I was given life that I might enjoy all things.
I received nothing that I had asked for, but everything I had hoped for.
Despite myself, I am a most blessed man.
I would also wish that my parents were here; they are both at peace. I remember when I first started and I was kind of a fat kid who loved the game of football and I would come home at night with cramps. They would rub my legs and get the cramps out of my legs, and they would cover the scrapes and scars, and help me along. I wish they were here to share this moment.
Pete Rozelle
NFL Commissioner
Class of 1985
Rozelle negotiated the first league-wide television contract in 1962. He is credited with making the NFL the nation’s most popular sport.
Presented by Rams and Cowboys Executive Tex Schramm
Go back to the year 1960. The National Football League was really at a crossroads. It had just lost its commissioner, Bert Bell, who had guided the league since the Second World War. There was a new giant on the scene, television. There was a new league starting. There were a lot of deep problems that faced the league, so deep that the owners at their meeting debated for one, two, three, up to seven days to try to find a man to lead them in the years to come. They couldn’t agree.
So they selected what was termed then a “compromise candidate,” and that compromise candidate, when they made that decision, they probably didn’t know it at the time, they probably made one of the most important and wisest decisions that they could have made. Because that was the decision that they selected a man for the times, a man that was prepared to lead through a new era, and that man was thirty-three-year-old Pete Rozelle.
We are now twenty-six years later honoring that man. But when he was selected, few people realized what they had obtained as their leader. They had obtained a man of tremendous intelligence, foresight, patience, preparation, tenacity, a will to win, and a sense of class. He imparted that through the league and he also had the background to make it work because he was young and had grown with the new giant, television. He was media conscious.
He understood the problems of the media and how to work with them. He had club-level experience. He handled all the threats to the integrity of the game and he handled them with dignity. He went through the pains of growth because no sport experienced the growth that the NFL did in the past twenty-five years to become the number one spectator sport in this country. He brought expansion. We started moving around the league, being truly a National Football League. It was under his direction that the Super Bowl came to be.
From the very beginning he said, “I don’t care what it is, what it takes, we are going to do it with class and with style, something we can be proud of.” Today it is the single biggest sports event in the country…. He is a man who has stood very tall and who you will look upon for many, many years when you think about the NFL. He’s probably the greatest commissioner any sport has ever had.
Pete Rozelle
You know it was 1962, right in this area, that I turned the first shovel of dirt for the construction of the first part of this facility. It was with Mr. William Umstattd of the Timken Company. I know that day when I turned the shovel of dirt, I never imagined that I would be standing here today in this capacity. I think that we all get a sense of what it is about. I know in discussing with Lamar Hunt the other evening, he said, “You know, I enjoy so much coming here each year as a member of the Board of Directors of the Hall.”
It’s like an oasis, an oasis of calm and tranquility. It’s like a fix that each year we come here and get a sense of enthusiasm from you people and the sport we represent.
Al Davis
Oakland Raiders Owner
Class of 1992
Davis has served in the pros as personnel assistant, scout, assistant coach, head coach, general manager, commissioner, and team owner/CEO.
Presented by Raiders Coach John Madden
I was thirty-two years old when he named me the head coach of the Oakland Raiders. You talk about a day when a fat linebacker at age thirty-two gets named as head coach—and nobody knows who he is—I guarantee you that is a man you can never forget.
I represent everyone he has given a chance to—players, coaches, administrators. Many of them are here because it doesn’t make any difference what someone said about you, what someone wrote about you, what someone thought. Al Davis does it one way. Al Davis does it his way. I tell you, “Just win, baby,” is one thing. Al Davis is just one, baby….
A maverick? Heck yeah, he is a maverick. Being a maverick is good. He does it his way. But this man has given his whole life to professional football. There is nothing else. He doesn’t fish, or hunt, or play golf, or play tennis, or bowl. There is one thing—professional football. And that is commitment—commitment to excellence.
Al Davis
My parents in their own way encouraged me to dominate. I’ll tell you this quick story. In Florida, about six years ago, I was seated in a very prominent restaurant with my mother, some of the top people in professional football, some of the top writers, and we were talking about signing players. My mother asked, “How are you doing?” and I said, “I have problems. I haven’t signed Todd Christensen, Lester Hayes, and two others. They just want too much money.” Her answer was, “Without them, what kind of team are you going to have? Give them the money, you can’t take it with you.” And I gave them the money.
I learned early on in life that if you are going to lead, if you are going to dominate, the golden rule “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is not necessarily right. You must treat people in a paramilitary situation—the way they want to be treated, not the way you want to be treated. To do that, you must first learn about them, learn their cultures, and allow for individual differences.
We never wanted our players, or even our friends, to fit into rigid personality molds. There is a place in this world for mavericks, standing up for principle. Defy custom at times, be right, do not hurt others. That individualism encouraged me to go forward. And my heroes as I was a young boy dared me to dream.
I had come from Brockton, Massachusetts, to Brooklyn, New York, over fifty years ago. I was about six years old. We had no TV, little radio, and eight great newspapers. They were my eyes and ears.
Pro football had little popularity, but I was immediately inspired by two great organizations at the very young age of between six and twelve—the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Let me tell you what the Yankees represented—size, power, dynasty, intimidation, the home run, the ability to take players from other teams and put that Yankee uniform on them, and they would play great.
The Dodgers of Branch Rickey were speed, the development of young players, fundamentals, a way of playing the game, and the willingness to pioneer.
I always thought early on you could take the great qualities of these organizations and encompass them into one. As a famous American said, “I had a dream”—a dream to someday build and maintain the finest organization in the history of sports. An organization that would be most imitated, the most respected, and the most feared organization in its field—a standard of excellence by which all others would be judged.
Lou Creekmur
Detroit Lions Tackle/Guard
Class of 1996
An All-NFL selection six times, Creekmur was selected to eight Pro Bowls and played on three NFL championship teams.
Presented by Lions Halfback Doak Walker
Without a doubt, Lou wore more pads than anyone I ever saw in pro football. He made the Johnson-Johnson all-tape club, no doubt about that. He taped his hands like a prizefighter. He wore knee pads, thigh pads, shin pads, front- and back-of-his-leg pads, he wore hip pads, shoulder pads, pads on his upper arms. There was no way you could get to him. You could swing at him with a sledgehammer and never touch him.
Lou Creekmur
I’ve led a pretty lucky life for an old beat-up football player.
I never thought that when I went out for football at Woodbridge High School in 1943—yeah, ’43—that someday I’d be standing up here at a podium, being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
When I was offered a scholarship to William and Mary, there was no question about my acceptance. Imagine Mrs. Creekmur’s little boy going to school, going to college. I went down to William and Mary seven days after I graduated from high school. I weighed all of two hundred pounds and was six foot tall.
There’s a little thing that some of you guys ought to remember called a World War II going on at the time and I had to go over to Germany for a couple of years. Well, that time that I spent over in Germany was growing time. And I came back from Germany to get back to William and Mary at 270 pounds and six-foot-four. My coaches there at William and Mary sure were happy to see me return. What a difference four inches and seventy pounds make, whoa! They didn’t even mind my cigar smoking.
And here’s where the “Lucky Lou” label comes into play. I doubt very much that the two-hundred-pound, six-foot Creekmur would ever end up in the pros. But the six-foot-four, 270-pound Creekmur was a different story….
I’d like to say something to the ballplayers. You’ve got to think about this: there is life after football, and I hope these guys that are playing today try to remember that. There is life after football. And the values you learn in football have to be applied to the real world. Dedication, persistence, and loyalty are still words that have meaning. Yet the block and tackle in the business world as well as on the football field, and opening holes for the boss, will still give you the recognition we all crave.
Don’t ever give it up; there is gold at the end of the rainbow, I can attest to that—here I am. Challenges in life I think are there for a purpose, and if you utilize what you learn when you accept these challenges, it’s surprising how successful you can become.
Wellington Mara
New York Giants Owner
Class of 1997
Mara worked as the Giants ballboy, secretary, vice president, president, and co-CEO.
Presented by Giants Halfback Frank Gifford
Wellington also has an extended family. That family is made up of former players and coaches and their wives and their children. I can’t tell you, and Well would kill me if I did, how many times some member of that extended family has needed help and Well has been there. I know because he has been there for me.
I became a member of that extended family when Wellington scouted and drafted me as his number one pick in 1952. He also signed me to my first contract, and I won’t embarrass both of you by telling you for how much. What I will tell you is, as I grew to know him and he grew to know me, I never worried about a contract. He was always more than fair. Nor did I even bother to sign some of them. Well’s word was and is his bond.
I know he won’t like this, but I can honestly say Wellington Mara is the most honest and decent man I have ever known. Can that kind of man, one could ask, can that kind of man succeed in the world of pro football? Well, Wellington Mara has been the key ingredient in the Giants’ six NFL championships, eighteen division titles, and today Wellington Mara becomes the twenty-fourth member of the Giants organization to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
Wellington Mara
Twenty years ago, I presented Frank at the Hall of Fame. What he didn’t tell you was that I asked if I could, and that’s the only time I ever volunteered for anything. Frank honored me by asking me to present him, and of course, he doubly honors me today by presenting me as he did, and I thank him for that.
Now, despite Frank’s very kind introduction, I overwhelmingly feel that I come to you here as a surrogate—someone who takes the place of someone else. If it hadn’t been for his untimely death some thirty-odd years ago, Jack Mara would certainly have taken his place alongside our father long ago to form the first father-and-son team in the Hall of Fame.
For it was Jack, together with Dan Reeves of the Rams and George Halas of the Bears, who cast what I think is the most important vote that was ever cast in the National Football League. They, representing the three cornerstone franchises of our league as it existed then, agreed to share television money equally with all teams.
That act of selfless vision made it possible for Pete Rozelle to construct the National Football League as we know it today—the envy and the unobtainable goal of every other sports franchise and sports league. Unhappily, their selfless vision is too little shared by many who today benefit the most from their award.
Seventy-two years ago, my father invested $500 to purchase the New York franchise in the National Football League. He laid down the standards and the principles according to which he wanted the new family business to be operated.
In his time, Jack Mara practiced and embellished those standards and principles far beyond any abilities of mine. I accept this honor today as acknowledgment of my stewardship over that legacy of decency which they handed to me and which I, in turn, hope to hand on to the taxi squad and others.
I’m very grateful for a long life and a lifelong association with the administrators, the coaches and scouts, and especially the players of our great game, for they are the heart and the sinew of our game. If it were not for Frank Gifford, Rosey Brown, Andy Robustelli, Sam Huff, and the many Giants who honor me by their presence today, there would be no Wellington Mara going into the Hall of Fame. They are the people who make it work. They are the people who make it great.
Our beneficent creator has seen fit to give me a long life and large family. And He has used them to show me with crystal clarity the absolute sanctity and the utter inviolability of life, from the womb to the grave, and I am forever thankful to Him for that.
Andre Tippett
New England Patriots Linebacker
Class of 2008
A five-time Pro Bowl selection, Tippett posted one hundred sacks and thirty multiple-sack games.
Presented by Patriots Owner Robert Kraft
I’m a lifelong fan of the NFL and became a Patriots fan in 1960, when the team was created. And in 1971, I became a season ticket holder and have enjoyed nearly every game since then with my family. Of all the players I watched and rooted for during that time, I can say, without a doubt, that Andre Tippett was the most dominant defender the Patriots ever had and one of the greatest ever to play the game.
I will never forget the first time I met Andre. It was on the field at the old stadium in 1985 and Andre was doing a photo shoot. He wasn’t dressed in his Patriot uniform. He was wearing a white karate gi with a black belt wrapped around his waist. Now I have met a lot of football players over the years, but Andre Tippett is the only football player that I have ever met in his full karate garb and the only one I know with a fifth-degree black belt. Now, that’s an image; I’ll never forget that the rest of my life. What impressed me most that day was his graciousness. Hearing him talk about the love of the martial arts and the discipline required to excel at karate, I started to understand and appreciate how he was able to maintain his individual excellence.
My second meeting with Andre only served to underscore the depth of his character. It was in 1989, at Mass General Hospital where Andre was recovering from surgery. I saw Andre in the hospital and I was flattered that he remembered me. He asked me why I was there, and I told him I was visiting my son, David, who had just suffered a very serious knee injury that had ended his wrestling season. Andre insisted that I take him to David’s room so he could offer him words of encouragement. That visit meant a tremendous amount to my son and left a lasting impression on me. I didn’t own the team at the time. I was just a fan that he had only met once before. Yet, Andre, who had just suffered a season-ending injury, insisted on visiting my son to cheer him up. To think that this man who was so ferocious and intimidating on the field could be so gracious and thoughtful off of it, to me these are the traits that make Andre so special.
Andre Tippett
As I look out at all these great men sitting here,
I can’t believe I’m joining this fraternity. I tell our young players to know their history, because you are the living representatives of that history. You have inspired me since I was a young boy, dreaming of one day standing here. In my youth, I watched every game I could. I studied all the great players like Ham, Lanier, Youngblood, Bobby Bell, Lee Roy Selmon, and many more. Some kids play cops and robbers. I emulated you. You are my heroes. Even in my college years, my teammate and I, Brad Webb, would pretend we were the Steelers linebackers in our Iowa black and gold. Brad Webb was Jack Ham and I was Dennis Winston. To my contemporaries, you also inspired me. The linebackers of the ’80s. You guys set the standard for how to play the position. You are—we are—the best of the best.
My journey here has been a long one. And it hasn’t always been easy along the way. So many people have touched my life. Francis Tippett, my mom—what can I say about my mom? Thank you for teaching me perseverance. Life wasn’t easy for us moving from Birmingham, Alabama, to Newark, New Jersey, with not much more than the clothes on our back. Through my mother I learned to be accountable for my actions and understand the consequences of those actions. And with that you better believe my mom—she made me appreciate, understanding what’s right and what’s wrong. She ruled with love and a whole lot of discipline. Mom, I love you and thank you for that.
I was the player I became because of the great coaches and teammates I was surrounded by. From the day I was cut from my freshman football team at Barringer High School, Coach Frank Verducci instilled in me the proper mind-set to play this great game. My high school model was truth, honor, and light. In truth, Coach Verducci taught us to recognize our strengths as well as our weaknesses and to raise our hand if it was our fault. In honor, he taught us to be proud of our names. He always said, “Rob me of my money and you have nothing, but rob me of my name and you take my most prized possession.” In light, coach wanted all of us to get an education. He said, “Only a fool doesn’t go to school.”
The Class of Football Page 12