[CBFF] Former teammates backing Dent's Hall of Fame bid - Chicago Bears - Sent Using Google Toolbar

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Former teammates backing Dent's Hall of Fame bid - Chicago Bears








LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Gary Fencik doesn't mention Barack Obama, Hillary
Clinton or John McCain when insisting that his candidate of choice
deserves to be elected.

The former Bears safety hopes that ex-Chicago teammate Richard Dent
receives the votes he needs when the Pro Football Hall of Fame's board
of selectors convenes Saturday at the site of Super Bowl XLII in
Phoenix to choose the Class of 2008.



 Richard Dent hopes to join former Bears teammate Mike Singletary in
the Pro Football Hall of Fame. "I have no idea what's going to happen,
but I certainly am hopeful that Richard gets the recognition that I
think he richly deserves," Fencik said. "For his teammates, I don't
think there's any dispute about the contributions that Richard made."

One of 17 Hall of Fame finalists for the fourth time in five years,
Dent played 12 of his 15 NFL seasons with the Bears, registering a
franchise-high 124½ sacks. He was named Super Bowl XX MVP, was an
integral part of a championship defense that is considered one of the
best in NFL history, and was selected to four Pro Bowls.

When Dent retired following the 1997 season, he ranked third on the
NFL's all-time list with 137½ sacks, trailing only Reggie White and
Bruce Smith.

"To be inducted into the Hall of Fame, you had to have been dominant
and particularly dominant in key games," Fencik said. "And when you
needed the sack or a big play, Richard was there."

Selected by the Bears in the eighth round of the 1983 draft out of
Tennessee State, Dent blossomed in his second season, leading the NFC
with a team-record 17½ sacks. In 1985, the talented defensive end
recorded 17 sacks to help the Bears win their first league
championship in 22 years.

"If you understand his career, he probably exemplifies what the Hall
of Fame is all about," said former teammate Kevin Butler, a Bears
kicker for 11 seasons from 1985-95.

"He came in a little undersized, as a late-round draft pick, and
developed probably beyond the expectations of the people who brought
him in. He did it the right way. He worked at it hard and he kept
getting better and better, culminating in a Super Bowl MVP. He was
dominating that whole year [in 1985] and the whole time he played with
the Bears."

Dent was a premier defensive end for the Bears for more than a decade.
He registered 10 or more sacks in five straight seasons from 1984-88
and in eight of 10 years from 1984-93. The only times he failed to
reach double digits in that span was when he had 9 sacks in 1989 and
8½ in 1992.

The Bears compiled a 119-72 record in his 12 seasons. In Dent's first
six years, the Bears went 70-25 with no losing seasons, winning at
least 10 games five straight years from 1984-88.

Selected All-Pro four times and All-NFC five times, Dent still holds
Bears post-season records with 10½ career sacks and 3½ sacks in a game
Jan. 5, 1986 against the New York Giants.

"The biggest compliment you can give a defensive end is to say that
he's an every-down player," said former teammate Tom Thayer, a Bears
guard for eight seasons from 1985-92. "Richard wasn't a situational
player. He didn't turn into a pass rush specialist later in his
career. He stopped the run and he played the pass as well as anybody
in the league.

"You think of a guy like that today, just because they can rush the
passer, they're considered specialists and they get paid a lot of
dollars. But sometimes you get lost in the fact that you're also
playing first and second down and the offense is really limited in its
success against you."

On Saturday, the board of selectors will choose 4-7 inductees for
enshrinement in Canton.

 The other 16 finalists include two first-year eligible players (wide
receiver Cris Carter and cornerback Darrell Green); 11 modern-era
players (defensive end Fred Dean; linebackers Randy Gradishar, Derrick
Thomas and Andre Tippett; guards Russ Grimm, Bob Kuechenberg and
Randall McDaniel; punter Ray Guy; wide receivers Art Monk and Andre
Reed; and tackle Gary Zimmerman); one contributor (former NFL
commissioner Paul Tagliabue); and two players nominated earlier by the
Hall's Senior Committee (Marshall Goldberg and Emmitt Thomas).

A year ago, Dent survived the cut from 17 finalists to 11, but he was
eliminated when the list was pared to the final six. Those six then
all received the 80 percent vote required to gain entry.

The Bears have an NFL-high 26 players in the Hall of Fame, including
three of Dent's former teammates: Running back Walter Payton, middle
linebacker Mike Singletary and defensive lineman Dan Hampton.

"Richard deserves to be in the Hall of Fame," Thayer said. "When you
look at him statistically, where he was at the end of his career, and
how the game has changed in terms of sacks and pressures, I think
Richard is as deserving of it as anybody."
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