Richard Dent is learning the art of patience. The former Bears defensive end is in his third year of eligibility for the Pro Football Hall of Fame and will find out Saturday if he will be a member of the Class of ’05.
“I’ve always had a good feeling about it since my career ended,” said Dent, MVP of Super Bowl XX who had 137 1/2 sacks in a 15-year career. “Like John Merritt, my old coach back at Tennessee State, said, `The hay is in the barn.'”
Dent is among the 15 finalists for the second straight year, but he’s no lock to make it.
The favorites for the Hall are two quarterbacks in their first year of eligibility, Miami’s Dan Marino and San Francisco’s Steve Young.
Another first-year candidate in the finals who will get strong consideration is Dallas wide receiver Michael Irvin, who helped the Cowboys win three Super Bowls. Kansas City linebacker Derrick Thomas also made the cut to 15 in his first year.
A 39-member media panel will elect at least three but no more than six players. In the final round of voting, candidates must receive 80 percent support.
The committee has shown a renewed interest in candidates nominated by the Seniors Committee, which screens candidates whose careers ended at least 25 years ago.
Benny Friedman, who played eight seasons for four franchises from 1927-34, was the pioneer passer in the NFL. He threw 53 touchdown passes in 53 games in his first four seasons, a stunning rate for its time. His 66 touchdown passes was the NFL record until Green Bay’s Arnie Herber broke it in 1944.
Fritz Pollard, a Chicago native, became the NFL’s first African-American head coach in 1921 while he still was a star running back for the Akron Pros, which was common for his time.
Others, like Dent, who have been finalists before are Miami guard Bob Kuechenberg, a native of Gary who played at Notre Dame; New York Giants linebacker Harry Carson, Pittsburgh defensive end L.C. Greenwood, Atlanta defensive end Claude Humphrey, Washington wide receiver Art Monk and Giants general manager George Young.
Washington guard Russ Grimm and St. Louis cornerback Roger Wehrli are first-time finalists.
Dent is trying to join Walter Payton, Mike Singletary and Dan Hampton from the Super Bowl XX team in the Hall of Fame. He would be the 27th long-term Bear to be enshrined.
Dent, an eighth-round draft pick from Tennessee State in 1983, had 17 1/2 sacks in 1984 and a league-leading 17 in 1985, the Bears’ last championship season. Dent averaged 12.1 sacks per season from 1984-93.
“He’s a Hall of Famer to me,” said former Bears coach Mike Ditka. “He dominated the NFL as a pass rusher for a period of time. Look at the number of sacks he had. And it’s not just the sacks. Richard played the game pretty darn hard. I never really saw him take time off.”
Next year’s first-year eligibles include two who could go in immediately–Dallas quarterback Troy Aikman and Green Bay defensive end Reggie White.
