Art Modell won a Super Bowl five years after moving the old Browns to Baltimore. (nytimes.com)
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.
The man who moved the old Browns to Baltimore in 1996 is getting a chance to enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton through the side door.
Art Modell has twice been voted down by the regular Hall of Fame selection committee. But a Blue-Ribbon Panel created by the Hall to select a special Centennial Hall of Fame Class for 2020 has revived Modell’s candidacy.
The former Browns owner has made it to the finalist round of this unprecedented process.
Modell is one of 10 contributors who will be vying for three spots when the Blue-Ribbon Panel meets for its final votes next month.
The other contributors are:
Bud Adams, owner, Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans; Ralph Hay, owner, Canton Bulldogs; Frank “Bucko” Kilroy, long-time scout and executive with four NFL teams; Art McNally, long-time NFL official and administrator; Clint Murchison, founder and owner, Dallas Cowboys; Steve Sabol, president of NFL Films; Seymour Siwoff, owner/president, Elias Sports Bureau; Paul Tagliabue, NFL commissioner; George Young, scout and general manager, New York Giants.
The Hall of Fame created this process to honor the 100th anniversary of the NFL in 2020 and to rescue deserving candidates who have fallen through the cracks of the regular voting process over the years.
The process has been a source of controversy within the regular selection committee.
Originally, the Hall intended for the Blue-Ribbon Panel to recommend a Centennial Class of 15 – 10 players, three contributors and two head coaches – and then have the regular selection committee vote “yes” or “no” on the full slate, rather than individually. After much dissent within the regular committee, the Hall decided to just change the voting rules and have the Blue-Ribbon Panel handle the Centennial Class by itself.
The regular selection committee still will vote on the modern-era ballot for the Class of 2020.
That process will select a maximum of five players from a finalist round of 15. Browns linebacker Clay Matthews has made it to the semifinalist round of 25. The cut to 15 will be announced early in January, and that voting process is concluded the day before the Super Bowl in Miami, FL.
The Blue-Ribbon Panel will meet in early January to make its final selections.
The panel that will decide Modell’s candidacy consists of 25 and is made up of media members, Hall of Famers, coaches, executives and historians appointed by the Hall. Thirteen of the 25 are members of the regular selection committee.
Included on the Blue-Ribbon Panel are Ozzie Newsome, Browns Hall of Fame tight end and Baltimore Ravens executive vice president; Ernie Accorsi, former Browns general manager under Modell; and Ron Wolf, former Green Bay Packers GM and father of Browns assistant GM Eliot Wolf.
Also on the committee is New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, who was fired by Modell as Browns coach in 1996.
Some prominent names with Browns connections besides Modell are up for vote on the Centennial Class finalist list. They include:
-- Mike Holmgren, former Packers and Seahawks coach and Browns president.
-- Bill Cowher, former Browns linebacker and assistant coach and Pittsburgh Steelers head coach.
-- Mac Speedie, Browns wide receiver, 1946-52.