Six-time Super Bowl-winning owner Robert Kraft and NFL founder Ralph Hay are among the 21 contributors who advanced to the next stage for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026.
A blue-ribbon committee reduced the candidates from an initial list of 32 nominees in voting released on Friday. The committee next will cut down the list to nine semifinalists and one finalist who will advance to voting conducted by the full selection committee early next year.
There also will be 15 modern-era finalists, three seniors and one coach for the Class of 2026. Between four and eight new members will be elected in the second year of this current format.
Kraft bought the New England Patriots in 1994 and quickly turned them into one of the most successful franchises in the NFL. He hired Bill Belichick as coach in 2000 and oversaw the franchise winning six Super Bowl titles from the 2001-2018 seasons.
Hay owned the Canton Bulldogs from 1918-22 and hosted the meeting that led to the formation of the NFL.
There are several other owners or members of ownership families who are in the final 21, including Bud Adams, founder of the Houston Oilers and a key figure in the AFL, who eventually moved his franchise to Tennessee; Virginia McCaskey, who owned the Bears from 1983 until her death earlier this year at age 102; Clint Murchison, founder and owner of the Dallas Cowboys; and Art Rooney Jr., a member of the family that owns the Steelers.
Among the other candidates are John Wooten, a longtime scout and executive who later became chairman of the Fritz Pollard Alliance that helped push the NFL to hire more minority head coaches; former Raiders CEO Amy Trask, who was the first woman to hold that position with a team; former Kansas City scout Lloyd Wells, who was the first full-time Black scout in the NFL; and former league executive Buddy Young, who was the first Black executive in any major U.S. sports league when he was hired in 1964.
Two key people behind the success of “Monday Night Football” also made the cut: Roone Arledge, the ABC executive who produced the games that helped broaden the NFL’s popularity in the 1970s, and announcer Howard Cosell.
John Facenda, the voice behind many of the most memorable NFL Films productions, also advanced.
One of the more innovative people in NFL history also advanced. Clark Shaughnessy was is considered the “father of the T formation” and three-receiver set during his long career that included a stint as an adviser to Bears coach George Halas for a 73-0 title-game win over Washington in 1940, two years as head coach of the Rams and a stint as defensive coordinator for Halas in Chicago.
The others include longtime executives Frank “Bucko” Kilroy, Don Klosterman and John McVay; Seymour Siwoff, former owner and president of the Elias Sports Bureau; and former scouts Jack Vainisi, Eddie Kotal and Mike Giddings.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
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