FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Jerry Rice, the most productive wide receiver in NFL history, and Emmitt Smith, the league's all-time leading rusher, lead the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2010.

Joining Rice and Smith as inductees are OG Russ Grimm, LB Rickey Jackson, CB Dick LeBeau, RB Floyd Little and DT John Randle. LeBeau and Little were nominated by the Hall's seniors committee, which considers candidates whose playing careers have been over for at least 25 years. The seven inductees are the maximum allowed by the Hall's bylaws. 

If ever two players epitomized the term "first-ballot Hall of Famers," it was Rice and Smith, who were inducted, as expected, in their first year of eligibility.

Rice, a 13-time Pro Bowler, the NFL's all-time leader in touchdowns and the top target on three Super Bowl-winning 49ers teams, holds many receiving records, including catches, yards and touchdowns. He earned Super Bowl XXIII MVP honors after catching 11 passes for 215 yards in a 20-16 San Francisco victory. Rice, 47, played 20 seasons, 16 with San Francisco (1985-2000), three with Oakland (2001-03) and one with Oakland and Seattle (2004).

The late Bill Walsh coveted Rice, who starred at Mississippi Valley State, and traded up to draft him No. 16 overall in 1985. By his second NFL season, he was an All-Pro. By the end of his fourth season, he had earned a Super Bowl ring. And by the end of his career, he was widely regarded as the greatest receiver of all time.

Former 49ers QB Steve Young, also a Hall of Famer, recalled Rice's legendary work ethic, recalling how Rice was back at the 49ers' team facility just a few days after Super Bowl XXIX, running wind sprints.

"Jerry outworked the work-ethic guys and had supreme talent," Young said.

Rice credited his approach to the game to his mother and late father.

"I never took anything for granted," he said.

Smith rushed for 18,355 yards in 15 NFL seasons. His best years came with the Cowboys, with whom he won three Super Bowls. Four times he led the NFL in rushing. In Super Bowl XXVII, he garnered game MVP honors, rushing for 132 yards and two TDs on 30 carries in a 30-13 victory against Buffalo. After playing for Dallas from 1990-2002 and breaking the rushing record in his final season with the Cowboys, Smith, now 40, concluded his career with two seasons with the Cardinals (2003-04).

Smith, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards in 12 consecutive seasons, said a job done well, time and time again, was always his goal. Ultimately, it became his hallmark. 

"I believe that consistency shows value. It breeds trust, as well," he said. "... I thought consistency was the most important trait I could portray."

Randle, a ferocious interior pass rusher in stints with Minnesota (1990-2000) and Seattle (2001-03), was inducted on his second appearance on the ballot. Amazingly, Randle, 42, went undrafted out of Texas A&I. He would go on to make seven Pro Bowls and notch 137½ career sacks.

Randle's intensity was legendary, as was his appetite for talking trash.  

"His motor ran the entire game," said Smith, who remembered Randle yelling at him on the field. "... This guy, his intensity was incredible."

Grimm, 50, made the NFL's 1980s All-Decade team for his work as the Redskins' left guard and was a four-time All-Pro. He is the first Hall enshrinee from the "The Hogs," the nickname given to a Redskins offensive line that helped propel Washington to three Super Bowl titles in Joe Gibbs' first stint as head coach.

"They gave us the nickname when we went to that first Super Bowl in '82," Grimm said, referring to Super Bowl XVII, in which the Redskins beat the Dolphins 27-17, "and it was more or less a challenge every week that you had to go out and live up to that name."

An exceptional pass rusher, Jackson, 51, recorded 11 sacks or more in six different seasons with New Orleans. A six-time Pro Bowler, Jackson is the first player to have begun and played the majority of his career with the Saints to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

LeBeau, 72, will be enshrined in his 33rd year of eligibility. He played 14 seasons for the Lions from 1959-72, intercepting 62 passes and making the Pro Bowl three times. LeBeau has also had a long, distinguished career as a defensive coach; credited with creating the zone blitz, LeBeau has won two Super Bowls as the Steelers' defensive coordinator. 

"It's a great, wonderful day to be alive," LeBeau said.

Little, 67, rushed for 6,323 yards and 43 TDs in nine seasons with the Broncos from 1967-75. A five-time Pro Bowler, Little waited 30 years for his Hall call.

And when it arrived, he strode onto the stage in a ballroom in the Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center to applause and embraced Rice. It was one of the more touching moments on what it is always one of the NFL's joyous days.

"I truly never thought this day would come," Little said.

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