The tradition of tying in boxing and wrestling has been a long one.  Muhammad Ali was a huge part of that stemming from his match against Antonio Inoki, confrontations with Gorilla Monsoon and other assorted appearances while he was the Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World.  After he retired, Ali was the special referee at the original Wrestlemania, and even in his weakened state has still been a friend to the business as evidenced by his appearance at Collision in Korea and Halloween Havoc 1994.  Ali lived up to his moniker as the greatest and for a man who has earned so much respect in the sports world he has shown it back to the wrestling.  It is difficult to put any other celebrity above him.

Many entries on this list discuss the difficulty of comparing offensive statistics from the 1960s and 1970s to today's inflated numbers. This is even more accurate when looking at the stars of the 1950s. Charlie Conerly, the Quarterback of the New York Giants during the 1950s, was on the final ballot multiple times but dropped off seemingly for good after 1980.

Conerly was the Giants QB throughout the 1950s and consistently ranked near the top annually in touchdown passes and quarterback rating. While those numbers would not be considered huge by today's standards, they were more than acceptable for that era. He was a popular player among fans and teammates and showed flashes of brilliance throughout his career.  His overall numbers of 19,486 Passing Yards and a TD-INT ratio of 173-167 and a role in the 1956 NFL Championship is awfully good for his era.

It is likely that had he led the NFL in more offensive categories during his career, he would have had a better shot at enshrinement. Since he was not even chosen as a semi-finalist for the 2020 Centennial Class, it appears that the window for Charlie Conerly to enter Canton may have closed for good.