Colleges With Most Players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame
Jeffrey Boan / AP Photo
You’ll find an interesting but not surprising statistic that comes up when looking at the college football programs with the most Pro Football Hall of Famers — it’s very similar to the list of colleges with the most national championships.
Funny how that works, right?
Since the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s first class of inductees in 1963, the same colleges seem to continue popping up over and over again when it comes to deciding who gets a bust in Canton, Ohio, and who doesn’t.
Here’s a look at the colleges with the most players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame with the caveat that only inductees who actually played football at those colleges could be included on the list, which excludes some Hall of Famers who have been inducted in the “contributor” category.
10. UCLA — 6 Hall of Famers (Tie)
Location: Los Angeles, California
Stadium: Rose Bowl (capacity 80,186)
National championships: 1 (1954)
Pro Football Hall of Famers: QB Bob Waterfield, E Tom Fears, ATH Jimmy Johnson, QB Troy Aikman, OT Jonathan Ogden, S Kenny Easley
Bottom line: Former UCLA quarterback Troy Aikman technically counts on the Pro Football Hall of Fame list for two colleges — he started his career at Oklahoma and finished at UCLA.
Hall of Fame safety Kenny Easley, a three-time All-American at UCLA, made it to Canton even though he only played seven seasons in the NFL, all with the Seattle Seahawks. Easley was a five-time NFL All-Pro and NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1984, but after a trade to the Arizona Cardinals in 1988, he discovered he had a rare kidney disease brought on by taking 15 to 20 Advils per day with the Seahawks for an ankle injury. Easley was forced to retire and eventually needed a new kidney. He sued the Seahawks and eventually settled out of court.
10. Penn State — 6 Hall of Famers (Tie)
Location: University Park, Pennsylvania
Stadium: Beaver Stadium (cap. 106, 572)
National championships: 2 (1982, 1986)
Pro Football Hall of Famers: OG Mike Michalske, ATH Lenny Moore, LB Jack Ham, RB Franco Harris, OG Mike Munchak, LB Dave Robinson
Bottom line: If you were lucky enough to see Penn State play in the late 1960s, you were watching a pair of future Pro Football Hall of Famers with linebacker Jack Ham and running back Franco Harris, who would also team up in the NFL to win four Super Bowls with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
In the first two seasons Ham and Harris played together for the Nittany Lions, they were unbeatable — literally — going 22-0 over the 1968 and 1969 seasons and winning the Orange Bowl each year.
10. Oregon — 6 Hall of Famers (Tie)
Location: Eugene, Oregon
Stadium: Autzen Stadium (cap. 54,000)
National championships: None
Pro Football Hall of Famers: QB Norm Van Brocklin, RB Alphonse Leemans, QB Dan Fouts, S Mel Renfro, LB Dave Wilcox, OL Gary Zimmerman
Bottom line: The only team on this list without a national championship, the Oregon Ducks have come agonizingly close in the last 20 years, losing to Auburn in the BCS Championship Game following the 2010 season and losing to Ohio State in the CFP Championship Game following the 2014 season.
The Ducks have a pair of quarterbacks in the Hall of Fame with 1950s star Norm Van Brocklin, who led two different teams to NFL championships, and Dan Fouts, who was the first NFL quarterback to throw for over 4,000 yards in back-to-back seasons.
10. LSU — 6 Hall of Famers (Tie)
Location: Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Stadium: Tiger Stadium (cap. 102, 321)
National championships: 4 (1958, 2003, 2007, 2019)
Pro Football Hall of Famers: HB Steve Van Buren, QB Y.A. Tittle, FB Jim Taylor, C Kevin Mawae, S Johnny Robinson, OG Alan Faneca
Bottom line: Life has been pretty good for LSU fans over the last 20 years, with three national championships since 2003 with three different coaches. But the university went 43 years without a former player making the Pro Football Hall of Fame after legendary Green Bay Packers fullback Jim Taylor was inducted in 1976.
LSU ended its Hall of Fame drought with two players inducted in 2019 — center Kevin Mawae and safety Johnny Robinson — and then another player in 2021 with offensive guard Alan Faneca. Out of the six LSU players in the Hall of Fame, only Robinson won a national championship.
Does LSU currently have any Hall of Fame candidates in the NFL? Defensive back Patrick Peterson is the first name that comes to mind.