Unlike baseball's shrine to its immortals, the Pro Football Hall of Fame has no so-called "character clause" for voters to apply when considering candidates for Canton, Ohio.

Which is why, many believe, it is time for Charles Haley to get a gold jacket in this, his sixth occasion as a Hall finalist.

Sure, the former hell-raiser, both on and off the field, for the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys, was anything but a model teammate. Who can forget his going after Niners QB Steve Young so hard in their locker room following a 1991 loss to the Los Angeles Raiders that former teammate Ronnie Lott had to be called over to calm Haley down?

"I'm bipolar," Haley told the NFL Network.

The transcendent elephant linebacker/defensive end was also a game-changer and a winner.

His five Super Bowl rings -- two with the Niners, three with the Cowboys -- are a record for a player. His teams played in six NFC title games in a seven-year span and his team won its division 10 times in his 12 seasons.

Haley, a fourth-round pick of the Niners out of James Madison in 1986, was obviously a major reason.

The five-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro had 100.5 sacks in 169 games, with a safety and a fumble recovery for a touchdown.

But beyond his tangible stats, he made offenses account for him, often freeing up someone else to make a play. And after the Niners tired of Haley's antics, which reportedly included urinating on a teammate's car, exposing himself to a female reporter and cussing out coaches, and sent him to Dallas for mere second- and third-round draft picks in 1992, his arrival helped launch the Cowboys' dynastic defense.

"I put football before my family," Haley said. "I put football before my God. I was committed. I sacrificed and I loved the game of football with all my heart."