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The Hispanic Football Hall of Fame has been created, and they have announced seven icons who will comprise its first class.  They will be honored on Cinco de Mayo, May 5, 2026, in Henderson, Nevada, at the Las Vegas Raiders Headquarters.

The members of the first class are:

Tom Fears, End, LAR 1948-56.  Playing his entire career with the Los Angeles Rams, Fears was a dominant weapon, leading the NFL in Receptions in his first three seasons (1948-50), and was the league-leader in Receiving Touchdowns in 1949 and Receiving Yards in 1950.  Fears led the Rams to the 1951 NFL Championship, where he caught a 73-yard touchdown.  A member of the 1950s All-Decade Team, Fears entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1970, where he became the first Mexican-born player to enter Canton.

Steve Van Buren, Halfback, PHI 1944-51.  From Honduras, Van Buren was a five-time First Team All-Pro who led the NFL in Rushing Yards and Rushing Touchdowns four times.  Playing his entire career with the Philadelphia Eagles, the Halfback anchored the Eagles to back-to-back NFL Championships in 1948 and 1949.  Van Buren was named to the 1940s All-Decade Team, the 75th and 100th Anniversary Team, and entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1965.

Tom Flores, Quarterback, OAK 1960-61 & 63-66, BUF 1967-69 & KC 1969. Head Coach OAK/LAR 1979-87 & SEA 1992-94.  A decent Quarterback in the AFL in his own right (he threw for 92 TDs and 11,959 Yards), Flores made history with the Raiders as the first Hispanic Head Coach to win a Super Bowl, an achievement he did twice.  He had an overall 97-87 record as a Head Coach and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2021. 

Jim Plunkett, Quarterback, NWE 1971-75, SFO 1976-77 & OAK/LAR 1978-86.  Born to Mexican-American parents, Plunkett was the first overall pick of the 1971 Draft by the New England Patriots, but it was with the Raiders that he won two Super Bowls (XV & XVIII) and was the Super Bowl MVP in the first.  Over his career, he threw for 25,882 Yards and 164 TDs.

Ron Rivera, Linebacker, CHI 1984-92.  Head Coach CAR 2011-19 & WAS 2020-23.  A Super Bowl Champion with the Chicago Bears (XX), where he played 136 Games. As Head Coach, Rivera led Carolina to a Super Bowl appearance (Super Bowl L) and was a two-time AP Coach of the Year.  He has a 102-103-2 record as a Head Coach.  Rivera is of Mexican and Puerto Rican ancestry.

Anthony Munoz, Offensive Tackle, CIN 1980-92.  Munoz is regarded as one of the greatest Offensive Tackles of all time, and without question, he is the best player ever to wear the Cincinnati Bengals uniform.  He was a nine-time First Team All-Pro, an 11-time Pro Bowl Selection, a member of the 1980’s All-Decade and NFL 75th and 100th Anniversary Teams.  The Mexican-American was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1998.

Ted Hendricks, Linebacker, BAL 1969-73, GNB 1974 & OAK/LAR 1975-83.  Born in Guatemala, Hendricks was a four-time First Team All-Pro, eight-time Pro Bowl Selection, and two-time Defensive Player of the Year runner-up who won a staggering four Super Bowls (VI, XI, XV & XVIII).  Recording 26 Interceptions over his career, Hendricks was named to the 1970s and 1980s All-Decade Teams along with the 75th and 100th Anniversary Teams.  The Pro Football Hall of Fame called his name in 1990.

This group of inductees was selected by a nine-person committee, which included Sandy Nunez (Founding Member), Judy Battista (NFL Senior National Columnist), Rolando Cantu (NFL Analyst at TNF En Español), Paul Gutierrez (writer for raiders.com), Brandon Huffman (National Recruiting Editor for 247Sports), Moises Linares (Sports Journalist), Alex Marvez (Pro Football Hall of Fame voter), Armando Salguero (Outkick NFL Writer) and John Sutcliffe (ESPN Deportes).

We here at Notinhalloffame would like to congratulate the members of the first class of the Hispanic Football Hall of Fame.

1962 Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project Class.

Here we are!  Again!!

If you have been following our Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project, you know that we have asked the rhetorical question: What if the PFHOF began in January 1946?

After soliciting and obtaining a passionate group of football fans and historians, we sent out a ballot for a Preliminary Vote, in which we asked each voter to give us 25 names as their semi-finalists and 5 in the Senior Pool. Following that, we asked the group to vote for their 15 Finalists in the Modern Era and 3 in the Senior Category. The final stage was to vote for their five Modern Era inductee and one Senior inductee.

This is the result of the seventeenth official class;

Below are the final results of this project based on 32 votes,

Remember that the group took a vote in “1961”, and we have reverted back to the top five candidates entering the Hall PROVIDING THEY MAKE 50% of the vote.  This will be put to a vote again in “1963”.

This is for the “Modern Era”

*Bold indicates they have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Class of 1962:

This is for the “Senior Era”,

*Bold indicates they have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Class of 1962, though no one made the mandatory 50% threshold to advance.

About the 1962 Inductees:

Tom Fears E, RAM 1948-56: Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1962 on his 1^st Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1970.

Tom Fears was the first NFL player of note to be born in Mexico. The former UCLA standout played all nine of his NFL seasons with the Los Angeles Rams. Fears was initially pegged to be a Defensive Back, but he blossomed on the offense, where the end helped usher in more of a passing attack.

As a rookie, Fears would lead the NFL with 51 Receptions, and he was the league leader again in 1949 with 77, which would then be an NFL record.  That mark would last for only one season when it was broken by Fears himself when he had 81 Receptions for a league-leading 1,116 Yards.  He was named a First Team All-Pro that year.  Fears never had a season that productive again, but he proved to be a vital component of the Rams Championship season of 1951.  He had helped Los Angeles reach the title game the previous two seasons, but in this game, he had a 73 73-yard reception that broke the tie and led them to victory over the Cleveland Browns.

Dante Lavelli E, CLE 1946-56: Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1962 on his 1^st Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1975.

Dante Lavelli played for Paul Brown at Ohio State, where the duo won the National Championship in 1942.  Lavelli entered the U.S. Military in World War II, and when the conflict ended, he rejoined Brown, who built the Cleveland Browns of the new All-American Football Conference.

Along with Mac Speedie, Lavelli was a star at End, leading the AAFC in receptions (40) and receiving yards (843) in the league's first year.  Lavelli was a consistent producer and excellent blocker, and he played a large part in why Cleveland won all four AAFC Titles.  Cleveland was one of the teams that joined the NFL when the AAFC merged with the senior league, and they continued to dominate, winning the NFL Championship in 1950, 1954, and 1955.  In the NFL era, Lavelli was a three-time Pro Bowler and was an instrumental cog in Paul Brown's machine.

Doak Walker HB-DB, DET 1950-55: Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1962 on his 2^nd Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1986.

What is it about the Detroit Lions and their star players retiring early?  Doak Walker did just that as after six seasons he called it a career, but really, and as he stated after he retired, what else had he left to prove?

Walker, who was such a star in college at SMU that the award for the best college running back is named after him, transferred that skill to the Detroit Lions, where he made an immediate impact.  Walker was a Pro Bowler five out of six of his years and was a four-time First Team All-Pro.  Walker was also used as the Lions Place Kicker and would lead the NFL in Points Scored twice (1950 & 1955), and also anchored Detroit to two NFL Championships (1952 & 1953).

Tom Fears was the first NFL player of note to be born in Mexico, and the former UCLA standout would play all nine of his NFL seasons with the Los Angeles Rams.  Fears was initially pegged to be a Defensive Back, but he would blossom on the offense where the End would help usher in more of a passing attack in the game.