Vote for the Greatest BroncoFOX Sports is running a poll right now to figure out who the greatest Bronco of all time is.
The options: John Elway, Shannon Sharpe, Floyd Little, Gary Zimmerman and Terrell Davis.
Four of the five are Pro Football Hall of Famers, and many continue to argue for the fifth to join them in Canton, Ohio. What do you think?
Seven Broncos Among Hall of Fame Class of 2009 Nominees
Gary Zimmerman just entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the Class of 2008.
The class of 2009 has seven former Broncos among the 133 players, coaches and contributers who make up the preliminary list of nominees for election to the Hall of Fame’s newest class.
Former Denver Broncos S Steve Atwater (1989-98), RB Terrell Davis (1995-2002), LB Tom Jackson (1973-86), LB Karl Mecklenburg (1983-94), Head Coach Dan Reeves (1981-92), TE Shannon Sharpe (1990-99, 2002-03) and CB Louis Wright (1975-86) are the Broncos who made the preliminary list of modern-era nominees.
Sharpe is one of 11 first-year eligible nominees for election into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, meaning this is the first year he met all of the requirements for induction — meaning he’s been retired at least five years.
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Broncos Could Be in Good Hall EraOne of the most gratifying moments of Super Bowl week for fans of the Denver Broncos was the announcement that tackle Gary Zimmerman had been selected for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Zim is absolutely one of the greatest offensive linemen in pro football history, as his selection to the all-decade teams of both the 1980′s and the 1990′s clearly attests.
He had to wait a couple of years longer even than he should have, but there is no question that the voters got it right in naming him to the game’s most hallowed halls.
As great as the news was about Zimmerman, it was just as disappointing that all-time great Randy Gradishar did not get selected.
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Super Bowl/Hall of FameWell I’ve been eating crow all week and finally decided to admit it. The New York Giants brought it and were the better team by far. I was amazed how flat the Patriots were and we talked about the Super Power all year long and BOOM!!! — they explode.
I can’t understand how you play so emotionless in a Super Bowl. I’m not a Giants fan by any means for selfish reasons, they cost me a World Championship ring and we ran out of time in Super Bowl XXI, that’s all. 
)
Ahhhhh, they were the better team that day too and Phil Simms made a career day out of one game. Can you tell I’m still bitter, yep!!
Zim Is In
(Photo: WireImage.com)
The Broncos have another Hall of Famer.
Offensive tackle Gary Zimmerman was elected to join the ranks of the sport’s hallowed elite on Saturday after being a perennial finalist for induction in recent years.
In recent years, Zimmerman had been the only player with two all-decade selections eligible for the Hall of Fame to not be in the shrine.
Linebacker Randy Gradishar was eliminated in the first round of voting.
A short video on Zimmerman is below.
More to follow …
Hall of Fame … Is this The Day?
As Friday night became Saturday at the homestead, TBS began airing Groundhog Day. In addition to being arguably the high point of the Harold Ramis-Bill Murray partnership — this was, after all, the film that combined subversiveness, compassion, surrealism and existentialism — its plot also gave me a humbling second thought about today’s Pro Football Hall of Fame possibilities for Randy Gradishar and Gary Zimmerman.
After all, the film Groundhog Day involves enduring the same set of circumstances with scarcely a hint of change. Only when Murray’s character, Phil Connors, learns how to enact change upon his static realm does he finagle a way out of his permament loop.
Gradishar, Zimmerman are HoF FinalistsTwo Broncos made the list of finalists for the 2008 Hall of Fame class … but Terrell Davis was shut out for a second consecutive year.
Both Gary Zimmerman and Randy Gradishar are among the 17 finalists whose names will be discussed by the selection committee in Phoenix, Ariz. on Feb. 2, the day before Super Bowl XLII. Each has gotten this far before, with Zimmerman being a staple of recent finalist collections, making the list for the fifth time.
Gradishar, meanwhile, is back among the finalists for the first time in five years. This is the 18th year in which he has been eligible.
Davis was inducted into the Broncos’ Ring of Fame in September, but was passed over Wednesday as no running backs made the cut as the list was trimmed from 26 semifinalists to the last 17.
There are two first-time finalists on this year’s list — defensive back Emmitt Thomas, who is one of the two Seniors Committee nominees, and offensive lineman Randall McDaniel, who was a teammate of Zimmerman’s in Minnesota from 1988-92.
Three Broncos on Hall of Fame Ballot
By now just about everyone is aware that aside from John Elway — who was an obvious choice and who played for the Denver Broncos for the entirety of his 16-year NFL career — only two other players with Bronco ties are in the Hall of Fame.
Those would be running back Tony Dorsett — clearly in for his play with the Dallas Cowboys — and cornerback Willie Brown, who played the most famous part of his career with the Oakland Raiders, although he was also an All-AFL corner while with the Broncos.
After 30 years in the NFL I feel like I have been teased by the Hall of Fame voters more often than Charlie Brown by Lucy and her football in the Peanuts cartoon.
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Hall Finalists: Zim, but Not T.D. or Gradishar
The lamentable underrepresentation of the Broncos in the sport’s shrine could be somewhat alleviated later this year.
Gary Zimmerman will be the lone Bronco up for discussion when the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s board of selectors meets the day before Super Bowl XLI to decide this year’s enshrinees.
Zimmerman is part of a group that does not include Randy Gradishar and Terrell Davis, both of whom were eliminated as the group of 25 semifinalists was whittled down to 17 finalists as announced today in Canton, Ohio.
Davis was in his first year of eligibility.
Gradishar has been eligible for 17 years, but has only been a finalist once — in 2003, when he and Zimmerman became the first to be finalists based in large part on their careers as Broncos. (Hall of Famers Willie Brown and Tony Dorsett both played in Denver, but spent the bulk of their standout days in Oakland and Dallas, respectively).
For Zimmerman, this is his fourth time on the finalist list. In addition to his 2003 finalist status, he was also among the group in 2004 and 2006. He is, at present, the only Hall-eligible player to be named to two All-Decade teams and not be among the men honored with a bust in the museum, which was established in 1963.
Seven Broncos were on the list of preliminary nominees: Steve Atwater, Davis, Gradishar, Karl Mecklenburg, Dan Reeves, Louis Wright and Zimmerman. Atwater, Mecklenburg, Reeves and Wright were trimmed from the list when it was narrowed to 25 semifinalists in November.
So what do you think? What other Broncos deserve the proper due in Canton? Discuss below …