It’s always good when you have Hall of Famers openly and actively advocating for you to join them. I’m not sure a senior candidate in recent memory has had more direct member support for his inclusion than had Pittsburgh Steelers safety Donnie Shell.
Of course, it helps that he already had ten teammates in the hall, when you include Tony Dungy, who made it as a coach. Dungy played with Shell in the secondary for a brief period of time. More extensive time was put in together between Shell and the great Mel Blount, the Hall of Fame cornerback who was ecstatic when he learned that his teammate would finally be joining him in the brotherhood of the gold jackets.