Emotional Mawae enshrined in Hall

Kevin Mawae spent his NFL career clearing a path for numerous running backs. Saturday night in Canton, Ohio, he entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a Jet by giving a speech that acknowledged those who cleared his path to immortality.

Mawae, who played 16 seasons — eight of them with the Jets — and 241 games in the NFL, brought himself and both of his parents to tears during his 27-minute speech, in which he also remembered his brother, John, who was killed in a 1996 automobile accident in Louisiana.

He said he never betrayed the lessons he learned when he first began playing football — flag football, no less.

“I learned to love the preparation, the plays and the puzzle,” Mawae said. “I loved putting on my uniform and cleats. I learned to never step on the field without being ready to work.”

Mawae, who was presented by his wife, Tracy, is the first player of Hawaiian descent and the second Polynesian member of the hall, following the late Junior Seau.

He was inducted along with seven others: tight end Tony Gonzalez, defensive backs Ed Reed, Ty Law, Champ Bailey and Johnny Robinson, and executives Gil Brandt and the late Pat Bowlen, who died in June. Both Reed, who spent the bulk of his career with the Ravens, and Law, who won three Super Bowls with the Patriots, had brief stints with the Jets.

“Fitting to be in here with Mr. Johnny Robinson and Champ and Ty,” Reed said. “My DBs know it was always about us.”

Mawae, an outstanding center and a key union force during the 2011 lockout of players, was a three-time All-Pro and eight-time Pro Bowler who also played with the Seahawks and Titans and was the center on the NFL’s All-Decade Team of the 2000s. He was inducted in his third year as a finalist.

Offensive linemen rarely should be judged by statistics, but consider that Mawae blocked for a 1,000-yard rusher in 13 of his 16 seasons — by five different running backs, including the Jets’ Curtis Martin (himself in the Hall of Fame) and capped by the NFL’s sixth 2,000-yard rushing performance, by Tennessee’s Chris Johnson in 2009, Mawae’s final season.

Known for his ruggedness, intelligence and versatility, Mawae, who played his college ball at LSU, played 177 consecutive games at one point. From 2008-2012, he served as president of the NFLPA, guiding it through the difficult work stoppage that led to a 10-year labor agreement with the league.

“I knock on this door and I tell all of you,” he concluded, “I am home.”