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CLEVELAND (92.3 The Fan) – Former Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens owner Art Modell will not be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2014.
Modell, who passed away in Sept. 2012 at the age of 87, was not among the 25 semifinalists for the class of 2014 which were announced Wednesday night.
Modell was was a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2001 and 2013, a semifinalist for the classes of 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011 but has not been elected.
While Modell was an NFL pioneer and renowned philanthropist, his legacy is forever tainted for moving the Browns to Baltimore in 1996.
Modell’s relocation of the Browns spurred a stadium and arena boom across the country as taxpayers agreed to pay for new ballparks, stadiums and arena’s for fear that their teams would suffer the same fate as the Browns.
The move wasn’t Modell’s first controversy as an owner. He fired legendary coach Paul Brown, who had won 7 league championships before Modell bought the Browns, in 1963 and hired Blanton Collier.
Modell was instrumental in the emergence of the NFL through television – most notably Monday Night Football. The Browns were the first telecast at old Cleveland Municipal Stadium on Sept. 21, 1970 and they beat Joe Namath and the NY Jets 31-21.
Steelers running back Jerome Bettis, Broncos running back Terrell Davis, 49ers owner Edward DeBartolo, Jr., coach Tony Dungy and Jimmy Johnson as well as former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue headline the semifinalists.
Morten Andersen, Steve Atwater, Derrick Brooks, Tim Brown, Don Coryell, Roger Craig, Kevin Greene, Charles Haley, Marvin Harrison, Joe Jacoby, Walter Jones, John Lynch, Karl Mecklenburg, Andre Reed, Will Shields, Michael Strahan, Aeneas Williams, Steve Wisniewski, and George Young also made the cut.
The group of 25 semifinalists will be trimmed to 15 in early January and the class of 2014 will be picked on Feb. 1.
The 2 senior nominees this year, who were selected in August by the Hall of Fame’s Senior Selection Committee, are punter Ray Guy and defensive end Claude Humphrey.
Modell, who passed away in Sept. 2012 at the age of 87, was not among the 25 semifinalists for the class of 2014 which were announced Wednesday night.
Modell was was a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2001 and 2013, a semifinalist for the classes of 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011 but has not been elected.
While Modell was an NFL pioneer and renowned philanthropist, his legacy is forever tainted for moving the Browns to Baltimore in 1996.
Modell’s relocation of the Browns spurred a stadium and arena boom across the country as taxpayers agreed to pay for new ballparks, stadiums and arena’s for fear that their teams would suffer the same fate as the Browns.
The move wasn’t Modell’s first controversy as an owner. He fired legendary coach Paul Brown, who had won 7 league championships before Modell bought the Browns, in 1963 and hired Blanton Collier.
Modell was instrumental in the emergence of the NFL through television – most notably Monday Night Football. The Browns were the first telecast at old Cleveland Municipal Stadium on Sept. 21, 1970 and they beat Joe Namath and the NY Jets 31-21.
Steelers running back Jerome Bettis, Broncos running back Terrell Davis, 49ers owner Edward DeBartolo, Jr., coach Tony Dungy and Jimmy Johnson as well as former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue headline the semifinalists.
Morten Andersen, Steve Atwater, Derrick Brooks, Tim Brown, Don Coryell, Roger Craig, Kevin Greene, Charles Haley, Marvin Harrison, Joe Jacoby, Walter Jones, John Lynch, Karl Mecklenburg, Andre Reed, Will Shields, Michael Strahan, Aeneas Williams, Steve Wisniewski, and George Young also made the cut.
The group of 25 semifinalists will be trimmed to 15 in early January and the class of 2014 will be picked on Feb. 1.
The 2 senior nominees this year, who were selected in August by the Hall of Fame’s Senior Selection Committee, are punter Ray Guy and defensive end Claude Humphrey.
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