National High School Football Hall of Fame coming to Canton

Some of the greatest high school football players of all time will one day be honored in the National High School Football Hall of Fame in Canton.

“It was a great marriage between the birth of football where it all started, so many high school legends from the state of Ohio, Northeast Ohio,” said Russ Johnson, vice president of the National High School Football Hall of Fame. “We’re born with football. It’s in our blood and it really doesn’t belong anywhere else but here.”

After narrowing down locations from Michigan, Pennsylvania, Texas and Oklahoma, the Hall of Fame eventually settled on Canton as its home.

The National High School Football Hall of Fame will have a temporary home at the Canton McKinley High School’s football facility.

The plan is to eventually build a new facility that will cost between $10 million to $20 million and will feature state-of-the-art fan experiences. The hall is hoping to open its doors in the next three to four years.

“We would like to have a coach locker room in there,” Johnson said. “A studio, a podcast studio would be included and we’d love to have some virtual displays.”

The hall is set to unveil its inaugural hall of fame class on Monday with the induction ceremony to take place on July 30. This year’s class is expected to be around 15 members from this list.

One of those members will be FOX 8 colleague, Northeast Ohio native and Cleveland Browns legend Bernie Kosar.

“We’ll definitely have another Browns player,” Johnson said. “We have a couple of coaches on our list which we’ll have every season for an induction ceremony. There will be some local guys that everyone will know and appreciate.”

Tickets for the July induction ceremony go on sale on Monday.

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