Jim Plunkett is a long shot to be among those enshrined in the 2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame, which makes sense given his path to NFL glory.
Born poor with blind parents, Plunkett made it to Stanford University out of San Jose’s James Lick High only to be told by coach John Ralston he should consider playing defensive end.
After weathering a cancer scare, Plunkett eventually won the Heisman Trophy as a quarterback, emblematic of the best player in college football. He engineered a 27-17 win over unbeaten No. 1 Ohio State in the Rose Bowl that is still the school’s signature moment in that sport. Plunkett was the No. 1 pick in the 1971 NFL Draft by the Patriots.
Plunkett threw 19 touchdown passes as a rookie but by 1975 was beaten and battered after New England went to an option offense and was shipped to the 49ers. By 1978, Plunkett had been released because of injuries and ineffectiveness and was signed and put on ice by the Raiders.
After sitting out more than two years to get healthy and recuperate, Plunkett won two Super Bowls and gained national acclaim as the ultimate comeback story.
Plunkett is already in the College Football Hall of Fame (1990), the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame (1990), the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame (1992), the California Sports Hall of Fame (2007) and the International Sports Hall of Fame (2024). If Canton ever comes calling, and even if it doesn’t, expect Plunkett to accept the news with the grace and humble nature he’s carried with him for 76 years.
His Pro Football Hall of Fame candidacy has gotten a push of late from San Jose State Senator Dave Cortese (D-Silicon Valley). In an op-ed last week published by the Bay Area News Group, Monterey County supervisor Luis Alejo and Stanford lecturer and archivist Ignacio Ornelas took up Plunkett’s cause.
The son of Mexican-American parents — his mother also was part Native American — Plunkett along with former Raiders coach Tom Flores are among the most prominent Latinos in the sport. Flores, who won both of his championships with Plunkett as his quarterback, waited 22 years after first being eligible before being enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 2021.
“Let me put it this way — I had a 17-year career,” Plunkett said in a recent phone interview from his home in Atherton. “Made a lot of great friends. Won a lot of ballgames, lost a few we shouldn’t have lost. But I had a great time playing football. If I get in the Hall of Fame, that would be great. But if I don’t get in, it really doesn’t upset me.”
As a senior candidate, Plunkett made the cut from 60 names to 31 and is one of three quarterbacks eligible along with former Cincinnati quarterback Ken Anderson and Charlie Conerly of the New York Giants.
Other local candidates include running back Roger Craig of the 49ers, Lester Hayes of the Raiders, Art Powell of the Raiders and
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
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