The Trump administration has urged professional football’s leaders to induct Theodore Roosevelt into the sport’s hall of fame, with one top official predicting it will happen within the year.
“I’d say keep it a secret. Keep your fingers crossed. But I think we’re going to see Theodore Roosevelt inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said at an event Thursday at the National Portrait Gallery, touting the former president’s work to make the game safer.
Burgum, the former governor of North Dakota, has championed that state’s presidential library dedicated to Roosevelt set to open on July 4 — the nation’s 250th anniversary. Burgum added that he had met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in the Oval Office as part of discussions for next April’s NFL Draft, which is set to be hosted on the National Mall.
Roosevelt’s induction into the Hall of Fame will “be happening at the library, but it’s going to be announced on the Mall,” Burgum said.
The NFL and the Pro Football Hall of Fame did not immediately respond to questions Saturday about efforts to induct Roosevelt into the Hall of Fame.
Asked about Burgum’s comments and the Trump administration’s efforts to honor Roosevelt, both the White House and the Interior Department invoked Trump’s recent efforts to address contentious issues around college sports, such as ordering the field’s governing bodies to create new regulationsaround athlete compensation.
“Much like President Roosevelt saved American football, President Trump is committed to saving college sports from the threats they face today,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said in a statement. “As we celebrate America’s 250th birthday, the Administration is reflecting on the incredible men and women that made our country great.”
No former U.S. presidents are currently in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which primarily honors the sport’s players and coaches.
Roosevelt’s intervention into football more than a century ago, when he convened college coaches and other officials to discuss safety questions threatening the sport, has been credited with helping to preserve the sport. Fans, players and national leaders had been shaken by a rise of head injuries and even deaths linked to the game.
“Believing Radical Gridiron Reforms Necessary, Mr. Roosevelt Calls College Athletic Advisers to White House to Start Movement for Reform,” read an October 1905 article in The Washington Post. Another summit followed weeks later, with Roosevelt and his deputies remaining closely involved in rule changes intended to curb injuries.
Edward O’Keefe, the CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, joined Burgum at Thursday’s event in Washington, which was held to mark a $5 million gift from Bank of America to support the library. O’Keefe said that he and Burgum had previously discussed the Trump administration’s advocacy for Roosevelt to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, a goal that library leaders shared.
“We would very much like to see it in celebration of America’s 250th birthday and the forthcoming NFL draft on the Washington Mall,” O’Keefe said in an interview Saturday.
Historians and sports experts have said Roosevelt played a crucial role by forcing a national conversation around football safety, rather than leaving it to factions that could not agree on next steps.
O’Keefe pointed to some of the specific changes to football that resulted from Roosevelt’s interventions.
“He helped invent the forward pass,” O’Keefe said. “He made some of the first safety measures that continue to make the game possible today.”
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