Ken Stabler waited too long to be accepted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. So long, in fact, that he passed on before it could happen. Then after his enshrinement, the Hall of Fame denied his family their right to his Hall of Fame Ring of Excellence.
Recently that rule was changed.
Now another long wait has come to an end. Tonight, appropriately just prior to the Raiders facing their old rival Steelers, Kendra Stabler was finally presented with her father’s Hall of Fame ring.
Kendra Stabler accepts the Hall of Fame Ring of Excellence her father earned. #Raiders pic.twitter.com/pps8uAOt69
— Levi Damien (@LeviDamien) September 25, 2023
Several Raiders Hall of Famers were in attendance for the event including Stabler teammates Jim Otto and Fred Biletnikoff.
Kendra and her sons took the field donning the jersey of their legendary father and grandfather. They were greeted with hugs from Biletnikoff who spent much of his Hall of Fame career catching passes from Ken Stabler.
After a short speech, Mark Davis presented Kendra with the ring. She held it out to the camera to show it off.
“Mark Davis called me before the season ended last year to tell me the good news that the Hall changed their policy regarding posthumously inducted players getting a Hall of Fame ring,” Kendra Stabler told me last August. “Mark Davis & Virginia Madden were instrumental in making this happen and the new President of the Hall of Fame, Jim Porter.”
Davis made it a mission of his to ensure the families of those inducted posthumously got the rings they deserved. Because the Stabler family as well as the family of Cliff Branch were both affected by the rule.
The Branch family received their ring during the 2022 season finale.