By Ray Bennett
Saturday February 4, 2012
Every year on the day before the Super Bowl, the Pro Football Hall of Fame, located in Canton, Ohio, select a group of retired veteran players, coaches and owners that left their mark on the game. This year, the committee picked six players that best represent that benchmark.
The 2012 Class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame was announced on Saturday in Indianapolis, Indiana, the location of this year's Super Bowl. The Class of 2012 will be represented by former Patriots and Jets running back Curtis Martin, former Vikings, Falcons and 49ers defensive end Chris Doleman, former Seahawks defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy, former Saints and Chiefs offensive tackle Willie Roaf and two former Steelers: center Dermontti Dawson and cornerback Jack Butler.
The class was narrowed down from fifteen modern-era semi-finalists to a group of ten finalists. The final ten is then reduced to an eligible list of five. Those final five players need at least an eighty percent yes vote among the committee to get in.
The other two semi-finalists are former players that played in the NFL before the Super Bowl and AFL-NFL merger-eras. The senior committee can only pick one of those two players.
The biggest name on this list is eleven-year veteran running back Curtis Martin. Martin, in his second year of eligibility, started his career with the New England Patriots in 1995 after getting drafted in the 3rd round out of Pittsburgh. In his rookie season, he ran for 1487 yards and 14 touchdowns on his way to the offensive rookie of the year award. He scored 14 TD's again in his second season, even though his rushing yardage from his rookie year dropped to 1152 yards.
That year, the Patriots made it to Super Bowl XXXI, only to lose to the Green Bay Packers. Martin had 42 rushing yards and 38 receiving yards and a TD in what would be his only Super Bowl appearance.
After rushing for 1160 yards and 4 TD's in 1997, Martin signed with the New York Jets as a restricted free agent for the 1998 season and beyond. From '98 to 2005, Martin was one of the most dominant running backs in the league. In his tenure with the Jets, Martin ran for 10,302 yards, an all-time Jets record, and scored 58 of his 90 career rushing TD's. Injuries forced Martin to an early retirement at the age of 33 after missing the entire 2006 season.
In ten of his eleven seasons, Martin ran for over 1000 yards, the second player in NFL history to do this, next to Barry Sanders. Martin finished his career with 14,101 rushing yards, 4th all-time in NFL history behind Jim Brown, Walter Payton and Emmett Smith. He also was selected to five Pro Bowls ('95, '96, '98, '01, '04). He's also the oldest player to lead the league in rushing yards in a single season in 2004 at the age of 31.
Another former University of Pittsburgh player, DE/LB Chris Doleman, will join Martin in this year's Hall of Fame Class. A former fourth-overall draft pick, Doleman, who played the NFL for fifteen years for three different teams, was a feared defensive stalwart throughout his career. In 1989, Doleman set a Minnesota Vikings team record for sacks in a season with 21, the fourth highest in league history. That team record stood for twenty-two years until Jared Allen broke the record with 22 sacks this past season.
Doleman played for the Vikings from 1985 to 1993. He also had stints with the Atlanta Falcons from 1994-1995 and the San Francisco 49ers from 1996-1998. After spending one more year with the Vikings in 1999, Doleman retired with 150.5 career sacks and 8 Pro Bowl appearances ('87-'90, '92, '93, '95, '97). Doleman is also a member of the NFL's 1990's All-Decade Team.
Throughout his entire eleven-season career, Cortez Kennedy was the anchor of the Seattle Seahawks defensive line. A highly touted first round draft pick out of Miami (FL), Kennedy's career got off to a slow start in his rookie year after holding out until two days before the start of the 1990 season. The next year he turned things around, earning himself his first of six consecutive Pro Bowl selections. In 1992, despite his team only going 2-14, Kennedy won the league's Defensive Player of the Year award after leading the NFL with 14 sacks.
After retiring from the NFL, Kennedy compiled 668 tackles and 58 sacks in his eleven seasons. He was also selected 8 Pro Bowls ('91-'96, '98, '99) and is also a member of the NFL's 1990's All-Decade Team.
Dermontti Dawson is considered one of the best centers to ever play in the modern-era of the NFL. In a career that spanned thirteen seasons from 1988-2000, Dawson filled the shoes of Hall of Fame center Mike Webster, after he retired before his second year in the league. He started in 181 of his 184 career games, being selected to seven straight Pro Bowls from 1992-1998 and was awarded the 1996 Offensive Lineman of the Year by the NFL Alumni Association.
Offensive Tackle Willie Roaf was a dependable blocker throughout his entire thirteen-season career. Drafted eighth overall by the New Orleans Saints in 1993, Roaf went on to seven straight Pro Bowls from 1994-2000. After spending nine years with the Saints, Roaf signed with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2002, where he would go to four more Pro Bowls by the time he retired before the 2006 season. Roaf started in all of his 189 career games and is a member of both the NFL's 1990's and 2000's All-Decade Teams.
Former Steelers Defensive Back Jack Butler was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Senior committee, beating out former Detroit Lions and Washington Redskins offensive lineman Dick Stanfel, who played in the NFL from 1952 to 1958. An undrafted rookie out of St. Bonaventure University, Butler spent his entire nine-year career with the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1951-1959. In his playing days, Butler was considered one of the best defensive backs in the league.
In his rookie season, Butler had five interceptions. In 1953, he had a then career best nine interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns. Four seasons later in 1957, he led the NFL with ten interceptions, four of them coming in one game against the Redskins. Butler was named to four straight Pro Bowls in his final four seasons from 1956-1959. Butler finished his career with 52 interceptions and is a member of the NFL's 1950's All Decade Team.
These six players beat out a list of eleven other eligible former players, coaches and owners. The other eleven semi-finalists include former RB Jerome Bettis, wide receivers Tim Brown, Cris Carter and Andre Reed, OL Will Shields, DE/LB's Charles Haley and Kevin Greene, DB Aeneas Williams, head coach Bill Parcells and former 49ers owner Edward DeBartolo, Jr.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame also announced that it's facilities will undergo major renovations. It will be the biggest of it's kind in the Hall of Fame's 50 year history. The enshrinement ceremony will take place on August 4th.
