Canton enshrines new Hall of Fame class
Always known for his passionate speeches to teammates, Ray Lewis was unsurprisingly given the last word of seven inductees at Saturday night’s Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony in Canton, Ohio.
The verbose former Baltimore Raven lived up to his reputation, preaching for nearly 34 minutes and covering a swath of topics like he covered the field as a sideline-to-sideline linebacker in the NFL. He wore a headset microphone so he could walk the stage as he spoke, and was dripping with sweat before he was finished, soaking through his new gold jacket as he wiped his face with a towel.
Lewis spent several minutes addressing his closest family, including his mom, brother and kids, and reflecting on his poor upbringing. He praised the owner that brought the Ravens to Baltimore, the late Art Modell, and routinely shouted out to the city, including a mention of Baltimore native and 23-time Olympic gold medalist swimmer Michael Phelps, who was in the crowd with tears welling in his eyes.
Of course, Lewis also performed his famous shimmying dance, after calling Ravens Hall of Famer and fellow 1996 firstround draft classmate Jonathan Ogden on stage to do it with him.
Lewis closed by invoking Martin Luther King, Jr. and touched on political issues before talking about the importance of leadership.
“I was not the biggest, the strongest or fastest, but my goals were clear,” he said. “My actions were and still are in service of those goals. I was a leader on the field, I’m a leader in my community now. I’ve joined a new team and my goal is clear: To lift up my brothers and sisters, to inspire the leaders of this next generation to fight for love.”
A few minutes before Lewis took the stage, Randy Moss made quick reference to the linebacker, lamenting that Lewis’ Ravens kept Moss’ San Francisco 49ers from winning Super Bowl XLVII, in Moss’ final NFL season.
Moss, who played primarily for the Minnesota Vikings and was a six-time Pro Bowler and four-time All-Pro, centered his speech on faith and family, and on his pride from being raised in Rand, West Virginia.
“I cannot forget my small, unincorporated community,” he said. “That’s where it all started, that was the foundation. Raised in the streets... We stick together. There’s a lot of country folk out here, and I’m proud to be from the state of West Virginia.”
Moss also had special words for New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, for whom Moss played for three-plus seasons from 2007-10.
“I want to thank you for being a friend when it wasn’t always about football,” Moss said to Belichick, who was looking on from off-stage. “You showed me how much I loved the game. You challenged me every
day, to go out there and be great. ... I’m sorry we did not bring [a Super Bowl] home.”
Before Moss’ enshrinement, perhaps the most popular Philadelphia Eagle ever, safety Brian Dawkins, inspired the crowd with a little bit of everything. He drew laughs and tears, gave advice and inspired cheers from a load of Eagles fans in attendance, all the while pounding the microphone stand with his fist like he was wearing out a running back over the course of a game.
Dawkins, a nine-time Pro Bowler and four-time first-team All-Pro who also spent three years with the Denver Broncos, discussed his history of depression and how he overcame suicidal thoughts after his career.
“The majority of the success I have had has come on the back of pain,” Dawkins said. “I was actually planning the way I would kill myself so my wife would get the money. But what that pain did for me, it increased my faith exponentially.”
He went on to encourage others who battle depression or mental health illnesses, saying, “There is hope on the other side. Keep moving, keep pushing through.”
Dawkins credited his wife, Connie, with saving his life, and he had a special gift planned for her. In the middle of his speech, she was presented with a golden shawl – to match his Hall of Fame gold jacket – as Dawkins called her a “Hall of Fame wife.”
A longtime captain, Dawkins also had powerful words for his former teammates, displaying the trademark passion he showed as a player and a leader during his 16-year career.
Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher seized upon a similar theme during his speech, recounting how much he prided himself on the way he approached the game, alongside his fellow Bears.
“As a player, I want to be remembered as a good teammate, that’s it,” said Urlacher, who was an eight-time Pro Bowler, fourtime All-Pro and 2005 Defensive Player of the Year. “Just know how much I respected the game. I feel like I played the right way.”
Urlacher, 40, followed an inductee who is more than 40 years older and retired 45 years before him.
After waiting more than 49 years to get in, longtime Green Bay Packers guard Jerry Kramer, 82, did not disappoint, delivering a lengthy speech filled with stories and inspirational quotes. In one anecdote, the colorful Kramer described the challenge of negotiating a contract back in an era when players didn’t have agents or know what their peers made.
“I left a few bucks on the table, but then I recovered quickly: I said, ‘I want a signing bonus, too,” Kramer, who was an 11-time finalist before getting the nod this year, recounted. “He said, ‘What about $250?’ I said, ‘OK that’d be great, that’d be super.’”
Wide receiver Terrell Owens, the first player ever inducted to decline his invitation to the enshrinement ceremony, gave his own speech in Chattanooga, Tennessee, earlier Saturday, at his alma mater, Tennessee-Chattanooga.
Owens said during his speech he made that decision because he believes sportswriters “disregarded the system” in regard to his Hall of Fame candidacy, after he took three years to be inducted.
“I wanted to take a stand so the next guy coming after me will not have to go through what I and others have gone through,” Owens said. “Whether it’s three years or 45 years, you should get what you’ve rightfully earned.” (Reuters)