Giants Birthday Boy Strahan is Semi-Finalist for Hall of Fame

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J – Three former NFL icons with Giants ties – Michael Strahan, George Young and Morten Andersen – are among the 25 semifinalists being considered for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2014.

The Hall of Fame’s Selection Committee chose the 25 modern-era semifinalists from the previously announced list of 126 nominees.

Strahan, a defensive end, played his entire 15-year career with the Giants from 1993-2007. He was a four-time All-Pro and seven-time Pro Bowler who holds the NFL single-season sack record with 22.5 in 2001. Strahan had 141.5 career regular season sacks, which is the Giants’ franchise record and the fifth-highest total in NFL history. The former Giants record-holder was Hall of Famer linebacker Lawrence Taylor, who had 132.5 sacks.

Young was the Giants’ general manager from 1979-97 and was named NFL Executive of the Year five times. He assembled teams that won two Super Bowls, four division titles and earned eight postseason berths. Young acquired many of the greatest players in Giants history, including Taylor, Phil Simms, Joe Morris, Carl Banks and Rodney Hampton. He also held front office positions with the Baltimore Colts from 1968-74 and the Miami Dolphins from 1975-78. After leaving the Giants, Young filled the newly-created position of senior vice president for football operations for the National Football League until his death at age 71 on Dec. 8, 2001.

Andersen played for the Giants in 2001, a small slice of a 25-year career that included stops in New Orleans, Atlanta (twice), Kansas City and Minnesota. He is the NFL’s career scoring leader with 2,544 points. He scored 98 of those in his only season with the Giants by hitting 23 of 28 field goal attempts and 29 of 30 extra point tries.

Strahan, Young and Andersen were semifinalists last year, but only Strahan was selected as one of the 15 finalists. He made the cut to 10, but was not elected to the Hall in his first year of eligibility.

The new group of Hall of Fame semifinalists includes four first-year eligible candidates – linebacker Derrick Brooks, coach Tony Dungy, wide receiver Marvin Harrison, and tackle Walter Jones. The others are safeties Steve Atwater and John Lynch, running backs Jerome Bettis, Roger Craig and Terrell Davis, wide receiver/kickoff returner Tim Brown, coaches Don Coryell and Jimmy Johnson, owner Edward DeBartolo, defensive end/linebackers Charles Haley and Kevin Greene, tackle Joe Jacoby, commissioner Paul Tagliabue, defensive back Aeneas Williams and guard Steve Wisniewski.

The list of 25 semifinalists will be reduced by mail ballot to 15 modern-era finalists. That list increases to 17 finalist nominees with the inclusion of the two recommended candidates of the Hall of Fame’s Seniors Committee. The Seniors Committee nominees, who were announced in August, are punter Ray Guy (1973-1986 Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders) and defensive end Claude Humphrey (1968-1978 Atlanta Falcons, 1979-1981 Philadelphia Eagles).

The results of the modern-era reduction vote to 15 finalists will be announced during a one-hour special on NFL Network on Wednesday, Jan. 8 2014 at 10 p.m. ET.

With the list of semifinalists being announced, fans now have the opportunity to experience what it’s like to be on the selection committee through a new voting experience available at nfl.com/hofvote. There, fans will be asked to select their top 15 modern-era candidates to make it as finalists, in line with the next step in the selection process.

To be considered for election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, a nominated player or coach must not have participated as an active player or coach for five consecutive seasons. A nominated contributor, who has made outstanding contributions to pro football in capacities other than playing and coaching, may still be active in his pro football career.

Although there is no set number of enshrinees for any Hall of Fame Class, the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s current ground rules stipulate that between four and seven new members will be selected each year. No more than five modern-era nominees can be elected in a given year and a class of six or seven enshrinees can only be achieved if one or both senior nominees are elected.

The Class of 2014 will be determined at the Selection Committee’s annual meeting on Saturday, Feb. 1, in New York, the day before Super Bowl XLVIII. The Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2014 will be announced during “3rd Annual NFL Honors,” a two-hour primetime awards special to air nationally that evening from 8-10 p.m. (ET) on FOX. “NFL Honors” will be taped earlier that evening at Radio City Music Hall in New York City from 6-8 p.m. (ET) when the 2014 Hall of Fame Inductees will be introduced for the first time. In addition, the NFL and The Associated Press will announce their annual accolades in this awards show with the winners on hand to accept their awards.

The Class of 2014 will be officially enshrined on Saturday, Aug. 2 in Canton, Ohio as the main event of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Annual Enshrinement Festival Celebration.

The results of the modern-era reduction vote to 15 finalists will be announced during a one-hour special on NFL Network on Wednesday, Jan. 8 2014 at 10 p.m. ET.

The Class of 2014 will be officially enshrined on Saturday, Aug. 2 in Canton, Ohio as the main event of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Annual Enshrinement Festival Celebration.
The Giants were represented in the Hall of Fame Class of 2013 by former coach Bill Parcells.

If elected, Strahan and/or Young would be the 20th and/or 21st longtime Giants member elected to the Hall of Fame. They would join Morris “Red” Badgro, Roosevelt Brown, Harry Carson, Benny Friedman, Frank Gifford, Mel Hein, Sam Huff, Alphonse “Tuffy” Leemans, Tim Mara, Wellington Mara, Steve Owen, Parcells, Andy Robustelli, Ken Strong, Fran Tarkenton, Lawrence Taylor, Y.A. Tittle, Emlen Tunnell, and Arnie Weinmeister.

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