With Super Bowl XVI teammate Ken Riley's Pro Football Hall of Fame induction set for early August, Bengals all-time passing leader Ken Anderson hopes to find out he has become a finalist two weeks later when the senior committee meets.
Anderson's timeline crystalized Wednesday when the 12-person senior committee released its list of 31 senior semifinalists, a category composed of players who retired at least 25 years. The cut to 12 is announced July 27 and the committee then meets Aug. 22 to choose the trio of senior finalists who'll go before the Hall's full 49-member selection committee in January. (Bengals.com holds the Cincinnati vote on the board of selectors.)
Anderson made the final 12 last year before Riley, Cowboys linebacker Chuck Howley and Jets defensive lineman Joe Klecko were tapped as the final three. All received the required 80 percent of the full board vote for the Aug. 5 induction at the Canton, Ohio shrine.
Other Bengals legends, such as Ring of Honor member Isaac Curtis and eight-time Pro Bowl cornerback Lemar Parrish, didn't reach the semifinals. Anderson, who retired in the spring of 1987 as the NFL's all-time completion percentage leader for a season, postseason career and a game throwing more than 20 passes, and pre-merger New York Giant Charlie Conerly are the only quarterbacks in the semis.
A total of four cornerbacks made it as last year's finalists Everson Walls and Eddie Meador joined Lester Hayes and Albert Lewis. Another player from last year's group of the final 12 seniors, Sterling Sharpe, leads a list of seven wide receivers in the semifinals: Mark Clayton, returner Billy "White Shoes" Johnson, Stanley Morgan, Art Powell, special teamer Steve Tasker and Otis Taylor.
Anderson and eight of his fellow senior finalists who didn't make the 2023 final cut are back in the semis: Sharpe, Meador, Walls, linebackers Maxie Baughan, Randy Gradishar and Tommy Nobis, tailback Cecil Isbell and guard-tackle Bob Kuechenberg.
