If the Hall opened today...

[JuggernautJ]

I was looking at the inaugural class of 1963 for the Hall of Fame:
http://www.profootballhof.com/heroes-of-the-game/years/

And it got me to wondering (and just for fun) if the Hall was starting this year which 17 (or 20, if that's easier) people from football history would you put in the first class of the Hall of Fame?

I think I'd have to start with Jim Brown, Don Hutson, Sammy Baugh, Jim Thorpe and Jerry Rice.
My top 20 would almost certainly have George Halas, Bronko Nagurski, Red Grange, Vince Lombardi, Otto Graham, Johnny Unitas, Walter Payton, Gino Marchetti...
That's already 13 and a lot of guys aren't going to make the list...

[DavidSollender]

Lawrence Taylor and Pete Rozelle would make my list. If the HOF is opening ten years from now, I would also include Bill Belichick and Tom Brady.

[74_75_78_79_]

Thank God the HOF didn’t open right now (95+ years after the fact)! Opening when it did (40-some years in) gives you just enough rich history/nostalgia to start from. Or maybe late-’50s not a bad starting point. A good question is - when should the inaugural class have been? I guess I lean toward basically when it actually did, if not just a tad earlier. If it actually started now, who knows just how many (even more) well-deserving old-timers would have very unfairly been boxed-out. There always would have been arguments either way no matter when it would have begun but just imagine if it did start now?

[JeffreyMiller]

Thank God the HOF didn’t open right now (95+ years after the fact)! Opening when it did (40-some years in) gives you just enough rich history/nostalgia to start from. Or maybe late-’50s not a bad starting point. A good question is - when should the inaugural class have been? I guess I lean toward basically when it actually did, if not just a tad earlier. If it actually started now, who knows just how many (even more) well-deserving old-timers would have very unfairly been boxed-out. There always would have been arguments either way no matter when it would have begun but just imagine if it did start now?

Very true! I think now with the younger generation and some of them who think that anything old--or pre-ESPN or NFL Network--is either invalid or simply not worthy, many of the players from 1920 through 1970 would be shut out. Red Badgro, Wayne Millner, Joe Guyon, Dan Fortmann, Greasy Neale ... who are these guys?

[Bryan]

Very true! I think now with the younger generation and some of them who think that anything old--or pre-ESPN or NFL Network--is either invalid or simply not worthy, many of the players from 1920 through 1970 would be shut out. Red Badgro, Wayne Millner, Joe Guyon, Dan Fortmann, Greasy Neale ... who are these guys?

Shutting out Guyon and Millner wouldn't be a bad thing, IMO.

[TanksAndSpartans]

Wow - this is a tough/impossible question - just sticking to players (no Halas, Carr, etc.) I came up with over 17 pretty quick - these were my 1st 17 off the top of my head (I thought of different positions, tough not to over include passers and runners):

Graham
Montana
Baugh
Thorpe
Brown
Nagurski
Van Buren
Motley
Rice
Hutson
Munoz
Hannah
Hein
D. Lane
J. Greene
D. Jones
L. Taylor

[ChrisBabcock]

Tangential question... Did they “get it right” back in ‘63? In other words, if you had a time machine and went back and were allowed to give input as to who that inaugural class should be, is there anyone who should have been included that wasn’t? I think I’d swap out Pete Henry for Benny Friedman. ...and possibly get Duke Slater in there somehow.

[TanksAndSpartans]

Tangential question... Did they “get it right” back in ‘63? In other words, if you had a time machine and went back and were allowed to give input as to who that inaugural class should be, is there anyone who should have been included that wasn’t? I think I’d swap out Pete Henry for Benny Friedman. ...and possibly get Duke Slater in there somehow.

Wow - another great question - with my time machine, I'd cheat and push for players I now know history wouldn't treat well - of course some aren't "worthy" of inaugural class status, but given I believe the guys left off would probably just have to wait another year or two (Marshall I'd just leave off), I think its the lesser of two evils - I'd probably return to the present happy even with just one change .

Sammy Baugh
Bert Bell -> B. Friedman
Joe Carr -> a Nesser brother
Earl (Dutch) Clark
Harold (Red) Grange -> P. Calac
George Halas -> L. Dilweg
Mel Hein
Wilbur (Pete) Henry
Robert (Cal) Hubbard
Don Hutson
Earl (Curly) Lambeau
Tim Mara -> Fats Waldsmith
George Preston Marshall -> Fritz Pollard
John (Blood) McNally -> T. Latone
Bronko Nagurski
Ernie Nevers -> D. Slater
Jim Thorpe

[Rupert Patrick]

Using coaches/players who have been retired at least five years:

George Halas
Sammy Baugh
Don Hutson
Mel Hein
Otto Graham
Paul Brown
Dick Lane
Jim Brown
Pete Rozelle
Lamar Hunt
Joe Greene
Walter Payton
Joe Montana
Lawrence Taylor
Jerry Rice
Reggie White
Ray Lewis

Edit: Per Bryan's post, I realize I forgot to put an AFL person on the list. Hunt was the right person. I removed Anthony Munoz and added Hunt.

[Bryan]

Lots of good names so far. I would include Lamar Hunt, too.