Outside the Beltway

NFL Hall of Fame 2006 Class (Live)

James Joyner · Saturday, February 4, 2006 · 7 comments

The NFL is about to announce the Hall of Fame Class of 2006.

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin was once again snubbed.

The 2006 inductees:

• Troy Aikman, Quarterback, Dallas Cowboys
• Harry Carson, Linebacker, New York Giants
• John Madden, Coach, Oakland Raiders
• Warren Moon, Quarterback, Houston Oilers, Minnesota Vikings, and Seattle Seahawks
• Reggie White, Defensive Lineman, Philadelphia Eagles, Green Bay Packers, and Carolina Packers
• Rayfield Wright, Offensive Lineman, Dallas Cowboys

The six enshrinees was the maximum allowable under the rules. Aikman and White were simply slam dunk first ballot choices and Moon, also picked on his first year of eligibility, clearly deserved it. The enshrinement of Wright, a member of the 1970s All-Decade Team, corrects one of the great oversights in Canton.

Carson likely deserved to be in, too, although not as much as Irvin. He wasn’t even the best linebacker on his own team.

Madden deserves it on a “contributions to the game” basis but not as a coach. His career with the Raiders was simply too short.

Speeches: Aikman was, as we have come to expect from his broadcasting career, quite eloquent and humble. Wright and Madden, who both waited a very long time to get in, were the most humbled. Madden was so flustered he could barely talk.

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Elsewhere:

ESPN.com has bios on all the members of the class, via the AP.

Aikman, Wright get Hall call (DMN)

Troy Aikman and Rayfield Wright never played together during their careers with the Cowboys, but they will soon be teammates. On Saturday, Aikman and Wright were selected for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, becoming the sixth and seventh players in team history to earn the sport’s highest honor.

For the second straight year, Michael Irvin, the Cowboys’ all-time leading receiver, did not make the final cut and will likely be on the ballot again in 2007.

[…]

Aikman is the first player in the Jerry Jones’ Era to make the Hall of Fame, while Wright is the first offensive lineman in team history to be enshrined. They are the first Cowboys to be elected to the Hall of Fame since Mel Renfro in 1996. It will be the first time since 1994 the Cowboys will have two players going into the Hall of Fame in the same year. Tony Dorsett and Randy White were inducted that year.

Aikman’s candidacy was not one of gaudy statistics but of winning. From an 0-11 record his rookie year in 1989 to three Super Bowl wins, no quarterback in any decade in NFL history won more than the 90 games Aikman’s Cowboys won in the 1990s. He led the Cowboys to wins in Super Bowls XXVII, XXVIII and XXX. In Super Bowl XXVII against Buffalo, he was named the game’s Most Valuable Player, throwing for 273 yards and four touchdowns in the 52-17 victory. His career ended because of a series of concussions, but he threw for 32,942 yards and 165 touchdowns, both team records in 12 seasons. He was named to the Pro Bowl six times.

“He’s a Young, Marino, Elway and Bradshaw, a first-year Hall of Famer,” former Cowboys quarterback and Hall of Famer Roger Staubach said earlier this week. “He really resurrected the Dallas Cowboys. He was a spectacular football player when he was asked to be spectacular.”

Two years ago, Wright made it to the final six of the voting process, along with former teammate Bob Hayes, and did not get in. Again a Veterans Committee candidate this year, Wright finally took the place so many of his former teammates, such as Staubach and Calvin Hill and opponents, such as Deacon Jones and Jack Youngblood, felt he had earned. Wright is the only offensive tackle to play in five Super Bowls, and he was selected to six Pro Bowls and was a four-time All-NFL selection. He helped cleared the way for the first five 1,000-yard rushers in franchise history. Somewhat easing his pain from the earlier Hall of Fame snub, Wright was inducted into the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor in 2004.

Despite his 750 career catches and 11,904 yards, Irvin fell short again. He had a well-publicized arrest last November, but off-the-field issues are not supposed to be part of the criteria used by the voters. “It’s the Pro Football Hall of Fame,” former teammate and the NFL’s all-time leading rusher Emmitt Smith said Friday. “It’s not the Life Hall of Fame.” Irvin went to five Pro Bowls and holds the NFL record with 11 100-yard receiving games in a season (1995), but he was the heart of a team that won three Super Bowls in four years and played in four straight NFC Championship games. His career came to a premature end because of a back injury in 1999.

Aikman, Wright elected to Pro Football Hall of Fame (FWST/AP)

Troy Aikman made it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s biggest class in years. The guy he threw to – Michael Irvin – will have to wait once again. Reggie White, Warren Moon, Harry Carson, John Madden and Rayfield Wright also were elected Saturday. Not since 2001 had the maximum number of candidates been chosen.

Emmitt Smith, who joined with Aikman and Irvin to win three Super Bowls for the Dallas Cowboys, campaigned vigorously Friday for his two former teammates. But Irvin, plagued by off-the-field troubles in recent years, was left out in his second try.

The late White, the NFL career sacks leader when he retired in 2000, and star quarterbacks Aikman and Moon made it in their first year of eligibility. Moon is the first black quarterback in the Hall. Madden and Wright were seniors committee candidates and Carson was in his seventh year as a finalist.

Hall-elujah — Wright, Aikman Inducted Into Hall of Fame; Irvin Misses Again (Dallas Cowboys.com)

For the first time in 10 years, the Cowboys will have a representative in the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction. In fact, make it two. Former Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman and offensive tackle Rayfield Wright were among six players voted into the Hall of Fame Saturday in Detroit, by the 39-person selection committee.

The rest of the 2006 Hall of Fame class will include former Eagles and Packers defensive end Reggie White, former Raiders coach and current NFL broadcaster John Madden, former Giants linebacker Harry Carson and former Oilers quarterback Warren Moon.

However, for the second straight year, former Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin was left out. Unlike last year, Irvin was not among the six finalists. Now, the Cowboys’ all-time leading receiver will have to wait another year.

Wright and Aikman become the sixth and seventh former Cowboys players inducted into the Hall of Fame, joining Roger Staubach, Tony Dorsett, Bob Lilly, Randy White and Mel Renfro, the last player inducted in 1996. Also, Tom Landry and Tex Schramm have been inducted to the Hall of Fame.

Aikman, the Cowboys’ all-time leading passer, led his team to three Super Bowl wins in a four-year span and was named MVP of Super Bowl XXVII. “It’s the greatest individual athletic achievement that’s ever happened in my life,” Aikman said Saturday afternoon, minutes after the announcement in Detroit. “To be considered one of those players that made an impact or somehow helped defined the game itself, it’s a very humbling experience.”

Wright, the first Cowboys offensive linemen to be inducted, played 13 seasons from 1967-79, earning six Pro Bowl selections.

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Previously:

Michael Irvin Arrested on Drug Charges
Reggie White and Troy Aikman on Hall of Fame Ballot
Aikman, Smith, and Irvin Cowboys Ring of Honor Selectees
Marino, Young First-Ballot Hall of Famers, Irvin Snubbed
It̢۪s Official: Emmitt Smith Retires
Sources: Emmitt Smith to Retire
Marino, Young, Irvin Among Hall of Fame Nominees