down with what the size of the class would be, how they will be selected and who will do it.”
The eight-member Class of 2019 will earn enshrinement in Canton on Aug. 3, bringing the number of Hall of Famers to 326.
