CHARLOTTE — Players don't go into the Pro Football Hall of Fame with a specific team affiliation, the way they do in other sports.
But the first look at Sam Mills in Canton has a familiar look for Panthers fans.
Crews at the Hall of Fame installed the huge banner honoring this year's class on Friday, and it shows Mills in his Panthers uniform. The photo was approved by the Mills family.
The 37 1/2-foot by 32 1/2-foot banner will be in place through the August enshrinement ceremony and until next spring — a year's worth of exposure for the Panthers legend.
Mills played three years for the USFL's Philaldelphia Stars, then nine for the Saints, before coming to the Panthers in 1995. He played three years here before retiring as a player, and then spent a year in a personnel role before joining the coaching staff, where he served until his death in 2005.
