Junior Seau honored at the Chargers Ring of Honor in San Diego

The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL) based in the Los Angeles Area. The club began play in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League (AFL), and spent its first season in Los Angeles before moving to San Diego in 1961.[1] They returned to Los Angeles in 2017. The Chargers created their Hall of Fame in 1976.[2] Eligible candidates for the Hall of Fame must have been retired for at least four seasons.[3] Selections are made by a five-member committee chaired by Dean Spanos, Chargers vice-chairman. As of 1992, other committee members included Bob Breitbard, founder of the San Diego Hall of Champions; Ron Fowler, president of the Greater San Diego Sports Association; Jane Rappoport, president of the Charger Backers; and Bill Johnston, the team's director of public relations.[4]

The initial four members—former players Emil Karas, Frank Buncom, Bob Laraba, and Jacque MacKinnon—were inducted posthumously in 1976.[5] From 1986 through 1992, there were no new inductions.[6] The Los Angeles Times wrote in 1992, "The Chargers have not done a good job in recent years of recognizing their former players."[7] Dan Fouts and Charlie Joiner were inducted in 1993. "It embarrasses me to go into the Hall of Fame before Don Coryell, because if it wasn't for Don Coryell, I wouldn't be in the Hall of Fame for the Chargers," said Fouts of his former head coach.[8][9] Coryell was inducted the following year.[10] The Chargers allowed the 2012 inductee to be determined by fans, who selected punter Darren Bennett.[4][11]

The members of the Hall of Fame were honored in San Diego at the Chargers Ring of Honor, viewable above the visiting team's sideline of Qualcomm Stadium on the press level.[12][13] It was founded in 2000 as part of the team's season-long celebration of its 40th anniversary.[12] Before its introduction that season, the Chargers and the Oakland Raiders were the only NFL teams without a Ring of Honor.[14] In 2013, the Chargers also inducted their 1963 AFL Championship team into their Ring of Honor; 15 members of that team were already in the team's Hall of Fame.[15]

Key

Inducted Year officially inducted
Name Name of inductee
Position Player position or other role of inductee
Years Years with the Chargers
No. Jersey number with Chargers (players only)
*
 Member of Pro Football Hall of Fame
^
 Number retired by the Chargers

Hall of Fame inductees

Inducted Name Position Years No. Ref
1976 Emil Karas LB 1960–1966 56
[16]
Frank Buncom LB 1962–1968 55
[16]
Bob Laraba LB 1960–1961 53
[16]
Jacque MacKinnon TE 1961–1969 38
[16]
1977 Lance Alworth* WR 1962–1970 19^
[16]
1978 Ron Mix* OT 1960–1969 74
[16]
1979 Paul Lowe RB 1960–1968 23
[16]
1980 Barron Hilton Majority owner 1960–1966  –
[16]
Keith Lincoln RB 1961–1968 22
[16]
1981 Ernie Ladd DT 1961–1965 77
[16]
Walt Sweeney G 1963–1973 78
[16]
1983 John Hadl QB 1962–1972 21
[16]
1984 Chuck Allen LB 1961–1969 50
[16]
1985 Gary Garrison WR 1966–1976 27
[16]
Sid Gillman* Head coach 1961–1969, 1971  –
[16]
1986 Earl Faison DE 1961–1966 86
[16]
1993 Dan Fouts* QB 1973–1987 14^
[17]
Charlie Joiner* WR 1976–1986 18^
[16]
1994 Don Coryell* Head coach 1978–1986  –
[16]
1995 Speedy Duncan CB 1964–1970 45
[16]
Russ Washington OT 1968–1982 70
[16]
Kellen Winslow* TE 1979–1987 80^
[16]
1996 George Pernicano Minority owner 1961–present  –
[16]
1997 Rolf Benirschke K 1978–1987 6
[16]
1998 Gill Byrd CB 1983–1992 22
[18]
1999 Gary "Big Hands" Johnson DT 1975–1984 79
[19]
2000 Doug Wilkerson G 1971–1984 63
[16]
2001 Wes Chandler WR 1981–1987 89
[16]
2002 Stan Humphries QB 1992–1997 12
[16]
Bobby Ross Head coach 1992–1996  –
[16]
2003 Louie Kelcher DT 1975–1983 74
[16]
2004 Don Macek C 1976–1989 62
[16]
Ed White G 1978–1985 67
[16]
2008 Fred Dean* DE 1975–1981 71
[16]
2011 Junior Seau* LB 1990–2002 55^
[20][21]
2012 Darren Bennett P 1995–2003 2
[22]
2014 Leslie O'Neal DE 1986–1995 91
[23]
2015 LaDainian Tomlinson* RB 2001–2009 21^
[24]
2018 Bobby Beathard* General manager 1990–2000 –
[25]
2022 Jamal Williams NT 1998–2009 76
[26]
2023 Antonio Gates TE 2003–2018 85
[27]

See also

References

  1. ^ "San Diego Chargers History". Chargers.com. Archived from the original on March 14, 2012.
  2. ^ Hood, Lindsay (October 21, 2010). "Chargers Fun Fact: Team Hall of Fame". NBCSanDiego.com. Archived from the original on March 5, 2012.
  3. ^ "Transcripts from the Chargers Hall of Fame Press Conference". chargers.com (Press release). San Diego Chargers. July 16, 2012. Archived from the original on August 3, 2012.
  4. ^ a b Judge, Clark (November 29, 1992). "With week to go, Raiders blackout likely". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Sports section. Retrieved March 5, 2012.(subscription required)
  5. ^ Archer, Todd (October 12, 2003). "What NFL Teams Do To Honor Their Past". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved March 5, 2012.(subscription required)
  6. ^ Distel, Dave (September 4, 1992). "CHARGERS '92 : Why Wait to Do the Honors?". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 15, 2012.
  7. ^ Simers, T. J. (August 1, 1992). "If Phillips Is the Bait, Receiver May Be a Need". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 24, 2015.
  8. ^ McKibben, Dave (November 30, 1992). "Fouts, Joiner in Charger Hall of Fame : Honors". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 16, 2015.
  9. ^ Judge, Clark (December 5, 1992). "Without Don Coryell, it's a Hall of Shame". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Sports section. Retrieved March 5, 2012.(subscription required)
  10. ^ Judge, Clark (December 13, 1993). "Book him, Don-o". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Sports section. Retrieved March 5, 2012.(subscription required)
  11. ^ Gehlken, Michael (July 16, 2012). "Fans to decide next Chargers Hall of Famer". U-T San Diego. Archived from the original on January 16, 2013.
  12. ^ a b Paris, Jay (February 3, 2000). "No midlife crisis for Chargers". The North County Times. pp. C-1, C-7. Retrieved February 27, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "San Diego Chargers A–Z Fan Guide" (PDF). San Diego Chargers. 2011. p. 19. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 24, 2013.
  14. ^ Trotter, Jim (February 3, 2000). "Chargers' future will honor players, uniforms of the past". The San Diego Union Tribune. Sports section. Retrieved March 5, 2012.(subscription required)
  15. ^ Gehlken, Michael (October 28, 2013). "Chargers to honor their title team". U-T San Diego. Archived from the original on February 2, 2016.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae 2010 San Diego Chargers Media Guide (PDF). San Diego Chargers. 2010. p. 231. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 22, 2010.
  17. ^ McKibben, Dave (November 30, 1992). "Fouts, Joiner in Charger Hall of Fame". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 16, 2015.
  18. ^ "Rams' coach's son stripped of playoff berth". USA Today. Associated Press. November 11, 2003. Archived from the original on February 19, 2017.
  19. ^ "Chargers: Gary 'Big Hands' Johnson dies at 57". SportingNews.com. August 5, 2010. Archived from the original on March 4, 2012.
  20. ^ Leonard, Tom (November 27, 2011). "Scene & Heard: Tebow Time's cheers, jeers". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Archived from the original on February 3, 2015.
  21. ^ "Junior Seau's No. 55 officially retired by San Diego Chargers". NFL.com. Archived from the original on February 3, 2015.
  22. ^ Gehlken, Michael (September 24, 2012). "Darren Bennett voted into Chargers Hall of Fame". U-T San Diego. Archived from the original on December 29, 2013.
  23. ^ Williams, Eric D. (September 2, 2014). "DE O'Neal headed to Chargers Hall of Fame". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on September 4, 2014.
  24. ^ Gehlken, Michael (June 10, 2015). "Chargers to honor LaDainian Tomlinson". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Archived from the original on June 11, 2015.
  25. ^ Miller, Jeff (September 7, 2018). "Joey Bosa to miss Chargers' opener with left foot injury". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  26. ^ Smith, Eric (September 28, 2022). "Jamal Williams Made Undeniable Impact on Path to Chargers Hall of Fame". Chargers.com. Retrieved September 29, 2022.
  27. ^ "Antonio Gates Named 2023 Chargers Hall of Fame Inductee". Chargers.com. August 16, 2023. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
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