Lewis leads eight new members into Hall
CANTON — One of the great leaders football has seen, Ray Lewis used his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction speech to call for more enlightened leadership in our country.
The last of the seven members of the class of 2018 on hand to be enshrined, Lewis eschewed notes and the lectern, instead strolling along the stage and passionately urging his listeners to come together.
“Are you living every day to make this world better?” Lewis asked Saturday night at the end of his 33-minute oratory, often invoking the teachings of Martin Luther King. “Think what we can do if we work together as a country … teaching our nation to love each other again.
“It’s how we react to the challenges in our life that shows our greatness. How do we execute that dream? Who will answer that knock on the door in the middle of the night? And it has to start right now. We need people willing to fight for what is good and what is right.”
Lewis was joined by Randy Moss, Brian Dawkins, Brian Urlacher, Jerry Kramer, Robert Brazile and Bobby Beathard as inductees at the hall ceremony. One player — receiver Terrell Owens — held his own induction ceremony in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He was shown in a video at the ceremony and his photo was hanging in Tom Benson Stadium.
A first-year nominee, Lewis was selected 26th overall in the 1996 draft, but his impact was immediate, both on the field and in the locker room. The linebacker was the first player with 40 sacks and 30 interceptions in a career. He Former Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher admires his bust before delivering his speech during the induction ceremony at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
had a franchise-record 2,643 career tackles.
Dawkins also delivered a powerful speech and, as he promised, cried during it. One of the hardest-hitting and most versatile safeties in NFL history, Dawkins stared at his bust and nodded his approval to the crowd.
“The majority of success I have had has come on the back end of pain,” he said noting he had suicidal thoughts when he
battled depression. “On the other side of it, all of a sudden I became better. There’s a purpose for my pain. … For those going through this now, there is hope on the other side. Keep moving, keep pushing through.”
Dawkins was the leader of an Eagles defense that made four straight NFC championship games and one Super Bowl.
Urlacher became a record 28th Chicago Bears player
inducted into the hall. The first-year nominee filled the tradition of great middle linebackers in the Windy City.
“I love everything about football: the friendships, the coaches, the teachers, the challenges, the opportunity to excel. I loved going to work every day for 13 years,” said the defensive player of the year in 2005, when he had 171 tackles.
Another first-year nominee, the 6-foot-4, 210-pound Moss brought the perfect combination of height, speed, soft hands and agility to Minnesota as the 21st overall draft pick in 1998 after a rocky college career. His 69 receptions, 17 for touchdowns, and 1,313 yards helped the Vikings go 15-1 and earned him offensive rookie of the year honors.
That was just the start for the eccentric but always dynamic Moss. When he finally hooked up with an elite quarterback, he caught a record 23 TD passes from Tom Brady in New England’s perfect 2007 regular season.
Moss rubbed the face and top of his bust, then delivered a sermon worthy of any church or synagogue. He paid tribute to his family, to the fans of his five teams, and to his roots in West Virginia — he promised he would return to his hometown of Rand on Sunday to show off his gold jacket.
“To my gold jacket brothers, I vow I will wear it proudly,” Moss said.
In a lengthy and humorous speech, Kramer brought the crowd back to the Lombardi Era. A senior committee nominee, Kramer became eligible in 1974 after 11 seasons with the Packers in which he won five NFL championships and two Super Bowls.
Also a senior committee nominee, Brazile, known as Dr. Doom when he played in all 147 games for the Houston Oilers in his 10-year NFL career, kissed his bust when it was unveiled. He spoke of how he and Walter Payton made history by being selected in the first round of the same draft from Jackson State, a historically black college.
Beathard won four Super Bowls as a team executive and drafted four Hall of Famers. He was a contributor’s committee nominee.