Seven inducted into ‘Hall’ tonight

Associated Press

CANTON

Deion, Marshall and Shannon. Three players who could get by with only their first names, and soon to be known as Hall of Famers.

Deion Sanders, Marshall Faulk and Shannon Sharpe (of course) will be inducted into the pro football shrine tonight. Sanders and Faulk were slam dunks in their first year of eligibility.

Joining that trio will be Richard Dent, Chris Hanburger, Les Richter and Ed Sabol.

Sanders was one of football’s most versatile and entertaining players, earning the nickname “Prime Time.” According to Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, he also was a phony.

“Deion was a fraud,” Jones said. “He wanted it to look easy, but he was a hard worker. He would give just enough at practice to be a team player in strength and conditioning, but when he went home he worked like a dog on his strength. He wanted everyone to think he was a natural. He was, but it wasn’t only because he was born like that. He worked.”

Faulk wasn’t quite so exotic. He was just as formidable, though, retiring with 12,279 yards and 100 touchdowns rushing, another 6,875 yards and 36 TDs as a receiver.

“People make a big thing about going in on the first ballot, but it’s really more about getting in,” Faulk said. “They don’t give you a target to shoot at. In baseball, you know what you have to do to make the Hall of Fame. In football, you start off, you don’t really know what you have to do to make it. There’s no ‘if you break these records as a tight end, you’re going to get in’ or Shannon Sharpe would have got in his first year. That’s hard to do.”

Sharpe retired in 2003 and missed out on making the hall in his first two years of eligibility. He compiled 10,060 yards receiving and 62 touchdowns, monstrous numbers for a tight end, and won three Super Bowls — two with Denver, one with Baltimore.

“Shannon was the best at what he did, no question,” said Mike Shanahan, who coached him with the Broncos.

Dent also had a long career (15 seasons) and an even longer wait to make the hall. He retired in 1997 after one season as an Eagle. Dent spent 12 seasons with the Bears and one each with the 49ers and Colts.

He was the main pass rusher on the overpowering Chicago defense that rampaged through the NFL in 1985.

Nicknamed “The Hangman,” Hanburger stood out for one violent move he practically patented in 14 seasons with Washington: the clothesline tackle, which eventually was outlawed. Richter, also chosen by the senior committee, died last year. He played linebacker for the Los Angeles Rams from 1954-62. Sabol is the founder of NFL Films.