Former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Buddy Parker is one step closer to enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Parker was named a finalist from a group of 12 worthy candidates remaining under consideration for next year’s class.
Parker will be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame if he receives at least 80 percent approval in the up-or-down balloting at that meeting to vote on the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024.
Parker was Pittsburgh’s head coach from 1957-1964, leading the franchise to its first winning season, a 7-4-1 mark in 1958. The Steelers finished 9-5 in 1962, which was his best record with Pittsburgh. He had more success as the head coach of the Detroit Lions, where he won two NFL Vhampionships with Bobby Layne at quarterback. He traded for Layne as Pittsburgh’s head coach, but both are better known for their work in Detroit.
The move proved to be a wise one for Parker, who helped lead the Steelers to win percentage of .500 or better in five of his eight seasons as the team’s head coach, which would be the franchise’s best stretch in terms of playing winning football.
Parker was one of 12 finalists in the Coach/Contributor category along with Art Rooney Jr., who served in the team’s scouting department from 1964-1986 and has been with the Steelers since 1961. He’s a member of the team’s Hall of Honor, being inducted in 2018.
Other notable semifinalists in the coach/contributor category include former Super Bowl-winning head coach Tom Coughlin, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and former head coach Marty Schottenheimer, who employed Bill Cowher before Pittsburgh hired Cowher as its head coach in 1992.
