When Ken Stabler died in July, many people shared their opinion that the longtime Raiders quarterback should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Stabler’s name will be up for consideration next year after the Hall’s Seniors Committee named him as one of their two nominees for selection in 2016. The committee considers players whose careers have been over for at least 25 years and their selections become finalists for the full voting body on the Saturday before the Super Bowl, when they and all other finalists must receive 80 percent of the vote for entry into Canton.
The other nominee is Dick Stanfel, who played guard for the Lions and Redskins in the 1950s. Stanfel, who died in June, was named to the All-Decade team for the 1950s and won two NFL Championships in Detroit before moving on to a coaching career that earned him a Super Bowl ring as the offensive line coach for the 1985 Bears.
Stanfel has been nominated by the Seniors Committee twice in the past without receiving the necessary votes for election. Stabler was a finalist on the regular ballot three times without being elected.