CANTON, Ohio — Antonio Hall is the Canton McKinley High School head football coach, Associate Athletic Director and one of seven men helping to make the National High School Football Hall of Fame a reality. 

“I’ve been kind of the guy here in town on the ground, making things happen,” said Hall.

What You Need To Know

  • The idea of a National High School Football Hall of Fame was started in 2010 by entrepreneur LaMont Robinson 

  • The HOF will be housed temporarily on the campus of Canton McKinley High School 

  • A ceremony with 22 nominees takes place on July 30th 

The goal is to honor the unsung players, coaches, teams and contributors who have added a lasting impact to the game. 

“It’s not just going to be an Ohio thing, it’s just how it kind of turned out. Because we have the Buckeyes here, we have the Browns, we have the Bengals. We have all this illustrious high school networking here, so that’s kind of how the cards fell,” said Hall. 

The National High School Football Hall of Fame will induct its inaugural 22 members at the Timken Career Campus on July 30th. 

The 2023 class includes anyone from Browns legends Jim Brown, Marion Motley, and coach Paul Brown, Buckeye greats Mike Doss and Chris Spielman to the Manning Family to name a few. 

The plaques will be on display for the time being inside the Frank Turk Alberta Locker Room on the Canton McKinley High School campus. 

“We have this entire wall, which will have the plaques with their image superimposed on it, and then a centralized list or plaque of all the inductees in by year,” said Hall. 

“It’s an ongoing process, so we have to do it year in, year out and you know we’re still watching kids that are actually in school that are you know making extraordinary feats at this time,” says Assistant Director of the National High School Football Hall of Fame, David Brown. 

Brown said it was nearly impossible to narrow a list of 50 nominees to the final 22. 

He said the future facility will include halls of honor, walk of fame, coaches' corner, theatre, gift shop and offices. 

Brown said the idea of a High School Football Hall of Fame was first discussed in 2010 by Founder and CEO LaMont Robinson. 

“He had this dream about bringing recognition to high school kids. Pitched it around to several cities, and finally wound up in the best city that it could be placed, Canton Ohio,” said Brown. 

Hall, who is a former national champion with Canton McKinley, as well as a champion in the Canadian Football League, says the plan is to host an annual All-American East-West football classic to showcase the best high school talent across the country. 

He hopes the National High School Football Hall of Fame will motivate his own players to strive for greatness. 

“If they see it, they can attain it. And the more they see, the more they can touch. The more the wheels spin, the more want they have, so this is great for our kids,” said Hall. 

Hall said the correspondence with inductees has been positive and he hopes for a packed house on July 30th. 

He said the goal is to fund and build a permanent facility within the next five years through donations.

Tickets are now on sale for the ceremony.