Jim Plunkett is a long shot to be among those enshrined in the 2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame, which makes sense given his path to NFL glory.
Born poor with blind parents, Plunkett made it to Stanford University out of San Jose’s James Lick High only to be told by coach John Ralston he should consider playing defensive end.
After weathering a cancer scare, Plunkett eventually won the Heisman Trophy as a quarterback, emblematic of the best player in college football. He engineered a 27-17 win over unbeaten No. 1 Ohio State in the Rose Bowl that is still the school’s signature moment in that sport. Plunkett was the No. 1 pick in the 1971 NFL Draft by the Patriots.
Plunkett threw 19 touchdown passes as a rookie but by 1975 was beaten and battered after New England went to an option offense and was shipped to the 49ers. By 1978, Plunkett had been released because of injuries and ineffectiveness and was signed and put on ice by the Raiders.
After sitting out more than two years to get healthy and recuperate, Plunkett won two Super Bowls and gained national acclaim as the ultimate comeback story.
Plunkett is already in the College Football Hall of Fame (1990), the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame (1990), the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame (1992), the California Sports Hall of Fame (2007) and the International Sports Hall of Fame (2024). If Canton ever comes calling, and even if it doesn’t, expect Plunkett to accept the news with the grace and humble nature he’s carried with him for 76 years.
His Pro Football Hall of Fame candidacy has gotten a push of late from San Jose State Senator Dave Cortese (D-Silicon Valley). In an op-ed last week published by the Bay Area News Group, Monterey County supervisor Luis Alejo and Stanford lecturer and archivist Ignacio Ornelas took up Plunkett’s cause.
The son of Mexican-American parents — his mother also was part Native American — Plunkett along with former Raiders coach Tom Flores are among the most prominent Latinos in the sport. Flores, who won both of his championships with Plunkett as his quarterback, waited 22 years after first being eligible before being enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 2021.
“Let me put it this way — I had a 17-year career,” Plunkett said in a recent phone interview from his home in Atherton. “Made a lot of great friends. Won a lot of ballgames, lost a few we shouldn’t have lost. But I had a great time playing football. If I get in the Hall of Fame, that would be great. But if I don’t get in, it really doesn’t upset me.”
As a senior candidate, Plunkett made the cut from 60 names to 31 and is one of three quarterbacks eligible along with former Cincinnati quarterback Ken Anderson and Charlie Conerly of the New York Giants.
Other local candidates include running back Roger Craig of the 49ers, Lester Hayes of the Raiders, Art Powell of the Raiders and other luminaries — all of whom had exceptional NFL careers.
Within the next two weeks, the list of 31 will be cut to nine semifinalists. In December, the senior committee will reduce that number to three finalists and be subject to a yes-or-no vote for induction at NFL Honors Night in February in New Orleans.
New Orleans is the site of Plunkett’s greatest triumph. The Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XV, Plunkett let the then-Oakland Raiders to a 27-10 win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Jan. 25, 1981.
The Raiders cavorted about the French Quarter in the days leading up to the game with Flores focusing on practices and game preparation, with Philadelphia coach Dick Vermeil running a militaristic tight ship with night meetings and curfews.
“The first night, Tom gave us no curfew and let us go and get it out of our system,” Plunkett recalled in an NFL Films story on the 1981 Raiders. “But quite a few of the guys had large systems and it took a few days to get it out of their systems.”
Plunkett completed 13 of 21 passes for 261 yards and three touchdowns, including an off-schedule 80-yard touchdown pass to Kenny King that was at the time the longest scoring pass in Super Bowl history.
“It was a great feeling. I was so proud to run out there,” Plunkett told NFL Films. “It was kind of like a storybook finish all coming to a head.”
Three seasons later, Plunkett led the Raiders to a 38-9 win over Washington for his second title, with Plunkett completing 16 of 25 passes for 172 yards and a touchdown. He remains grateful to owner Al Davis and Flores for allowing his body and mind to heal for more than two seasons while Ken Stabler and Dan Pastorini played quarterback.
“When I first got to the Raiders both Tom and Al Davis told me, they both said to me, ‘You’ve had a tough time. We want you to learn the system and you’ll get your opportunity. They were upfront and straight with me and I appreciated that,’ ” Plunkett said.
Plunkett played parts of two more seasons after his second Super Bowl win before retiring after the 1986 season at age 39.
Working against Plunkett is the part of the voting criteria that states “Only their on-the-field accomplishments will be considered.”
Jim Plunkett at a ceremony honoring former Raiders corner Willie Brown at the Coliseum in 2019. Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group
That means Plunkett’s qualities of perseverance and character off the field which carried him to success on the field will take a back seat to analytical and statistical considerations.
The two Super Bowl wins are weighed against Plunkett having never been named to a Pro Bowl or an All-Pro team, having four winning seasons as a starter and finishing his career with more interceptions (198) than touchdown passes (164).
Plunkett enjoys the current NFL, in particular the protections quarterbacks receive given the punishment he and others took when head injuries weren’t taken as seriously and defensive linemen could attack with impunity.
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“If you breathe by a quarterback you get a penalty it seems,” Plunkett said. “The rules are much better to protect the quarterback than they were in my day.”
Despite the residual aches and pains felt by so many of his era, Plunkett has no regrets. Adding the Pro Football Hall of Fame to his list of accomplishments won’t be a life-altering event.
“I was a little up and down, especially at the beginning,” Plunkett said of his time in football. “But I finished my career on a high note. I’m proud of that, my family’s proud of it, so I’m not going to worry too much about the Hall of Fame.”