I LOVE YOU ...YOU MADE IT’
Seau’s daughter gives emotional Hall tribute
SYDNEY SEAU, the 21-year-old daughter of the late Junior Seau, delivered emotional remarks at the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Canton, Ohio, Saturday night that left few dry eyes.
“I know this isn’t my speech to give, this is his,” she began. “He spent 20 years in the league and he deserves his moment. All I can do is humbly attempt to thank the people within his life and his career that made this induction possible.”
After his exceptional, 20-year NFL career concluded in 2009, Seau took his own life in 2012 with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Doctors say that Seau had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a degenerative disease caused by the repeated head trauma the linebacker sustained throughout his NFL career.
Initially, Sydney was not going to be permitted to speak at the ceremony. The Hall passed a bylaw in 2010 that prohibited substitute speakers, including family, from talking about a posthumous inductee. But an exception was made for Seau, and Sydney’s words came in the form of an interview.
The remarkably composed 21-year-old focused not on CTE or head trauma, but rather on nostalgia.
“Dad, you gave us your time, your presence, your love, but most of all you gave us your heart. I know at times it seemed as if everything you accomplished in life wasn’t enough, but today and every day since you held me in your arms for the first time, you were more than just enough. You were everything,” Sydney said with a No. 55 charm draped around her neck. “I hope this induction can exemplify the fact that you are more than just Junior Seau, number 55, you are a light. I want nothing more than to see you come on stage, give the speech you were meant to give, give me a hug and tell me you love me one last time. But that isn’t a reality. ... Dad, I love you and I miss you. Congratulations. You made it.”
After being selected by San Diego as the fifth pick in the 1990 draft, Seau went on to a exceptional career complete with 12 consecutive Pro Bowl appearances for the Chargers from 19912002 and the Defensive Player of the Year award in 1992. The linebacker finished his career with stints in Miami and New England and played on the 2007 Patriots team whose run at perfection was ended by the Giants in Super Bowl XLII.
The induction began with a brief moment of silence. Sydney, along with Seau’s three sons, Tyler, Hunter and Jake, unveiled their father’s golden Hall of Fame bust while Junior’s parents sat in the crowd.
Seau joined Jerome Bettis, Tim Brown, Will Shields, Charles Haley, Mick Tingelhoff, Bill Polian and Ron Wolf as this year’s inductees.