Bobby Beathard was nominated as the contributor candidate for the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Friday. It marked the first time a personnel candidate was selected since the first year of the category for the Class of 2015 when Bill Polian and Ron Wolf earned election.
Beathard, 80, spent 38 seasons in the NFL with five teams. His teams competed in seven Super Bowls, winning four.
“It’s great,” Beathard said. “It tops everything. I was just lucky. I don’t even know how to explain it. I just loved football. I really felt I was fortunate or lucky or something to spend my life in something that didn’t seem like a real job. It was something that was a fun job.”
Beathard still needs 80 percent of the vote by the full body, 48 selectors, the day before Super Bowl LII in Minnesota. Former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue was the only one of five previous contributor nominees not to earn entry.
Broncos owner Pat Bowlen, former Giants general manager George Young and former Cowboys player personnel director Gil Brandt were among other candidates. Terrell Davis mentioned Bowlen in his Hall of Fame speech, and Jerry Jones mentioned Gil Brandt in his.
