Hall of Fame Update: Zach's Bust, Tickets, and More

It's now been a little two weeks since former Miami Dolphins great Zach Thomas officially was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2023, and tickets for the induction ceremonies now are on sale.

Tickets start at $35 and VIP packages also are available on the Pro Football Hall of Fame website.

The induction ceremony will take place Saturday, Aug. 5 from noon-2:30 p.m. in Canton, Ohio, where Thomas will be enshrined as the 11th member of the Dolphins organization to enter the Hall of Fame.

In the meantime, Thomas is doing some of the background work to get himself prepared for the big day.

Specifically, he sat out so measurements could be taken of his face for his bust, which will permanently reside and signify his football immortality.

February: He gets his measurements taken.

August: Zach Thomas will forever have a bronze bust at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. pic.twitter.com/KvynOrp7X1
— Pro Football Hall of Fame (@ProFootballHOF) February 22, 2023

There's no mystery as to who will present Thomas for induction because he made that very clear on Hall election night. It will former Dolphins coach Jimmy Johnson, the man who drafted him in 1996, made him a starter as a rookie, and most importantly as it pertains to 2023 was the one who personally informed him of his Hall of Fame election.

"All day long," Thomas said. "He’s a guy that gave me a start my rookie year from the get-go. He threw me in the mix from the get-go. I was there for special teams. Mike Westhoff helped out in getting me there, but Jimmy put trust in me before we even played a football game. We played a preseason game and he was like, ‘All right, you’re going to be starting.’ And he told me, ‘Don’t let me down.’ And I never wanted to let him down because of that start because, man, I was a long shot."

It should be noted that Johnson also presented Jason Taylor when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2017.

Thomas will be joined in the 2023 Hall of Fame Class by Darrell Revis, Joe Thomas, DeMarcus Ware, Ronde Barber, Don Coryell, Joe Klecko, Chuck Howley and Ken Riley.

The NFL has yet to announce the participating teams for the 2023 Hall of Fame Game on Thursday, Aug. 3, though the New York Jets would make sense being involved being that Revis and Klecko both played for them.

In terms of timeline for an announcement, the teams for the 2022 Hall of Fame Game — Jacksonville and Las Vegas — were revealed Feb. 28. So it could be a matter of days before we find out the teams for this year's game.

THE DOLPHINS IN THE HALL

The Dolphins now have 11 Hall of Famers, including longtime Cleveland Browns wide receiver Paul Warfield but not including short-time Dolphins contributors like Thurman Thomas or Cris Carter or even Coach Jimmy Johnson.

The other Dolphins Hall of Famers are Coach Don Shula, Marino, QB Bob Griese, RB Larry Csonka, G Larry Little, C Jim Langer, C Dwight Stephenson, DE Jason Taylor and LB Nick Buoniconti.

This is the chronological order of Dolphins Hall of Fame inductions:

1983 — WR Paul Warfield

1987 — FB Larry Csonka, C Jim Langer

1990 — QB Bob Griese

1993 — G Larry Little

1997 — Coach Don Shula

1998 — C Dwight Stephenson

2001 — LB Nick Buoniconti

2005 — QB Dan Marino

2017 — DE Jason Taylor

2023 — LB Zach Thomas

Tackle Richmond Webb, whose career ended with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2002, also might have a legitimate case. He made the Pro Bowl each of his first seven season and his Hall of Fame monitor score is higher than four HOF tackles — Dan Dierdorf, Jimbo Covert, Jackie Slater and Winston Hill.

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