Los Angeles Chargers Hall of Fame

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]

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

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

• San Diego Chargers 40th Anniversary Team
• San Diego Chargers 50th Anniversary Team

References

1. . 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. from the original on August 3, 2012.
4. 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). . Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 15, 2012.
7. Simers, T. J. (August 1, 1992). . Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 24, 2015.
8. McKibben, Dave (November 30, 1992). . 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. from the original on January 16, 2013.
12. 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. (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. from the original on February 2, 2016.
16. (PDF). San Diego Chargers. 2010. p. 231. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 22, 2010.
17. McKibben, Dave (November 30, 1992). . Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 16, 2015.
18. . 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). . The San Diego Union-Tribune. Archived from the original on February 3, 2015.
21. . 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. 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. from the original on September 4, 2014.
24. Gehlken, Michael (June 10, 2015). "Chargers to honor LaDainian Tomlinson". The San Diego Union-Tribune. 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.