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The Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League have a proud and successful history. Known as "America's Team", they are a favorite among football enthusiasts in the State of Texas, North America and globally, as well. The team is also very well known for its cheerleaders, the world famous Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. Through the years the Dallas Cowboys organization has produced a number of talented players who have become legends of the game and have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The Dallas Cowboys have had a great deal of success on the field since becoming an NFL franchise in 1960. Indeed, the Dallas Cowboys are one of the most successful teams in the history of the National Football League and hold numerous league records, thanks to their many great players, coaches and club officials. Additionally, they have been crowned Super Bowl Champions five times.
To date the Dallas Cowboys franchise has sixteen players inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame with ten of the inductees having played the majority of their career, if not all, with the Cowboys. The current Dallas Cowboys inductees are: Herb Adderley, Troy Aikman, Lance Alworth, Mike Ditka, Tony Dorsett, Forrest Gregg, Michael Irvin, Tom Landry, Bob Lilly, Tommy McDonald, Mel Renfro, Tex Schramm, Jackie Smith, Roger Staubach, Randy White, Rayfield White.
As can be imagined, only the best of the best make it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame after close scrutiny and careful consideration. The procedure for choosing inductees is meticulous and well defined. Currently the Pro Football Hall of Fame has a 40 member Board of Selectors that consists of one media representative from each pro football city, one representative of the Pro Football Writer's of America (PFWA) and seven at-large delegates. All appointments to the board can be terminated only by retirement or resignation insomuch as the member attends meetings regularly. The one exception is the PFWA representative who is appointed for a two-year term.
During the time of the Super Bowl the board meets to elect new members. They can choose between three and six inductees. Each candidate and his credentials are carefully reviewed and scrutinized. An eighty percent approval rate by the board must be reached before the candidate can be elected. A scale of negative votes is used to eliminate candidates.
When the board meets to make their selection they will receive the biographies of 17 final candidates. Of those 17 candidates two candidates will be from the pre-1982 era (chosen by the Senior Committee which is made up of members from the overall committee), ensuring that older players will be considered along with the younger players. The 15 other finalists are those that have survived a preliminary mail ballot screening by the Board.
There is fan involvement, too, as the original list of candidates will have been partly supplied by the fans. Fans can nominate any qualified person connected with pro football in any capacity by writing to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. One of the qualifiers is that a player must have played at least five seasons to be eligible for consideration. For a non-player, there is no mandatory retirement period, but a coach must be retired before he may be considered. Every nomination received by a fan is forwarded to the Board of Selectors.
Being enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame is no easy feat. With their successful past and promising future, there is no doubt that the Dallas Cowboys franchise will see many more inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
