The Pro Football Hall of Fame includes players, coaches, and contributors (e.g., owners, general managers and team or league officials) who have "made outstanding contributions to professional football". The charter class of seventeen was selected in 1963.Enshrinees are selected by a 48-person selection committee which meets each year at the time and location of the Super Bowl. Current rules of the committee stipulate that between four and eight individuals are selected each year. Any person may nominate an individual to the hall, provided the nominee has been retired for at least five years. Not including the charter class, 76 players have been inducted in their first year of eligibility.In addition to the regular selection committee, which primarily focuses on contributions made over the past approximately thirty seasons, a nine-member seniors committee (which is a subset of the larger committee) submits two nominees each year whose contributions came prior to 1985. These nominees are referred as "seniors nominees" (formerly "old-timer" nominees).In 2020, a special Blue-Ribbon Panel selected an additional 15 new members, known as the "Centennial Slate", to be inducted into the Hall of Fame to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the National Football League (NFL).
1963Jan, 29
The first inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame are announced.
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Events on 1963
- 8Jan
Mona Lisa
Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is exhibited in the United States for the first time, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. - 8Feb
John F. Kennedy
Travel, financial and commercial transactions by United States citizens to Cuba are made illegal by the John F. Kennedy administration. - 21Apr
Bahá'í Faith
The first election of the Universal House of Justice is held, marking its establishment as the supreme governing institution of the Bahá'í Faith. - 7Oct
Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
John F. Kennedy signs the ratification of the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. - 22Nov
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
U.S. President John F. Kennedy is assassinated and Texas Governor John Connally is seriously wounded by Lee Harvey Oswald