Five Super Bowl rings. That’s how many Tom Flores (2) and Cliff Branch (3) have between them as Head Coach and wide receiver respectively. Technically, Flores has four, but the first was a player with the Chiefs and the other is as an assistant with the Raiders — neither of those are considered in his Hall of Fame credentials.
Branch also retired as the all-time leader in playoff receiving yards, so it wasn’t a coincidence he has three rings.
This year that could finally change. The Pro Football Hall of Fame is putting together a Centennial class for 2020 in which they will induct ten senior members. Among the 38 finalists are Flores and Branch.
The finalists include 8 head coaches, 20 players, and 10 contributors.
You’d think Flores’s and Branch’s credentials would have been plenty for each to have gotten the call to the Hall decades ago. And yet here we are, both this not in.
And Branch tragically died this past year, just as Ken Stabler did before he finally got recognition from the Senior Committee, so he won’t get to take the stage even if he is part of this class. Tom Flores is luckily still with us at the age of 82.
