Former Bessemer High School standout Maxie Baughan had never been as close to induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame than he got in the Class of 2025 selection process.

Baughan became eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame with the Class of 1980. This year, he became a finalist for induction for the first time. But he didn’t make it through the final vote before the Class of 2025 was announced on Thursday night during the “NFL Honors” awards program.

The Class of 2025 included Jared Allen, Eric Allen, Antonio Gates and Sterling Sharpe.

The Seniors Blue-Ribbon Committee advanced Baughan, Sharpe and Jim Tyrer as its candidates to be considered for enshrinement when the 49-member Pro Football Hall of Fame Selection Committee met to elect the Class of 2025.

In the past, the senior candidates were considered with the modern-era finalists and contributor and coach nominees in the voting. But the procedure changed this year. For the Class of 2025, the Selection Committee considered the senior, coach and contributor candidates in a separate vote. The contributor finalist was Ralph Hay, and the coach finalist was Mike Holmgren.

Each member of the Selection Committee voted for up to three of the five finalists. Finalists had to be chosen on 80 percent of the ballots to earn induction. If none met that threshold, the candidate receiving the most votes will be enshrined.

The voting was not revealed on Thursday night.

The 20th pick in the 1960 NFL Draft, Baughan played his first six seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles, spent the next five with the Los Angeles Rams and, after serving as the defensive coordinator at Georgia Tech, came back to play in two games as a player-coach for the Washington Redskins in 1974.

The Eagles won the NFL championship in Baughan’s first pro season in 1960, when he was chosen for the Pro Bowl.

An outside linebacker, Baughan earned a Pro Bowl invitation in nine of his first 10 NFL campaigns. He received first-team recognition at linebacker in The Associated Press’ All-Pro selections in 1964 and 1969 and was an AP second-team choice six other times.

Baughan was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1988 for his career at Georgia Tech, where he was a consensus All-American in 1959.

Baughan died at age 85 on Aug. 19, 2023.

The process to nominate three players in the senior category for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2025 started with 182 nominations. The Seniors Screening Committee reduced that number to 60, and the Seniors Blue-Ribbon Committee cut the list to 31 (top 25 and ties), then nine semifinalists and finally to three finalists.

To be a senior candidate, the nominee cannot have played in the past 25 seasons. For this year’s class, senior candidates played their entire NFL careers before the 2000 season.

Sixteen men who played at Alabama high schools and colleges are members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The state’s Hall of Famers are Robert Brazile (Vigor), Buck Buchanan (Parker High School in Birmingham), Frank Gatski (Auburn), Kevin Greene (Auburn), John Hannah (Albertville High School, Alabama), Don Hutson (Alabama), Walter Jones (Aliceville High School), Joe Namath (Alabama), Ozzie Newsome (Colbert County High School, Alabama), Terrell Owens (Benjamin Russell High School in Alexander City), Ken Stabler (Foley High School, Alabama), John Stallworth (Tuscaloosa, Alabama A&M), Bart Starr (Sidney Lanier High School in Montgomery, Alabama), Dwight Stephenson (Alabama), Derrick Thomas (Alabama) and DeMarcus Ware (Auburn High, Troy).

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.