2013 Pro Football Hall of Fame Class

by Chase Stuart on February 2, 2013

in HOF

You are what your bust says you are.

The process took over eight hours this year, and according to Rick Gosselin, over one hour was spent on Bill Parcells alone. Another HOF voter, Tony Grossi, said that Parcells took 55 minutes and Art Modell was discussed for over a half hour, while Cris Carter and Jerome Bettis were the two most heavily-debated players.

When the committee concluded, they chose the following men as the newest members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame:

G Larry Allen
WR Cris Carter
T Jonathan Ogden
Head Coach Bill Parcells
DT Warren Sapp
Seniors’ Candidate DT-NT Curley Culp
Seniors’ Candidate OLB Dave Robinson

That means owners Art Modell and Edward Debartolo, Jr., along with Jerome Bettis, Charles Haley, Kevin Greene, Will Shields, Andre Reed, Tim Brown, Aeneas Williams, and Michael Strahan will have to wait at least one more year. When the committee narrowed the list from fifteen modern-era candidates to ten, Modell, DeBartolo, Shields, Brown and Greene were the five eliminated. Perhaps the biggest surprise is Strahan, but the pain is likely short-lived: I suspect he’ll be pretty happy getting inducted next year when the Super Bowl is his old stomping grounds.

A note about Carter. There have been 22 wide receivers to enter the NFL since World War II and wind up in the Hall of Fame. It took Carter six years to finally make the HOF, but that places him right in the middle of the pack:

Receiver	From	To	Tries	AP1	PB	St	CarAV	G	Rec	Yds	TD
Jerry Rice	1985	2004	1	10	13	18	160	303	1549	22895	197
Paul Warfield	1964	1977	1	2	8	11	105	157	427	8565	85
Steve Largent	1976	1989	1	1	7	14	103	200	819	13089	100
Raymond Berry	1955	1967	1	3	6	13	102	154	631	9275	68
Lance Alworth	1962	1972	1	6	7	10	97	136	542	10266	85
Charley Taylor	1964	1977	2	1	8	13	96	165	649	9110	79
Michael Irvin	1988	1999	3	1	5	10	105	159	750	11904	65
James Lofton	1978	1993	5	1	8	14	102	233	764	14004	75
Charlie Joiner	1969	1986	5	1	3	16	95	239	750	12146	65
Fred Biletnikoff	1965	1978	5	2	6	12	88	190	589	8974	76
Cris Carter	1987	2002	6	2	8	13	98	234	1101	13899	139
Elroy Hirsch	1946	1957	6	2	3	9	73	127	387	7029	60
Art Monk	1980	1995	8	1	3	14	93	224	940	12721	68
Don Maynard	1958	1973	9	1	4	13	100	186	633	11834	88
Tom Fears	1948	1956	9	1	1	6	48	87	400	5397	38
Bobby Mitchell	1958	1968	10	1	4	10	95	148	521	7954	65
John Stallworth	1974	1987	10	1	4	10	80	165	537	8723	63
Pete Pihos	1947	1955	10	5	6	11	73	107	373	5619	61
Lynn Swann	1974	1982	14	1	3	8	62	115	336	5462	51
Dante Lavelli	1946	1956	14	0	3	11	47	123	386	6488	62
Tommy McDonald	1957	1968	SS	0	6	9	75	152	495	8410	84
Bob Hayes	1965	1975	SS	2	3	8	83	132	371	7414	71

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