GREEN BAY – Former Packers receiver Sterling Sharpe and coach Mike Holmgren have moved closer to enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2024.
Sharpe is one of the senior committee's dozen semifinalists, three of which will eventually be pushed forward for a final vote from the full selection panel. Each Semifinalist played his last game in professional football no later than the 1998 season.
Holmgren is a semifinalist in the coach/contributor category, and one of those 12 will be voted either up or down in the last stage of the selection process.
Sharpe was a three-time, first-team All-Pro selection and five-time Pro Bowler in his seven-year career that was cut short by a neck injury. He led the NFL in receptions three times, setting a (then) single-season league record with 108 in 1992 and then breaking it the following year with 112.
Holmgren coached the Packers to back-to-back Super Bowls in the 1996-97 seasons, winning Super Bowl XXXI. He later coached the Seahawks to an appearance in Super Bowl XL.
The single coach/contributor selection will take place on Aug. 15, while the senior committee will meet Aug. 22 and may select up to three candidates for final consideration. Expansion of the Seniors pool for election to the Hall was approved in 2022 for the Classes of 2023, 2024 and 2025.
Here are the full lists of semifinalists, in alphabetical order.
Senior category (last game in pro football played no later than 1998): Ken Anderson, Maxie Baughan, Roger Craig, Randy Gradishar, Joe Jacoby, Albert Lewis, Steve McMichael, Eddie Meador, Art Powell, Sterling Sharpe, Otis Taylor and Al Wistert.
Coach/contributor category: Tom Coughlin, Mike Holmgren, Frank "Bucko" Kilroy, Robert Kraft, Buddy Parker, Dan Reeves, Art Rooney Jr., Marty Schottenheimer, Mike Shanahan, Clark Shaughnessy, Lloyd Wells and John Wooten.
