The Pro Football Hall of Fame has announced that its two senior finalists for the Class of 2013 are former Chiefs, Oilers and Lions defensive tackle Curley Culp, and former Packers and Redskins linebacker Dave Robinson.
The two senior candidates are nominated separately from the rest of the Hall of Fame finalists, but will be voted on at the same time, on the day before the Super Bowl.
After a college career at Arizona State in which he was both a dominating defensive lineman and an NCAA champion wrestler, Culp played from 1968 to 1973 with the Chiefs and was chosen to one AFL All-Star Game and one Pro Bowl. He left Kansas City for Houston in 1974 and was one of the best defensive players in the league with the Oilers, being chosen to four more Pro Bowls and winning the 1975 George Halas Trophy, which was given to the NFL’s best defensive player. He concluded his career with the Lions in 1980 and 1981.
Robinson played for Penn State from 1960 to 1962 and was a first-round draft pick of Vince Lombardi’s Packers in 1963. Robinson played on Lombardi’s NFL championship team in 1965 and then for the Super Bowl I and Super Bowl II-winning teams the next two years. He finished his career with two years on the Redskins, in 1973 and 1974.
Former Packers guard Jerry Kramer had been discussed as a potential senior nominee this year, and a Milwaukee radio station erroneously reported today that Kramer had, in fact, been nominated. But Kramer will have to wait until at least 2014 for enshrinement in Canton. Culp and Robinson will find out in less than six months whether the Hall of Fame Selection Committee thinks they’re worthy.