HOF Selectors mull historic decision
Deep dive into the career and complicated life of Jim Tyrer
(Editor’s Note: This is part of a series on the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s quest to select the Class of 2025 with a new process and personnel. Written by Frank Cooney, a Seniors Blue Ribbon Selection Committee member in his 32nd year as a selector. The Hall of Football is not affiliated with the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Opinions expressed are those of the Hall of Football [HallofFootball.substack.com) … The Video in this post was produced by Kevin Allen Patrick, who created “Beneath the Shadow,” a documentary on Tyrer.)
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One day this month, the full* 49-person Pro Football Hall of Fame Selection Committee will meet on a Zoom conference call and select the Class of 2025.
Although there has been a lot of commentary about the first-ballot candidacy of quarterback Eli Manning, the status of former offensive tackle Jim Tyrer is far more historically significant.
Rules be damned. This one goes beyond the football field, which should be the only place a player’s deeds are measured for HOF worthiness.
We first addressed this through the Hall of Football last September. On Rethinking Tyrer’s candidacy, in part, it said:
By almost all objective measurements, former Kansas City Chiefs offensive tackle Jim Tyrer is the most qualified senior candidate not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In about a week, if the HOFame’s new Senior Screening Committee includes him in its cut down to 50 candidates, it could be the first time in 43 years that the Senior Selection Committee might discuss his name …
Why is that?
It starts with Dr. Douglas Paone, an internist and diagnostician, who met with Tyrer on Sept. 12, 1980, two days before the murder-suicide, and scheduled a follow-up the next week as he tried to make sense of the symptoms …
Flash forward to 2004 …
“It was like a light bulb went off in my head,” Dr. Paone recalled. “Oh my God, that’s what was happening to Jim. It was like somebody slapped me in the face. “ …
The syndrome is known as CTE—chronic traumatic encephalopathy—which was not recognized as a syndrome at the time. Dr. Paone knew there was something, but there wasn’t a word or known syndrome to explain it …
Last month, we also posted the perspective of fellow Hall of Fame senior selector Ron Borges, in a letter to the selection committee.
*The Selection Committee has 49 members instead of 50 this year. Another selector is expected to be added. Results of the Selection Committee meeting will not be announced, even to selectors, until February 6 at the NFL Honors program on Thursday before Super Bowl LIX.