"He's Going to Canton": The Pro Football Hall of Fame

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The history of Canton, Ohio's Football Hall of Fame is a heart warming one. Baseball has an all-American image but, until relatively recently, football was viewed more as a collegiate sport. There was no shrine to football, including no sports memorabilia, until September, 1963 when the Football Hall of Fame opened its doors to the public. Canton, Ohio is considered to be the brith place of professional football and, unlike with other museums, the town's residents actually rallied to build and support the museum.

But after the space was christened and the first round of athletes inducted, visitors to the hall still found it devoid of football memorabilia. When it opened, the hall had 17,000 square feet, and its collection of grid-iron relics was awfully sparse. Again, the hall had been built on enthusiasm, not a pre-existing collection. Today it is 83,000 square feet with 50,000 pieces of football memorabilia to shelter. So what happened?

Oddly enough, once the hall was opened and empty, a group of striking Cleveland newspaper reporters got involved in their plight. These reporters, with nothing better to do, traveled across the country soliciting football memorabilia. They unearthed a few items and, more importantly, word of mouth spread across the nation. Soon, the Hall was receiving unsolicited donations daily.

One of its most prized items to this day is a sideline blanket from the Canton Bulldogs, one of pro-football's original franchises. An Akron man had been using it to muffle a spare gear shaft in his trunk. He knew what he had, but not what to do with it. After that, many other pieces of historic football memorabilia found their final homes at the Hall.

Once their exhibit space was presentable, the new home of football's spirit had to go out and find its visitors. Initially, novelty drew in 63,000, but after fans had seen it all once, attendance fell. In the 1970's, the NFL began running television commercials touting the Hall, and attendance increased dramatically. 63,000 people became 80,000 people. And 80,000 turned into 180,000. By 1973, the Hall had 330,000 people coming to pay their respects to pro football's legends. These days, Hall of Fame induction ceremonies are televised on ESPN, which always brings a crowd. "Induction week," as it's known in Canton, employees 4,000 volunteers at 21 separate vents over seven days. But residents are most proud when, after watching a spectacular tackle on Sunday evening, the announcer shouts, "Did you see that? If the kid keeps that up, he's going to Canton!"