Feb 6, 2018 6 min read

One of the most identifiable buildings in America sits, appropriately, an onside kick off Interstate 77 in eastern Ohio. It is round with an oblong middle that ascends above the rest of the structure, a unique architecture resembling a football resting on a tee – which likewise is appropriate.

What would you expect on a street named after the Papa Bear, football pioneer George Halas?

“It’s an iconic building,” Pete Fierle says. “The original architect said it was not only a football, but a shape that would attract visitors.”

Visitors, indeed. There have been more than 10 million.

Fierle is chief of communications at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, where The Chief – Steelers founder Art Rooney Sr. – and a number of Kansas City Chiefs are among 310 players, coaches, administrators and officials of the game who have been enshrined.

The hall opened in Canton in September 1963, a year before the Cleveland Browns – an hour up the interstate – last won a National Football League championship.

This hall shaped like a ball, on George Halas Drive Northwest, has gone through six expansions and/or renovations, increasing space from the original 19,000 square feet to 118,000. The place is a testament to professional football, in a city where it originated 98 years ago.

Yet the museum, a 501©(3) nonprofit, is eclectic enough to appeal to more than just the sports aficionado.

It is certainly a favorite among Western Pennsylvanians, especially in those years when a Steelers official or former player is inducted into the hall in early August. Black-and-gold fans have tended to dominate crowds at those enshrinement ceremonies. Yet the everyday visitor from Steelers Nation can comb through a facility where bronze busts of 27 members of their favorite franchise are among the 310 displayed.

And the drive is a relative breeze, about 120 miles from Washington, 100 from Pittsburgh – two hours and change. The next closest major sports hall, hockey in Toronto, is two and a half times as far.

“It’s a great day trip for fans of the Steelers, who are a big part of the history of the game,” Fierle says.

Canton is where the American Professional Football Association, which eventually morphed into the NFL, was founded in September 1920. It is where the fabled Jim Thorpe shone for the fabled Canton Bulldogs. It is where the residents made a concerted, organized push to erect a place of honor for a sport rising rapidly in the early 1960s.

Fierle says the hall is guided by a four-pronged mission – honor the heroes the game, preserve its history, promote its values, and celebrate excellence – and is dedicated to promoting the values of commitment, integrity, courage, respect and excellence.

Local Hall of Famers

There are 310 busts in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, saluting players, owners, executives and officials who are enshrined there. And while a plethora of players from Western Pennsylvania are honored at the hall, a mere four have significant ties to Washington or Greene counties. Of them, only Joe Montana (Ringgold) and Bill George (Waynesburg) graduated from area high schools. Transplants Mel Blount and Wilbur “Pete” Henry, however, established their homes and formidable reputations in this corner of the state.

Here are capsules of each:

Montana (quarterback, 1979-92 49ers, 93-94 Chiefs): New Eagle guy won four Super Bowls, was SB game MVP three times with 49ers . . . 40,551 career passing yards . . . known for rallying Notre Dame, NFL teams to victory . . . inducted in 2000.

George (linebacker, 1952-65 Bears, 1966 Rams): Wake Forest grad, called first true middle linebacker in NFL . . . helped Bears win 1963 NFL title (pre-Super Bowl era) . . . eight straight Pro Bowls (1955-62) . . . died in 1982 auto crash at 52 . . . inducted in 1974.

Blount (cornerback, 1970-83 Steelers): From Vidalia, Ga., via Southern U. . . . 57 career interceptions, 13th all-time, with at least one pick each season . . . NFL-best 11 interceptions in 1975 . . . Super Bowl champ, first-team All-Pro four times each . . . has run Mel Blount Youth Home since 1989 . . . inducted in 1989.

Henry (tackle, three teams, 1920-28): Three-time All-American at Washington & Jefferson, played for Canton Bulldogs in NFL’s first season . . . at 5-11, 245, biggest pro for his time . . . two-way tackle who drop-kicked 50-yard field goal, had 94-yard punt . . . head coach two NFL seasons, two years at W&J . . . was W&J athletic director 1932-52, when he died in Washington at 54 . . . inducted in 1963, inaugural class.

The exhibit area of the hall houses a plethora of video, audio, films, memorabilia and mementos. Attractions include a gallery with those busts; a room dedicated to leagues that have challenged the National Football League for attention; and the Lamar Hunt Super Bowl Gallery, summarizing each of those championship games.

“A diehard fan can spend days here,” Fierle says. “When most visitors come through, they are seeing only about five percent of what we have.”

There also is an interactive games area, a store and the Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium, an outdoor 23,000-seat venue where the annual hall of fame game is played on national TV on the first Saturday of August, induction weekend.

“It has a stage and is designed to be as much an amphitheater as a stadium,” Fierle says. “We hope to have 10 to 15 concerts a year there.”

The landscape of the hall’s campus, again, is changing and growing. Construction is in the early stages on the Johnson Controls Hall of Fame Village, a $700 million-plus, mixed-use development that is being ballyhooed as a sports and entertainment “Smart City.”

This expansion within its hometown is impressive, but the Pro Football Hall of Fame hasn’t stopped at the city line. The museum is reaching out with initiatives such as traveling exhibits, artifacts on loan, and youth and educational outreach programs.

The museum has travel packages for the Hall of Fame enshrinement weekend and offers a joint ticket for the Pro Football and Rock and Roll (Cleveland) halls of fame. It also has five levels of memberships that include unlimited free admissions and free parking, plus store discounts, over a prescribed period.

Admission is $25 for adults; $21 for seniors; $18 for children; and free for those younger than 6. Group rates are available at reduced cost per person.

Visitors will get a kick out of the place.