CANTON, Ohio — In May, a couple of months after Ray Guy was chosen as the first pure punter to enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Bryan Barker and Greg Coleman, two fellow punters, decided they had to do something to commemorate the moment.

So they reached out to every punter they knew, encouraging them to go to Canton to cheer on Guy when he entered the Hall on Saturday with Derrick Brooks, Claude Humphrey, Walter Jones, Andre Reed, Michael Strahan and Aeneas Williams.

The result was one of the most unusual gatherings in NFL alumni history: 18 punters whose careers spanned nearly five decades.

Over chicken wings and beer at Thorpe’s Market Avenue Grill in downtown Canton, the punters swapped stories, compared notes on hang times and coffin corners, and listened as Guy, a natural Southern storyteller who played his entire 14-year career with the Oakland Raiders, held court.

“He put us on the map,” Coleman said of Guy, the first punter to be selected in the first round of the draft. “There weren’t too many punters who had a five-second hang time in the league.”

Guy was known for his ability to keep the ball aloft, giving teammates time to get in position to tackle the returner. But he was also a model of consistency, averaging more than 40 yards a kick in all but one of his seasons. Only three of his 1,049 punts were blocked, and he led the league in punting three times. He went to seven Pro Bowls and won three Super Bowl rings. He was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame all-1970s team.

“The good Lord gave me the ability to do that,” Guy said of his hang time. “But I wasn’t punting for myself; I was punting for the other 10 guys on the field.”

Punters and kickers have long felt underappreciated. (Jan Stenerud remains the only place-kicker in the Hall.) They are sometimes the butt of jokes because of their slight builds, infrequent appearances on the field and lack of flash. But what they lack in muscle and size, they make up for in flexibility, balance and grace under pressure.

They also have to hold on to jobs that do not often open. There are only 32 spots, and punters tend to play longer than other players, so there is less turnover.

“We’re a unique fraternity,” said Barker, who played 16 years, primarily with the Jacksonville Jaguars, before retiring after the 2005 season. “There aren’t 18 new punters coming into the league every year. You truly have to earn it.”

John Madden, who coached Guy and introduced him at the enshrinement ceremony Saturday, recognized that field position was critical and that pinning an opponent deep in its territory would give his team an edge.

“When we got Ray Guy, fourth down wasn’t as bad as it used to be,” Madden said before Guy’s enshrinement. “He broke through into the Hall of Fame and opens that road for other punters.”

Jeff Feagles, who punted for 22 years, the last seven with the New York Giants, said the game was more sophisticated now, which made punting more valuable. He said the best punters were not the ones who kicked the ball the farthest, but those who were the most accurate. That skill, he said, has been undervalued.

“This is a rite of passage,” he said. “The position needs to be represented. Guy’s induction will open a lot of eyes.”

How soon another punter will be inducted into the Hall is unclear, so the punters who gathered to celebrate with Guy intend to stick together. They wore dark blue Hall of Fame golf shirts with a silver No. 8, Guy’s number with the Raiders. They all signed footballs that they would take home and share with others. Loosely called Punters United, the group plans to get together in April to play golf and fish after Guy’s annual punting camp. They hope to invite current punters, too.

In another corner of the restaurant Saturday, Hall of Fame guard Joe DeLamielleure admired the punters. He recalled that at the Pro Bowl in New Orleans in 1976, he met Al Davis, owner of the Raiders.

Davis told him that he debated whether to pick DeLamielleure or Guy in the first round in 1973. DeLamielleure, who made his name blocking for O.J. Simpson, was flattered, but he countered.

“Mr. Davis, you are a smart man,” DeLamielleure said he told Davis. “I’ve never seen a right guard win a game, but I’ve seen Ray Guy win them. You made the right choice.”