GREEN BAY – Former Packers coach Mike Holmgren and receiver Sterling Sharpe have both reached the finalist stage in their respective categories for Pro Football Hall of Fame induction.
Holmgren is the one finalist chosen in the coach category, while Sharpe is one of three finalists from the senior selection committee.
Both will have their cases presented to the full selection committee during the week of the Super Bowl in February. With one coach, one contributor, and three senior nominees all up for discussion, a maximum of three of those five finalists who receive 80% approval from the full selection committee will become members of the Hall of Fame's Class of 2025.
Holmgren coached the Packers from 1992-98, leading Green Bay to six playoff appearances in those seven seasons, including three NFC Central titles, three NFC Championship Game appearances, and back-to-back Super Bowls, winning Super Bowl XXXI following the 1996 season and ending the Packers' 29-year title drought.
After leaving Green Bay, Holmgren also coached the Seattle Seahawks to that franchise's first Super Bowl appearance, following the 2005 season.
Holmgren reached the semifinalist stage last year in the coach/contributor category. The Hall of Fame has since split that group into two and is nominating one coach and one contributor for consideration by the full selection committee for induction. This year's contributor finalist is Ralph Hay.
Sharpe was a three-time first-team All-Pro selection and a five-time Pro Bowler in his seven seasons with the Packers (1988-94). A first-round draft pick out of South Carolina, Sharpe set the (then) NFL record for receptions in one season with 108 in 1992 and then broke it the next year with 112.
He also led the league in TD receptions twice, including his final season with 18, before a neck injury forced his early retirement.
Sharpe had reached the senior semifinalist stage previously but this is his first time as a finalist. Senior candidates are no longer eligible for the modern-day selection process and last appeared in an NFL game in 1999 or earlier. The other two senior finalists this year along with Sharpe are Maxie Baughan and Jim Tryer.
The Packers currently have 28 individuals enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. If Holmgren and Sharpe are both voted in, it would bring Green Bay's number to 30, just behind the Chicago Bears' total of 32, which is the most of any team in the league.
