The Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton has trimmed its voting body from 50 members to a 28-person committee, and the new list no longer includes former Super Bowl-winning coach Tony Dungy.
The change, announced earlier this month, reshapes how new inductees are chosen for enshrinement at the Canton institution. Three of the 28 committee members are non-voting.
Dungy, who coached 13 seasons in the NFL with the Buccaneers and the Colts and led Indianapolis to a Super Bowl title in 2006, was inducted into the Hall himself in 2016. After retiring from coaching, he became a studio analyst for NBC.
He was not the only prominent name cut. Hall of Fame receiver James Lofton, part of the Class of 2003, and longtime front-office executive Bill Polian, inducted in 2015, also lost their votes. Most of the other removals came from the media side of the panel, including ESPN sideline reporter Lisa Salters.
Not everyone lost their seat. Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Fouts remains on the voting committee, and two recent inductees, Jared Allen and Will Shields, were added this year.
In a statement, the Hall said voters are “charged with the vital task of continuing to be sure that new enshrinees are the finest the game has produced.”
A process under scrutiny
The timing follows a controversial vote last year in which Bill Belichick, despite six Super Bowl titles as the Patriots’ head coach, was not selected for enshrinement in his first year of eligibility.
Dungy was on the voting committee at the time and declined to say how he voted when asked during NBC’s Super Bowl pregame show.
“I’m not going to disclose that,” Dungy said. “When you come on the committee, you take an oath that you’re not going to discuss any of the debates, anything that happened there. I’m not going to put any of my teammates under the bus who they voted for, who I voted for.”
Looking ahead, Rob Gronkowski, Ben Roethlisberger, Adrian Peterson and Richard Sherman will be first-time eligible candidates considered for the Class of 2027.
The remaining committee members are current or former media figures: Howard Balzer, Jarrett Bell, Dave Birkett, Vic Carucci, Mike Chappell, Pete Dougherty, Jeff Duncan, Scott Garceau, Bob Glauber, Vahe Gregorian, Nicki Jhabvala, Lindsay Jones, Ira Kaufman, Ross Ketover, NFL Films, Sam Kouvaris, Jeff Legwold, Rob Maaddi, Gary Myers, Sal Paolantonio, Dan Pompei, Mike Sando, Jim Trotter, Calvin Watkins, Charean Williams and Eric Williams.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login