Football - Tagliabue and Mathews Head The Pro Footb

It was announced that the former NFL commissioner, Paul Tagliabue, and durable offensive lineman, Bruce Mathews lead the fray amongst the 17 finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The preliminary list of nominees was made up of 111 former players, coaches and contributors. This was then reduced to 25 semifinalists before further narrowing it down to 17 finalists.
Tagliabue is one of the contributors in the preliminary list. He served as the NFL’s commissioner from 1989 to 2006. During his tenure as the commissioner, NFL signed record setting television deals, there was a huge stadium building drive and labor peace was achieved.
Mathews holds the NFL record for most games and seasons played at any position. He played 296 games and played 19 seasons. He spent his entire career with Tennessee Titans franchise and retired after the 2001 campaign.
The other finalist are running back Thurman Thomas, wide receivers Michael Irvin, Art Monk and Andre Reed, guards Russ Grimm and Bob Kuechenberg, tackle Gary Zimmerman, defensive ends Fred Dean and Richard Dent, linebackers Derrick Thomas and Andre Tippett, cornerback Roger Wehrli and punter Ray Guy. The Senior Committee nominees are guard Gene Hickerson and tight end Charlie Sanders.
The Hall of Fame class will be elected on February 3, a day before the Super Bowl XLI which is due to be held at Miami. In order to be elected, a finalist must receive a minimum of 80 percent of the total votes by the panel of media members.
Enshrinement will take place on the weekend of August 4-5.