The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced their 25 semifinalists for the Class of 2014 Wednesday night and among those on the list are former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jerome Bettis and defensive end/linebacker Kevin Greene.
This will be the fourth time that Bettis has made it to the semifinals. Last year he reached the final 10 of the original 15 modern day finalists but then was eliminated on the vote to the final five.
During his 13 years in the league, Bettis played in 192 regular season games and rushed for 13,662 yards and 91 touchdowns.
Bettis came to Pittsburgh via a draft day trade with the St. Louis Rams in 1996 and helped lead the team to their victory in Super Bowl XL in his hometown of Detroit. He retired after that season.
Bettis is currently sixth on the all-time NFL career rushing yards list.
As for Greene, this will be the eighth straight year he’s been named semifinalists. During his three years in Pittsburgh, Greene played in 48 regular season games and recorded 35.5 sacks during that span. For his career, the Auburn product recorded 160 sacks in 228 regular season games. He is currently the outside linebackers coach for the Green Bay Packers.
The group of 25 semifinalists will be trimmed to 15 in early January. The Class of 2014 then will be picked on Feb. 1 from the list of 15 modern-era finalists plus the two senior nominees (punter Ray Guy and defensive end Claude Humphrey, who were selected in August by the Hall of Fame’s Senior Selection Committee).
Here’s the list of 25 semifinalists:
Morten Andersen
Steve Atwater
Jerome Bettis
Derrick Brooks
Tim Brown
Don Coryell
Roger Craig
Terrell Davis
Edward DeBartolo, Jr.
Tony Dungy
Kevin Greene
Charles Haley
Marvin Harrison
Joe Jacoby
Jimmy Johnson
Walter Jones
John Lynch
Karl Mecklenburg
Andre Reed
Will Shields
Michael Strahan
Paul Tagliabue
Aeneas Williams
Steve Wisniewski
George Young
