While looking for answers to Pro Football Hall of Fame questions on the Hall's fairly new website I stumbled upon a terrific resource. The 2015 Pro Football Hall of Fame Media Guide. Within this guide I found a history of the Senior Nominees. I hadn't seen a complete list of them before this.
Senior Nominees
(those elected are indicated in italics)
1972-Ace Parker
1973-Ole Haugsrud
1974-Tony Canadeo
1975-No senior candidate selected
1976-Ray Flaherty
1977-Bill Willis
1978-Tuffy Leemans
1979-Marshall Goldberg
1980-Lou Creekmur
1981-Red Badgro
1982-George Musso
1983-Mac Speedie
1984-Arnie Weinmester
1985-Frank Gatski
1986-Doak Walker
1987-John Henry Johnson
1988-Lou Rymkus
1989-Henry Jordan
1990-Bob St. Clair
1991-Stan Jones
1992-Willie Galimore
1993-Dick Stanfel
1994-Leroy Kelly
1995-Henry Jordan
1996-Lou Creekmur
1997-Jerry Kramer
1998-Tommy McDonald
1999-Billy Shaw
2000-Dave Wilcox
2001-Nick Bouniconti
2002-George Allen
2003-Hank Stram
2004-Bob Brown, Bob Hayes
2005-Benny Friedman, Fritz Pollard
2006-John Madden, Rayfield Wright
2007-Gene Hickerson, Charlie Sanders
2008-Marshall Goldberg, Emmitt Thomas
2009-Bob Hayes, Claude Humphrey
2010-Dick LeBeau, Floyd Little
2011-Chris Hanburger, Les Richter
2012-Jack Butler, Dick Stanfel
2013-Curley Culp, Dave Robinson
2014-Ray Guy, Claude Humphrey
2015-Mick Tingelhoff
2016-Ken Stabler, Dick Stanfel
Players nominated as Senior Nominee three times.
(bold indicates elected)
Dick Stanfel-1993, 2012, 2016
Players nominated twice:
Lou Creekmur-1980, 1996
Marshall Goldberg-1979, 2008
Bob Hayes-2004, 2009
Claude Humphrey-2009, 2014
Henry Jordan-1989, 1995
It seems a little odd to see players nominated twice in a span of five or six years. Since s senior nominee making it through is a yes/no proposition they aren't competing with others for induction. I'm not sure what's changed in such a short time to prompt a second nomination when a player hasn't been on the field for as much as 30 years. There's certainly nothing wrong with it if it gets a deserving player/coach in the Hall. It's just a little odd.
I find it astonishing that it took 33 years before the senior committee landed on Benny Friedman and Fritz Pollard. Each should have been one of the first nominees. One could even argue that each should have been in the Hall a few years before anyone found a need for senior nominees.
I'd sure like to have been in the room when Mac Speedie was discussed. I can't think of a single reason for his not being in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Maybe the length of his NFL career?
While I'm not too surprised that he didn't make it I'm glad that Willie Galimore was up for discussion. He was a terrific player and it's tragic that his life and career was cut short.
Get Speedie in the Hall. Lavvie Dilweg and Alex Karras too.
The Media Guide added this little bit of trivia about the senior nominees:
The selection of a senior nominee, known as the old-timer candidate until 1990, was added to the process in 1972. In 1990, Bob St. Clair semi-seriously stated that he didn't like being called an "old-timer." The Hall reacted to this "complaint" and the term was changed to "senior."
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