It’s been 22 years since Tom Flores was first eligible to enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The two-time Super Bowl winning head coach of the Raiders couldn’t crack the logjam for enshrinement. Until now.
He was named the lone coaching finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame by the senior committee and the word has come down that he will be part of the class of 2021. ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez was first to report Flores has been given the nod.
BREAKING: #Raiders Tom Flores has been selected for the @ProFootballHOF
— Paul Gutierrez (@PGutierrezESPN) February 7, 2021
Flores spent most of his NFL career with the Raiders as a player and returned as a coach. In total, he won three Super Bowls with the Raiders, one as an assistant coach and two as head coach.
Along with his accolades as a coach, he was also was a trailblazer as the first ever Hispanic head coach in the NFL and the first ever to win the Super Bowl.
This time last year, Jimmy Johnson got in as part of the Centennial class that saw 15 senior enshrinees. Johnson and Flores were two of just three two-time Super Bowl winning head coaches in NFL history not enshrined (George Seifert is the other). That appears to have cleared a logjam that allowed Flores to break through.