Selection Process for New Inductees

People often ask – How do nominees get selected for induction into the RGV Sports Hall of Fame? The process is fair and thorough to ensure that every candidate is properly vetted.

The task of selecting a group of deserving people for induction into the RGV Sports Hall of Fame is a very difficult one. As of June 2021, there are more than 120 worthy men and women in our pool of candidates who have been nominated, and new nominations continue to be submitted each year. Our nomination form is under the Forms section of our website that can be accessed here.

  • The nomination pool consists of former student-athletes, amateur athletes, coaches, game athletic administrators, athletic trainers, game officials, and sports media.

  • Information received in each nomination is composed into a 150-word biography by professional journalists to give the Board and eventual voters equal information about each inductee.

  • Nominees are grouped into like categories to make objective comparisons to determine the most qualified candidates. Achievements by all nominees are compared in subgroups by activity as equally as possible to achieve fairness. For example, football coaches are grouped together, baseball athletes are grouped together, sports officials are grouped together, and so on.

  • The Board then has a difficult task is to narrow that list to about 30 to create a ballot. Nominees from the previous year who received a significant number of votes but fell just short of induction are automatically placed on the ballot.

  • The ballots are then sent by mail and email to past inductees, who vote for the nominees they feel are the most deserving of induction.

  • The results of the votes from past inductees are then tabulated. The Board uses results of the votes of past inductees as a blueprint to determine the next class.

While the RGV Sports Hall of Fame may be heavy with football athletes and coaches during the early years, we recognize the contributions of nominees from all sports and those whose careers have been engulfed in Valley sports.

Remaining objective and fair to honor the most deserving people – and keeping personal feelings and situations aside – is never an easy task.

We will continue to focus on uncovering outstanding achievements of men and women throughout Valley sports history.