Black college alumni are prominent on the list of 133 candidates for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2009.

Savannah State great Shannon Sharpe is a first-year candidate among 133 players, coaches and contributors on the preliminary list of modern-era nominees. Sharpe won Super Bowl rings with Denver and Baltimore and retired in 2003 as a four-time all-NFL pick and eight-time Pro Bowler over a 14-year career.

Hall of Fame voters will choose 25 candidates as semifinalists, and that list will be announced in November next month. Other previous nominees include S.C. State's Donnie Shell, a hard-hitting safety who won four Super Bowls with the Pittsburgh Steelers, former Grambling State cornerback Albert Lewis (Kansas City Chiefs), and Tennessee State's Richard Dent, Super Bowl XIX MVP and a sack machine as a Chicago Bears defensive end.

Two previously announced Senior Selection Committee nominees, Bob Hayes (Florida A&M) and Claude Humphrey (Tennessee State), are on the list. They were selected in August. Hayes, a three-time All-NFL pick, caught 371 passes for 7,414 yards and 71 touchdowns during an 11-season career with the Dallas Cowboys (1965-74) and San Francisco 49ers (1975). ...

Hayes, who won gold in the 1964 Olympics 100 meters, also returned 104 punts for 1,158 yards and three touchdowns and 23 kickoff returns for 581 yards. Humphrey, a defensive end, was selected third overall in the 1968 draft by the Atlanta Falcons. He was named league defensive rookie of the year and earned first team All-Pro honors from 1971-74 and '77.

Humphrey was named to six Pro Bowls. Ironically, one of the greatest players from the old American Football League - Southern's Rich "Tombstone" Jackson (Oakland Raiders, Denver Broncos, Cleveland Browns) didn't make the Senior Committee cut. Jackson, who played in the late 1960s and early '70s, is regarded by old-timers as one of the best pass rushers of any era with speed and strength that rivaled another brilliant black college sackmaster, Deacon Jones (S.C. State).