49ers great Craig inducted from Pro Football Hall of Fame again appeared originally on NBC Sports Bay Area
Roger Craig was once again offended.
On Tuesday, the Pro Football Hall of Fame announced three seniors who advanced as finalists for the Class of 2025. And once again, Craig didn’t make the cut.
Craig did not even advance to the list of nine semi-finalists considered for the last three places.
The three finalists for the Class of 2025 in the senior category are Maxie Baughan, Sterling Sharpe and Jim Tyrer.
Mike Holmgren was named a finalist in the coach category. Holmgren moved ahead of George Seifert and Mike Shanahan, who were among those also considered.
Holmgren was an assistant coach on two 49ers teams that won Super Bowls. He won the Super Bowl for seven seasons (1992-98) as head coach of the Green Bay Packers. He then coached the Seattle Seahawks from 1999 to 2008, which included one Super Bowl appearance.
Ralph Hay was selected as a finalist among contributors. Hay is credited with organizing the first football owners meeting at his car dealership in Canton, Ohio in 1920 as the first step toward the creation of the National Football League.
For the first time, the finalists from the category seniors, coach and contributor will compete directly against each other. The Hall of Fame states that revising the process “will help ensure the exclusivity of induction into the game’s most elite fraternity.”
Each member of the selection committee can vote for only three of the five finalists from the categories of seniors, coaches and contributors. Only those who receive at least 80 percent of the vote will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
If none of the five individuals receive 80 percent approval, the person receiving the most votes from the 49-member committee will be elected to the Class of 2025 under the current election bylaws.
The Hall of Fame is currently in the process of reducing the group of modern candidates. 25 semi-finalists were recently named. Fifteen of these individuals advance to the finals. Those names will be announced on December 28 via the Hall of Fame and NFL Network. A minimum of three and a maximum of five modern-era players will ultimately be selected for the 2025 class.
Craig’s career ended after the 1993 season. He received tremendous support among 49ers fans, but his career accomplishments did not sway the majority of Hall of Fame voters.
Craig was a finalist only once as a modern-era draftee, despite being the first player in NFL history to receive 1,000 yards in the same season.
His exclusion from the Hall of Fame has been a sore spot among 49ers fans for decades.
Craig was a four-time Pro Bowler and three-time Super Bowl champion. In his career, he rushed for 8,189 yards and 56 touchdowns while also catching 566 passes for 4,911 yards and 17 touchdowns.
Craig’s teams made the playoffs in each of the 11 seasons he played in the NFL. He played eight seasons for the 49ers, two for the Minnesota Vikings and one year for the Los Angeles Raiders.
Instead, Baughan, Sharpe and Tyrer were the candidates to advance to the next stage among the seniors.
Baughan was a nine-time Pro Bowl linebacker with Philadelphia and the Los Angeles Rams. Sharpe was a three-time All-Pro during a seven-year career with the Green Bay Packers.
Tyrer was considered the best offensive tackle of his era. He made nine Pro Bowls, was a six-time All-Pro and was a member of one Super Bowl title and three AFL championships with the Kansas City Chiefs. Tyrer played his last game in 1974.
In 1980, Tyrer shot and killed his wife before committing suicide by turning the gun on himself. He was a Hall of Fame finalist only once as a modern-era candidate. Tyrer is suspected to have suffered from CTE in the years following his retirement.
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