CLEVELAND — The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced on Wednesday their “Centennial Slate” of soon-to-be enshrinees in celebration of the National Football League’s 100th season, and once again, controversial former Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens owner Art Modell was left out.
Modell was one of 10 finalists in the “Contributors” category, which pays homage to the advances to the game of football made by an individual other than a player or coach. Of those 10 finalists, Steve Sabol (former NFL Films executive), Paul Tagliabue (former NFL commissioner) and George Young (former NFL executive) were selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2020 and will be enshrined in Canton, Ohio later this summer.
That leads to one question: Did the late Modell miss his last “best chance” at making it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame?
Here is a look at both sides of the equation.
Yes
Modell’s chances may never be better for his inclusion into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
With the one-time expansion of the Hall of Fame class, this was Modell’s “best chance” to get in of the three times he was a finalist for enshrinement.
Modell was a finalist after the Ravens won their first Super Bowl Championship, and again, after his passing in 2012 at the age of 87 before the expansion of the class to include three contributors instead of the one or two who get discussed among all other candidates on “Selection Saturday,” the day before the Super Bowl.
While Modell brought a franchise back to Baltimore after the Colts left for Indianapolis, hoisted the Lombardi Trophy after the Ravens’ Super Bowl XXXV victory and was integral in the creation of “Monday Night Football,” he is remembered for his personnel moves, including firing two of the best coaches in football history.
First, Modell parted ways with Hall of Fame coach/general manager Paul Brown in January of 1963. Brown helped organize the team in 1945, coached the franchise for 17 seasons and won four AAFC (1946-1949) and three NFL championships (1950, 1954-1955) before being dismissed by Modell, and ultimately, settling in Cincinnati and forming the Bengals.
Then, when Modell moved the original Browns to Baltimore following the 1995 season, there reportedly were assurances given that Bill Belichick would be retained as head coach, but that proved not to be the case, as in February of 1996, he was relieved of his duties.
Belichick has gone on to make 10 Super Bowl appearances with six championships as the head coach of the New England Patriots.
One stands to wonder if Modell could not get in with the expanded class and others joining the list for consideration for their contributions to the game in the coming years, he will have a hard time even becoming a finalist to make it into Canton.
No
A blue-ribbon panel comprised of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Selection Committee, hall of famers, coaches, football executives and historians of the game narrowed the list of 300 eligible candidates down to the finalists that were selected as part of the Centennial Class of 2020.
The panel met earlier this month to vote on the 15-member “Centennial Slate” that will join the five modern-era honorees as part of the Class of 2020.
New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick was on the blue-ribbon panel and he, more so than anyone else, remembers what it was like to be left behind after Modell went to Baltimore in the middle of the 1995 season and never came back to Cleveland.
Belichick, along with his coaching staff, was left to navigate the franchise through the fallout from Modell’s decision. The Browns were 4-5 at the time of the announcement and finished the season with a 5-11 record, well short of a playoff berth.
Belichick probably nullified the case made by former Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome, also a member of the committee who selected the three contributors.
With the passing of time and retirement of those media members on the selection committee who were covering the league at the time of the original Browns’ move to Baltimore, Modell will have more chances to at least make it to the final round of voting.