The Pro Football Hall of Fame’s NFL domination: Why it’s so rare to find another path to Canton

The Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday will induct eight new members as part of its Class of 2022.

That will bring the Canton, Ohio-based football shrine’s inductees to 362 former NFL players, coaches, executives, officials, owners and contributors.

All of them played or worked in the NFL.

Yet it’s called the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The NFL, while the pinnacle of pro football now for decades, isn’t and definitely has not always been the only show in town.

Other leagues have come and gone, with the NFL absorbing a few teams from the All-America Football Conference ahead of the 1950 season and merging entirely with the American Football League in 1970 to create the framework of the NFL we recognize today.

Other leagues have existed with varying levels of success, but rarely for long. The ecosystem of American football has included the United States Football League of the mid-1980s, the World Football League of the 1970s, and a wild hodgepodge of barnstorming, fly-by-night leagues in the first half of the 20th century.

All of the players, coaches, owners, executives, etc., from those leagues are technically eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but the 501(c)(3) nonprofit entity has been so closely aligned with the NFL since it opened in 1963 that any mostly non-NFL inductee is a rarity. The 49-member selection committee is comprised entirely of media members in NFL cities along with a slate of at-large media folks — some with NFL playing or coaching resumes.

It’s generally understood that anyone from non-NFL leagues must also have had a worthy NFL career to get a bronze bust in Canton, said Rich Desrosiers, the Hall’s chief communications and content officer.

“There were many good players (in other leagues), but in considering them for the Hall of Fame, their resume needs to have shown an extensive career in the NFL, as well,” Desrosiers said.

That’s because the NFL is the highest level of pro football. Talent from rival leagues, however, helped build the NFL into an $11 billion behemoth, and it’s an open question on whether the Hall should consider players or contributors from other leagues on those merits alone.

With Saturday’s ceremony, there will be nine men with USFL playing, head coaching or front office experience in the Hall. (A 10th, Fred Biletnikoff, was an assistant coach for two USFL teams near the end of his career.) The late Sam Mills, an absolute terror as one of the four “Dome Patrol” linebackers with the New Orleans Saints in the late 1980s/early ’90s and then the expansion Carolina Panthers, is the latest former USFL player to enter Canton.

Mills, who died from intestinal cancer in April 2005, is an example of a player who used a non-NFL league to propel himself to the big league and stardom. He spent three seasons in the USFL, amassing nine interceptions including a pick-six, 15 sacks, three all-league honors, and two rings. In the NFL, his accolades included five Pro Bowls and three first- or second-team All-Pro honors.

Desrosiers said Mills’ USFL career was a small part of the discussion about his candidacy. For some voters, like Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, it wasn’t a significant factor.

“If I’m being honest, I did not give too much consideration to Sam Mills’ case for what he did outside the NFL,” Birkett said. “It was brought up. We talked about it in the meeting. I did not get the sense that was a big factor.”

For a long time, you would’ve been hard-pressed to find much in the Pro Football Hall of Fame about non-NFL leagues, but that’s changed a bit over the years. For example, a display of Mills’ paraphernalia currently at the Hall of Fame includes a game ball from the 1983 Philadelphia Stars, the franchise Mills helped win the USFL championship in 1984 and again after they moved to Baltimore in 1985.

The Hall has displayed a number of non-NFL items and recounted the history of other leagues as part of the evolution of American football, albeit as satellites orbiting the NFL. The USFL championship trophy has been part of the Hall’s collection since 2018.

Statistics are another unique part of the NFL versus non-NFL aspects of the Hall of Fame.

If the player’s team or league was absorbed by the NFL, then the stats are included as part of the player’s Hall of Fame record — you can see that on its website player pages for the likes of Otto Graham, Marion Motley and Y.A. Tittle. Their AAFC numbers are part of their official statistics.

“Because they played on teams that were absorbed by the NFL, those leagues and teams became part of the NFL, the records came with them,” Desrosiers said.

But if a player’s team or league didn’t become part of the NFL, then the stats are a footnote and not included in his totals or are included but not considered part of their official record for Hall purposes. For example, Jim Kelly’s page includes mention of his years quarterbacking the USFL’s Houston Gamblers, but the stats are a note underneath his Buffalo Bills numbers. The NFL itself doesn’t include records other than the AFL of 1960-70.

If Kelly’s USFL numbers were part of the official record, his career would look more impressive, said Jeff Pearlman, author of the USFL history book “Football For a Buck” published in 2018.

“If you take Kelly’s USFL stats (with his NFL numbers), he goes down much more Dan Marino/John Elway-esque than where he is, which is in that Joe Namath/Ken Stabler second sect,” Pearlman said.

In recent years, there’s been more of an effort to ensure overlooked players from pro football’s early years get their Hall consideration. For the 2020 induction class, which marked the NFL’s centennial anniversary, the Hall of Fame created a panel to do a deep-dive to find players and others who may have been missed or ignored from football’s infancy, including from rival leagues.

That led to the induction of several additional players, including Cleveland Browns receiver Mac Speedie, the bulk of whose career numbers came in the AAFC from 1946-49. He put up good NFL numbers over three subsequent seasons, and later played in the CFL, but it was his AAFC numbers that helped get him a posthumous gold jacket.

“No one took the time that the blue ribbon panel did to pour over the history book to find the early stars of the league,” Desrosiers said.

Interestingly, the NFL itself in 1969 had named Speedie to its All-1940s team, despite him not joining the NFL until 1950, as part of the league’s 50th-anniversary celebrations. Also, the league doesn’t recognize his 99-yard score in 1947 because it wasn’t in an NFL game.

Keeping track of what numbers count and where is headache-inducing.

There’s also a thorny history with the NFL and rival leagues. There was enormous bad blood between the NFL and AAFC until the limited merger, and the original USFL (which was reborn earlier this year as a lower-tier developmental league owned by Fox Sports that played its championship game at the Hall’s football stadium) was known for directly challenging the NFL for elite players and for TV eyeballs and dollars.

The original USFL, while winning just $3 in an anti-trust case against the NFL, famously imploded financially by 1985 and dissolved in bankruptcy.

Aside from the nine HOFers, the upstart league also was the career launch pad for several players who went on to solid NFL careers but were not Hall of Fame worthy on their own. It still remains, for now, only a parlor game on whether such players deserve Hall of Fame consideration.

When USFL numbers are added to NFL stats for players such as Herschel Walker, Bobby Hebert and Anthony Carter, it becomes an interesting question on whether they should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame on their combined pro football numbers. And in theory, any of them could eventually end up in Canton. It’s ultimately up to the whims of the selection committee (membership can be found here).

“It was a professional league. You do have to recognize and appreciate it in some way, but you don’t have to put it on the same pedestal as the NFL,” Birkett said.

His current political career aside, Walker is especially intriguing. His NFL career may be best remembered for the blockbuster trade that sent him from the Cowboys to the Vikings in 1989, but his USFL stats were eye-popping: Over three seasons with the New Jersey Generals, he ran 1,143 times for 5,563 yards (4.87 yards-per-carry average) and scored 54 times. In 1985, he averaged 5.5 yards per carry en route to 2,411 yards and 21 touchdowns.

In a dozen NFL seasons with four teams, he topped 1,000 yards just twice and finished with 8,225 yards on the ground. But add in his kick return and receiving yards, his combined NFL total yards are 18,168. That ranks 12th all time.

Combine all his USFL and NFL numbers, his total is 25,283 yards. That tops the current NFL No. 1, Jerry Rice at 23,546 yards.

“Maybe there is some merit to at least discussing that,” Birkett said.

Though it’s called the “Pro” Football Hall of Fame, a path to a bronze bust without a stellar NFL career is almost unheard of, as these legends can attest. (Gary A. Vasquez / USA Today)

Walker may be a special case, so far above the rest of the USFL players not in the Hall of Fame. There are a few guys, like Hebert and Carter, that could be long-shot veterans committee selections one day.

Hebert, who played for the Michigan Panthers in 1983-84 and the Oakland Invaders in 1985 after the teams merged, is an interesting case. He’s the USFL passing yards leader with 11,137. He won MVP of the inaugural USFL title game in 1983.

His NFL career was decent but not spectacular. He played for the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons from 1985-96, earning a 1993 Pro Bowl honor and amassing 21,683 yards and 135 touchdown passes.

Combined with his NFL numbers, this pro football career stats are 32,820 yards and 216 scoring passes. That puts him between Ken Anderson and Kirk Cousins at No. 43 on the all-time yards list (which would change with all USFL and AAFC numbers added), and 37th on the TD pass list between Cousins/Ryan Fitzpatrick and John Brodie.

This is a statistical flight of fancy, of course, because adding non-NFL stats means a wholesale re-ordering of football’s data lists. And one needs to keep in mind that the stat lists, with or without non-NFL numbers, are comprised of players in different eras and under varying rules, meaning each player is taken within the context of their era. For example, The Athletic’s Mike Sando did a deep-dive statistical look at how to compare elite wide receivers across eras.

Hebert’s favorite target, Anthony Carter, is another marginal case. In the USFL, he grabbed 160 balls for 3,042 yards and 27 scores. In three seasons, he averaged 19.01 yards per reception.

In the NFL from 1985-95, he played mostly for the Minnesota Vikings and recorded 486 receptions for 7,773 yards and 55 touchdowns. That earned him three Pro Bowl bids.

Carter’s combined stats: 646 catches for 10,815 yards and 82 touchdown receptions.

That combined yardage would rank 41st today, between Gary Clark (another USFL alum) and Stanley Morgan. Several Hall of Famers with fewer yards include Lance Alworth, Shannon Sharpe, Raymond Berry, Charley Taylor, Harold Carmichael, John Stallworth, Cliff Branch, Biletnikoff and Paul Warfield. Carter’s career catches rank among several HOFers, and the 82 scores would be tied for 27th all time.

While it may be a fun thought exercise today, giving more serious consideration to non-NFL production certainly can be part of the debate over a player’s worthiness to enter Canton.

“Their NFL resume was good enough to get them into the Hall of Fame,” Desrosiers said. “The USFL can be a discussion point to put them over the top.”

Could it extend to coaches? Several who led teams in other leagues before their NFL careers are in the Hall, including Paul Brown (AAFC), George Allen (USFL) and Marv Levy (USFL).

Jim “Playoffs?!?” Mora, before he coached the Saints and Colts, was head coach of the USFL’s Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars franchise for all three seasons and won two of the league’s three championships. Mora’s USFL regular-season coaching record was 41-12-1 and he went 7-1 in the playoffs. In the NFL, he coached to a 125-106 record, but was 0-6 in the postseason.

Probably a fringe seniors Canton candidate, no?

Mora and the rest probably will linger in the shadowy realm between pretty good and great, and there are a lot of players, coaches and others whose NFL numbers alone put them in the Hall discussion without having to consider fringe or secondary football numbers.

Welcome to the Pro Football Hall of Very Good (the Pro Football Researchers Association has just such a list!).

Cases, sometimes compelling and sometimes not, for and against often are made for guys like Randall Cunningham, Sterling Sharpe, Jim Marshall, Drew Bledsoe, Doug Flutie, Steve McNair and more.

Some of those edge-of-greatness players had non-NFL football experience, too, but they’re going to make or miss the Hall based on their NFL years.

“With so many men waiting to be elected, I think the benefit of the doubt would probably go to the guy whose stars were in the NFL. It hurt the USFL that it was so short in tenure,” Desrosiers said. “When the selectors are comparing apples and oranges, the sense is the NFL is the superior level of competition.”

Still, sometimes guys on the fringe, after long debate, do get in: ‘70s Oakland Raiders quarterback Ken “The Snake” Stabler made it in 2016, a year after his death. Broncos running back Terrell Davis made it in 2017, which was 11 years after his eligibility began. It took six years for receiver Cris Carter to get his nod.

So how do players, NFL and NFL-plus-other-leagues, get in front of the selection committee?

Fans can nominate anyone from pro football, and the Hall’s staff has a running list of eligible players from modern and past eras. The selection committees ultimately make the decision, and details about the process can be found here.

“That list is constantly being updated here and shared with the selectors,” Desrosiers said. “Sometimes careers become more appreciated as time goes by.”

There are some pro football players who never are going to be considered despite any gaudy stats from non-NFL leagues.

While the now-defunct Arena Football League and the Canadian Football League have produced NFL stars — Kurt Warner and Warren Moon played in those leagues before Hall of Fame NFL careers — those leagues have vastly different rules and playing fields, so they’re not part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction conversation.

“None of Kurt Warner’s (AFL) stats are included in his resume. It’s a different game,” Desrosiers said.

The CFL, along with college football and individual teams, have their own halls of fame, but the Pro Football Hall of Fame is generally seen as the epitome of a football career. A gold jacket, bronze bust, and Super Bowl ring(s) lend a measure of sports immortality, and perhaps the relative exclusivity feeds that notion.

Other halls of fame have been more liberal with enshrining players and contributors from outside their core major leagues. For example, the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, which dates to 1943, is mostly NHL players but there is a smattering of non-NHL players enshrined.

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, created in 1959 and since 1968 housed in Massachusetts, includes more than 400 players and contributors from the NBA, ABA, WNBA, college and amateur ranks, both domestically and internationally.

And the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., has inducted Negro Leagues players since the early 1970s while Major League Baseball itself recently opted to recognize Negro League Baseball from 1920-48 as equivalent to MLB.

Making the case for non-NFL players from pro football’s early years to enter Canton faces the problem that MLB and Cooperstown had to navigate with the Negro Leagues: lack of stats. The halls and researchers rely on any official league artifacts and records, and the available newspaper box scores — and those often were hard to find or may not have existed. Stats were not the priority that they are today.

An argument can be made that non-NFL stats, particularly in the old days, were amassed against inferior talent and sketchy teams, but the NFL itself saw 49 teams fold between 1920-52. The leather helmet era is a far cry from pro football by the 1960s to today.

Hence, voters try to consider players within the context of their era. That gives a leg up to the dwindling number of olden-days candidates compared to someone coming out of the USFL or the second-tier leagues like the XFL.

“I would separate the early football players from more recent ones,” Birkett said.

So after all this, it’s still called the Pro Football Hall of Fame despite being decidedly the NFL Hall of Fame. Yet it still feels appropriate, even if there are only a few enshrinees who clearly did their best work outside of the NFL.

The NFL itself, in a recent story about the Hall of Fame events this week, explained the Hall of Fame’s name: “The Pro Football Hall of Fame was established to honor the legacies of all participants in professional football, covering the NFL, the leagues that preceded the NFL and those that have existed outside of the NFL. In order to properly preserve the history of the game and advance it further, the Hall of Fame chooses not to confine itself to the events that have occurred within the NFL.”

This year’s induction ceremony is scheduled for noon Saturday. It airs on ESPN and the NFL Network.

The Jacksonville Jaguars and Las Vegas Raiders will square off in the annual Hall of Fame Game that annually kicks off the preseason at the Hall’s stadium at 8 p.m. Thursday, airing live on NBC.

(Top photo of Bobby Hebert with the USFL’s Michigan Panthers: George Gojkovich / Getty Images)