Pro Football Hall of Fame features yearlong 'Character' exhibit in 2025

Helping to fulfill its mission to promote the values taught through playing the game of football, the Pro Football Hall of Fame early next year will open a new exhibit titled, simply, “Character.”Helping to fulfill its mission to promote the values taught through playing the game of football, the Pro Football Hall of Fame has opened a new exhibit titled “Character.”

Using artifacts, some newly acquired, along with multimedia storytelling and programming, the museum will enhance fans’ understanding and appreciation of where the game and the character traits demonstrated while playing it at the highest levels intersect.

A ribbon-cutting for the new exhibit took place Jan. 10. Members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame were among the special guests on hand for the opening.

“The first two pillars of the Hall’s mission statement to ‘Honor the Greatest of the Game’ and ‘Preserve its History’ are relatively straight-forward and the bread and butter of the museum,” said Jim Porter, the Hall of Fame’s president and CEO. “But it’s that third pillar — to ‘Promote its Values’ — where you truly can find what makes football such a special sport.”

“If values like courage, commitment, respect and integrity aren’t woven into the fabric of a team’s players, then those teams generally will not be successful. The Hall this year will shine a special spotlight on how these core values have been demonstrated across the game’s history — on and off the field — and continue to teach important lessons today,” Porter said.

'Gold Helmet to Gold Jacket' exhibit celebrates Notre Dame’s influence on pro football

The Pro Football Hall of Fame will “wake up the echoes” of the University of Notre Dame’s impact on professional football with a temporary exhibit titled, “Gold Helmet to Gold Jacket.” It opened to the public March 14.

Notre Dame’s influence on college football is unmatched and well documented. Less widely documented and appreciated has been the Fighting Irish’s influence on professional football, even prior to the birth of the National Football League in 1920. Knute Rockne, the father of Fighting Irish football, played professionally before, during and after his collegiate days (1910-13) as an end. 

Notre Dame has played a significant role in the development and growth of professional football, sending 633 players into the NFL — more than any other college or university. Of the 382 members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, 14 attended the university, a number tied with football rival Southern California for the most from any institution.

“Gold Helmet to Gold Jacket” is scheduled to run daily through April 27. It marks the third in a series of special exhibits the Hall of Fame will curate over the coming years to honor professional and collegiate teams for their contributions to the sport of football. Ohio State University will be featured in 2025. (Dates TBD.)

“Never before has the Pro Football Hall of Fame put together a special exhibit to feature a university program in this way,” said Jim Porter, president and CEO of the Hall. “We encourage every Fighting Irish fan to see this once-in-a-lifetime arrangement of artifacts and to get pictures taken with the 14 iconic Bronze Busts of the enshrinees from Notre Dame.”