FAYETTEVILLE — More than 20 years after playing his final game, Steve Atwater has been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Atwater, who was a two-time All-American and three-time All-Southwest Conference safety during his four years at Arkansas from 1985-88, was one of five modern-era players elected to the hall of fame this weekend in Miami. Others elected were safety Troy Polamalu, running back Edgerrin James, receiver Isaac Bruce and offensive lineman Steve Hutchinson.
Atwater is the fifth former Razorback to be elected to the hall, and second this year. Jimmy Johnson, who played for Arkansas from 1962-64 and won back-to-back Super Bowls as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys in the 1990s, was elected as a member of an expanded centennial class.
The 2020 induction for the modern era class will take place Aug. 6-9 in Canton, Ohio.
Atwater was a finalist for the hall last year and in 2016 and who has been a semifinalist the past nine years. He played 11 NFL seasons as a safety, including 10 with the Denver Broncos. With the Broncos, Atwater won two Super Bowls, was an eight-time Pro Bowler and two-time First-Team All Pro.
Atwater said when he got the much-anticipated knock on his hotel door "it was pretty obvious it wasn’t the maid so I was pretty excited. I’m extremely honored to go in with all these men.”
Atwater prowled the backfield and delivered vicious hits to anyone coming across. One irony of Atwater's late-recognized greatness is that many of his whiplash-inducing hits would be illegal in today's NFL.
Though receivers were mostly at risk, it was his shoulder-to-shoulder disintegration of 250-pound Chiefs running back Christian Okyoe, “The Nigerian Nightmare,” while mic'd up on “Monday Night Football” in 1990 that truly put Atwater on the map.
Atwater was selected by the Broncos 20th overall in the first round of the 1989 draft. He started 166 games in his career - he only missed five games as a Bronco - and recorded 1,180 tackles and 24 interceptions.
Atwater played the 1999 season for the New York Jets before retiring.
He is the latest player from the Broncos’ great teams of the 1990s to be elected to the hall, joining offensive stars John Elway, Terrell Davis and Shannon Sharpe. Late Denver owner Pat Bowlen was also inducted last year.
Atwater became the first home-grown Broncos defender to join the hall. (An honor many in Denver believe should belong to Orange Crush linebacker Randy Gradishar.)
Other former Razorbacks previously inducted into the hall of fame are Lance Alworth in 1978, Dan Hampton in 2002 and Jerry Jones in 2017. Alworth and Hampton were inducted as players, and Jones was inducted as a contributor.
AP reporter Eddie Pells in Miami contributed information for this report