Former Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Ken Anderson took the next step Thursday toward induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
A former league MVP, Anderson was joined by versatile running back Roger Craig, and two-time Super Bowl-winning coaches Tom Coughlin and Mike Shanahan for consideration for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The selection committees cut down the list of candidates from 31 seniors and 29 coaches and contributors to 12 in each category in results announced earlier in the day.
The 12-person committees for each group will meet next month to pick up to three senior candidates among players who last played no later 1998, and one coach and contributor. The finalists will be part of the Hall’s class of 2024 if they are supported by at least 80% of voters next January.
Among the other senior candidates are 1978 Defensive Player of the Year Randy Gradishar and AFL star receivers Otis Taylor and Art Powell.
The other remaining semifinalists are Maxie Baughan, Joe Jacoby, Albert Lewis, Steve McMichael, Eddie Meador, Sterling Sharpe and Al Wistert.
Anderson was a four-time Pro Bowler for Cincinnati and won the MVP in 1981 when he helped the Bengals reach their first Super Bowl before losing to San Francisco. When Anderson retired after the 1986 season he ranked sixth all time with 32,838 yards passing and 13th with 197 TD passes.
Mike Holmgren, who won a Super Bowl for Green Bay in the 1996 season and lost two more trips with the Packers and Seahawks, also advanced.
The other semifinalists in the coach and contributor category are Frank “Bucko” Kilroy, Robert Kraft, Buddy Parker, Dan Reeves, Art Rooney Jr., Marty Schottenheimer, Clark Shaughnessy, Lloyd Wells and John Wooten.
The Class of 2024 will be formally enshrined next summer in Canton.
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