DENVER — Even if consideration for the Pro Football Hall of Fame should never be taken for granted, Randy Gradishar and Mike Shanahan have been through the process enough times to realize it's also not time to celebrate.
Gradishar, a 10-year inside linebacker for the Broncos during the Orange Crush era, was among 31 senior players selected as semifinalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2024.
Three other former Broncos coaches -- Mike Shanahan, Dan Reeves and offensive line coach Alex Gibbs -- were among the 29 semifinalists for the Hall of Fame's coach/contributor category.
The senior player and coach/contributor categories will each be trimmed to 12 finalists on July 27. Eventually three senior players and one coach/contributor will be elected into the Hall of Fame class of 2024.
John Wooten, a University of Colorado offensive lineman in the late-1950s, was also nominated as a contributor. Wooten, 86, was a longtime Dallas Cowboy scout and personnel executive before becoming chairman of the Fritz Pollard Alliance from 2003-19.
Gradishar, 71, was a 7-time Pro Bowler in his 10 NFL seasons and remains the only Bronco to be voted NFL Defensive Player of the Year when he nabbed the honor in 1978. He has been a Hall of Fame finalist multiple times before as both a modern-era and senior candidate.
“When people say he couldn’t have put up the numbers that he put up, I always tell them all you need to do is go and put on the film,'' said Tom Jackson, a fellow Orange Crush linebacker. "Put on the film and you count the tackles and then you tell me. It’s ridiculous.”
Shanahan, 70, was the head coach who guided the Broncos to their first- and second-ever Super Bowl titles in 1997-98. He is tied for 13th all-time among NFL coaches with 170 wins.
Reeves, who died just shy of his 78th birthday on Jan. 1, 2022, led two teams to four combined Super Bowl appearances -- three for the Broncos and another for the Atlanta Falcons. He is 9th all-time with 190 coaching wins. He was also a Dallas Cowboys halfback in the 1960s, memorably throwing a 50-yard touchdown pass to Lance Rentzel in the famed Ice Bowl.
Gibbs, who died at 80 in 2021, was the offensive line coach of the Broncos' famed zone-blocking scheme during their Super Bowl years of 1997-98.
The other senior player HOF semifinalists: Ken Anderson, Ottis Anderson, Carl Banks, Maxie Baughan, Larry Brown, Mark Clayton, Charlie Conerly, Roger Craig, Henry Ellard, Lester Hayes, Chris Hinton, Cecil Isbell, Joe Jacoby, Billy "White Shoes” Johnson, Mike Kenn, Bob Kuechenberg, George Kunz, Albert Lewis, Jim Marshall, Clay Matthews Jr., Steve McMichael, Eddie Meador, Stanley Morgan, Tommy Nobis, Art Powell, Sterling Sharpe, Steve Tasker, Otis Taylor, Everson Walls and Al Wistert.
The other coach/contributor HOF semifinalists: Bud Adams Jr., Roone Arledge, C.O. Brocato, Tom Coughlin, Ralph Hay, Mike Holmgren, Frank “Bucko” Kilroy, Eddie Kotal, Robert Kraft, Elmer Layden, Jerry Markbreit, Virginia McCaskey, Rich McKay, John McVay, Art Modell, Buddy Parker, Carl Peterson, Art Rooney Jr., Marty Schottenheimer, Jerry Seeman, George Seifert, Clark Shaughnessy, Seymour Siwoff, Jim Tunney and Lloyd Wells.
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