Description
Step inside the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Museum in Canton, Ohio, with Jon Kendle, Vice President of Archives and Exhibits, for a tour through the people, artifacts and places that have helped shape professional football. The Hall of Fame’s collection extends far beyond what visitors see in the galleries. Its holdings include 6 million photographic images, more than 40 million pages of documents and nearly 30,000 individual artifacts, creating an extensive record of professional football’s people, teams, achievements and history.
The tour kicks off in the grand lobby, where Jon explains why Canton became the home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The story starts on September 17, 1920, when the National Football League was founded in Canton. The city also had the Canton Bulldogs, one of the early powerhouses of professional football, and a local community that rallied to bring a pro football shrine to the city. For Kendle, who grew up in Canton, the museum has a particularly personal connection to the place where the game itself took an important step forward.
From that point, Jon leads viewers through a chronological gallery that traces the history of the NFL decade by decade. The collection continues to change with the sport itself. A record set on Sunday can become part of the museum’s history within days, giving visitors the chance to see football history while it is still unfolding. Among the artifacts on display is Pat Tillman’s Army Ranger jacket, donated by his family after his death in Afghanistan. Tillman played safety for the Arizona Cardinals before leaving his NFL career to serve his country.
We then proceed to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Gallery, the quietest space in the building. Here, bronze busts honor the 387 players, coaches and contributors who have been enshrined in Canton. The distinction matters: members do not simply enter the Hall of Fame. They are enshrined. Among the bronze figures are some of the most recognizable names in football history, including Jim Brown and Vince Lombardi.
As for our next stop on the tour, Jon brings us into the original rotunda, where a statue of Jim Thorpe stands beneath the building’s distinctive architecture. Designed by the Hall of Fame’s original architect, Robert Forsyth, the structure was conceived to stand out beside the highway under construction at the time. Its dome takes the shape of a football, giving the building an unmistakable silhouette.
The tour concludes in the Lamar Hunt Super Bowl Gallery, where the NFL season’s final game gets its own chapter. The Vince Lombardi Trophy takes center stage, a 13 pound sterling silver trophy created by Tiffany. Nearby, all 60 Super Bowl rings are displayed together, beginning with the first Super Bowl rings awarded to the Green Bay Packers and continuing through the Seattle Seahawks.
Thanks for joining us for this special Open House: Home Turf tour! Which sports venue would you love for us to visit next? Drop your recommendation in a comment below!
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