Does former Raiders coach Tom Flores belong in the Hall of Fame? Sanger thinks so

Don’t tell Sanger that former Raiders coach Tom Flores doesn’t belong in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Sanger High football fans showed their support for a favorite son Friday night when Flores was the homecoming grand marshal and was introduced before the game and helped with the coin toss.

Flores received “Hall of Fame” chants from the student section.

Flores said he was taken aback by the support from the students.

“I really didn’t know what they were chanting and all of a sudden I made it out what they were saying,” he said. “It was pretty impressive. It caught me off-guard and it was pretty touching for them to say that. Whether they know who I am or they don’t know, they were very supportive.”

Flores is once again up for nomination for the Hall of Fame, but he has never got past the November vote that reduces the Modern-Era nominees to 25 semifinalists.

To think about being in Canton, Ohio, will have to wait, Flores said.

“That’s a disappointment,” he said. “You’ve got to get to the next level, if we even start thinking about it. If I can make the next cut-off then I can start getting excited, but I can’t anticipate anything right now. It’s kind of an unpredictable.”

Nonetheless, the Sanger High and Fresno City College alum who went on to an NFL career that included stints as an Oakland Raiders quarterback and coach and four total Super Bowl rings, always enjoy the support he keeps getting from his fans in the central San Joaquin Valley and Oakland.

“It’s better all the time,” he said. “More people get anxious and keep making more noise and wanting to get this done, if it’s going to get done at all. Unfortunately, they’re not the voters. The voters are mostly East Coast type of people and there lies one of the issues.”