Collecting easy for football hall, challenge is displaying

Canton, Ohio museum has continued to grow, still not enough space for new records

Visitors to the Pro Football Hall of Fame can see both the football Drew Brees threw in becoming the NFL’s all-time passing yards leader and the uniform the Saints quarterback wore while making history.

Hall of Fame officials had been monitoring Brees’ chase of Peyton Manning’s record, hoping the quarterback would set the mark Oct. 8 at home in New Orleans. Brees did just that before halftime — with a touchdown no less — allowing the game to be stopped. Brees walked to the sideline and handed the ball to David Baker, the hall’s president and chief executive

“It was perfect,” said Saleem Choudhry, vice president of exhibits and museum services. “He threw a 62-yard touchdown and eclipsed a record. We stopped the game. He comes over, shakes David’s hand, hands him the ball. It was a very unique moment. I just kick myself sometimes that I was right down there to observe that, but those are some great moments that occur . . . that you can plan for it.”

Some NFL records, such as Tennessee running back Derrick Henry matching the longest touchdown run officer. at 99 yards last December, mean a quick email to the team asking for an item to commemorate the moment. Henry and the Titans sent his No. 22 jersey, just one of approximately 50 significant moments in the 2018 season marked by the hall.

“The great part of a football uniform, there’s lots of pieces and parts,” Choudhry told The Associated Press.

Displaying all those items is both the task and challenge of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the museum for a game in which the NFL enters its 100th season this fall with both history and records made regularly. Since opening in