The Class of Football

by Adam Schefter

  I consider being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as the top of my dream. For only on the top can I see the whole view. And I can now see what I have done and what I can do from now on. I have a new vision and a new goal now, and that is simply to be a better husband and a better father and a better person.

  Mike Ditka

  Chicago Bears, Philadelphia Eagles,

  and Dallas Cowboys Tight End

  Class of 1988

  The first tight end selected to the Hall of Fame, Ditka caught 427 passes for 5,812 yards and forty-three touchdowns. He played in five consecutive Pro Bowls.

  Presented by Bears Defensive End Ed O’Bradovich

  This great building that stands behind me was built on character, dedication, responsibility, and ability. No one exemplifies those characteristics better than Mike.

  When Mike first came to the Chicago Bears, he showed a level of intensity, a burning desire, and a sense of dedication that all his fellow teammates admired. Mike’s practice habits were something to behold. The games were played on Sunday, but as far as Mike was concerned, they could have been played on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, because Mike always gave that extra 10 percent that it takes to be a true champion and leader.

  To gain respect and to be a leader takes time and effort. Mike accomplished it in one year. We’re all proud to see Mike be the first tight end enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

  Mike Ditka

  I want to thank the NFL for what it stands for, for the men who played the game for what it really is. It is a tremendous thing, gang. I don’t know any other way to put it, but you’ve got to love the game. It is just the greatest thing, the greatest feeling being up here. Being able to play every day, to practice every day, to be a part of it, to say that you played against Ray Nitschke, or you played against Doug Atkins, or you knew Marion Motley—any of this is what it’s all about.

  In life, many men have talent, but talent in and of itself is no accomplishment. Excellence in football and excellence in life is bred when men recognize their opportunities and then pursue them with a passion. I think that sums up what the players of the National Football and the Pro Football Hall of Fame stand for. They recognized an opportunity and they went after it.

  I have a lot of heroes in life and one of my heroes is a man named Abraham Lincoln. And Lincoln had a little statement that he made about himself that I kind of think applies to me. I try to live by it—don’t always make it, but I try.

  And he made a simple statement that says this. He said, “If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how—the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what’s said against me won’t amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.”

  Fred Biletnikoff

  Oakland Raiders Wide Receiver

  Class of 1988

  In a career in which he compiled 589 receptions for 8,974 yards, Biletnikoff had at least forty catches in ten straight years. He was named MVP of Super Bowl XI.

  Presented by Raiders Owner Al Davis

  The will to win has been a dominant theme of the Raiders organization. No player in the history of the organization has epitomized that will more than Fred Biletnikoff. I will remember him most because he hated to lose. Like the owner speaking to you, he was a sore loser….

  Raiders football has always been an emotional game and Raiders fans everywhere must get emotional when they remember Fred Biletnikoff. The loose sleeves flying on your silver-and-black jersey with the famed silver number 25, your socks hanging down below your bony knees, the long blond hair flowing below the back of your helmet, the stick’em on your stockings, the black eyes, and those hands, those magnificent hands extended at the last second to pluck the football out of the sky. You know, Fred gave credibility to the credo that plain old-fashioned was not passé.

  Thousands of young Americans were reminded that hard work, dedication, and devotion still reap the rewards of victory. Genius comes in many configurations. It comes in great size, in great strength, great speed, and, maybe once in every decade, in great artistry. A man will walk softly into the valley of giants and he will make you wonder, “Where is the body? Where is the strength? Where is the speed? How is he going to play a giant’s game? How is he going to compensate?”

  And then you hope and you watch and then you wait and a miracle will happen and you will discover that this man can play the game. He can beat you not with great skill physically, not with great athletic skill, but with artistry, timing, and execution. That was Fred Biletnikoff. When he had to catch a football he went for it as if it were in heaven, and nobody was going to stop him from catching it. Nobody could.

  Fred Biletnikoff, you are a great artist who for fourteen glorious seasons used the football field as your canvas and your magnificent hands as palette and brush to paint unforgettable moments for football fans everywhere. You go to the Louvre, del Prado, the Hermitage, and you will find the miracles of what men have wrought with his hands. Now it’s Freddie’s turn. From this day onward, the National Football League Hall of Fame will commemorate the miracles Freddie wrought with his hands.

  While we cannot preserve Fred’s works on a wall, we can treasure the memories of his artistry in this one hall, the great Hall of Fame. Fred Biletnikoff, a great student of the Raiders’ famed passing game, who always knew where the sideline was, who always knew where the first-down line was, and, more important, always knew where the goal line was. He loves his team, he loved his organization, he loved the great game of football.

  Terry Bradshaw

  Pittsburgh Steelers Quarterback

  Class of 1989

  The MVP of Super Bowls XIII and XIV, Bradshaw threw for 27,989 yards and 212 touchdowns.

  Presented by CBS Broadcaster Verne Lundquist

  Just last Monday night in my home in Colorado, I was chatting with a close friend about the events that were coming up this weekend. He is a retired air force pilot, a historian, and a member of the collegiate Hall of Fame because of his All-American days at West Point, so I value his insight.

  We talked a little bit about the specific events of this morning, of how this honor will be the single highest honor that can be paid of these four men. But we talked in more general terms about the role of sport in our society, throughout the ages. Of how from the time of recorded civilizations those civilizations have venerated their athletes, the Greeks, the Romans, a multitude of nations since then, including us. We do so, my friend said—and his name is Robin Olds—we do so because those who have accomplished in sport have the potential to give us a higher plane. They can provide a mirror so we can see what we can become. They do that especially when through a quest of their athletic accomplishment, we glimpse their humanity. We see them prevail and we also see them stumble and fall. We relish their joy because we recognize their pain. Ultimately the best overcome. And the best of the best we put into the Hall of Fame.

  For two decades, Terry Bradshaw has lived his life in public. We have known his triumphs and we have known his tragedies. For twenty years we have glimpsed his humanities, we have seen him prevail. There is, I believe, engrained in each of us, a small hope that we will be remembered after we are gone, that somehow those who come years from now will know that we were here, that we lived, that we loved, that we laughed, that somehow we mattered.

  For most of us, that desire is very fervent, but the dreams are highly improbable. But for Terry Bradshaw, today that dream becomes a reality. Generations unborn today will come to Canton years from now, they will hear his voice, they will see his face, they will watch his exploits. And no doubt they will say then, as we do today, we whose memories are more fresh and fervent, “Boy, wasn’t he something?”

  Terry Bradshaw

  When I got the phone call, those of you that know
me know that I’m not a man that hides his emotions well. I went nuts. I went crazy, which I already am anyway. I jumped around, I ran around the house outside, I just lost it for three days. I said, “I can’t believe this,” and then I stopped and I said, “What does this mean? What does this all mean?”

  It means that, yeah, you’re one of the best that ever played, and I said, “No, wait just a second, wait just a second. What it means is that in football, you never get anything that you don’t share with people. You don’t get elected to the Hall of Fame by yourself.”

  So, thank you number 88, Lynn Swann. Thank you number 82, John Stallworth. Thank you, Franco Harris. Thank you, Rocky Bleier. What I wouldn’t give right now to put my hands under Mike Webster’s butt just one more time—thank you, Mike. Sam Davis, left guard, I love ya—thank you, Sam. Moon, who never knew he played in the National Football League—thank you, Moon. Jon “Cowboy” Kolb, my left tackle. Larry “Big Boss” Brown, my right tackle, and two of the finest tight ends that I never had more fun playing with, one Big Baby Huey, Benny Cunningham, I love you, thank you. And Randy Grossman, the greatest set of hands a tight end ever had, thank you. Folks, Jim Smith, Calvin Sweeney, Theo Bell, and I can go on and on, every one of them. It takes people to get anything done. We didn’t get in here by ourselves.

  Hey folks, I went to my dad in 1955 and I said, “Pop, I’m going to play in the National Football League.” I was seven years old, we lived in Camanche, Iowa. He said, “That’s right, son, move on.” So I did and I got a ball. He gave me a Sears and Roebuck ball and I learned how to throw that sucker. He said it has got to last a year, and it had gotten real ripped. I took this clothes hanger and threaded my shoe strings through it to hold it together. That’s commitment, isn’t it? That’s what it takes. I wanted it so bad. Not to get in the Hall, but just get in the NFL.

  I was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1970. Now folks, we didn’t have a love affair when it started. Y’all called me “Ozark Ike” because I was big and white and dumb acting. Said I was Li’l Abner. Said I couldn’t spell “cat.” And I never understood what you wanted from me because all I thought was, “Hell, we’re supposed to win. Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do up here—just win?”

  We the Steelers, all my boys, all of them, we loved to win. God, we loved to win. I want every one of you loving me. I want you clapping for me. I don’t want you booing me and when we won you clapped. But it takes people.

  All our careers, we were blessed with great people around us. I’m a fortunate quarterback to have so much beautiful talent, so many wonderful athletes to go out and get the job done. It allowed me to be the kind of person I was, to go out and be aggressive and to attack and have fun and tell jokes and cut up with reporters who still haven’t figured me out yet. That was fun. I enjoyed that, I got a kick out of that.

  But folks, when it’s all said and done, the crowd finally goes home, and we’re left with our thoughts, we sit back and we say, “It’s the people you share it with.”

  Ted Hendricks

  Baltimore Colts, Green Bay Packers, and

  Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders Linebacker

  Class of 1990

  Hendricks intercepted twenty-six passes and blocked twenty-five field goals, extra points, and punts.

  Presented by Raiders Owner Al Davis

  Thank you, Ted, for having the charismatic presence in every game you played. You were the epitome of just win, baby, just win.

  Thank you, Ted, for having such an awesome tolerance for pain and not at all for defeat. It took indestructibility to do what this guy did, but he played in 215 consecutive league games, the most ever played by a linebacker, the most in the history of the National Football League.

  Thank you, Ted, for your commitment to excellence and the will to win you provided as a defensive team captain.

  Thanks for being such a winning force in every one of the four Super Bowls that you played, three with the Raiders, and his teams won all four.

  And lastly, Ted, from all of us, thanks for exemplifying the great Raider spirit and individuality of carrying that silver-and-black insignia so proudly and distinctly on your uniform and in your heart.

  As you go into the Hall of Fame, we advise you that you bring your silver and black. There are six legends named Shell, Upshaw, Otto, Brown, Biletnikoff, and Blanda that have been waiting patiently for a linebacker and we could no less than send in the very best there is.

  I want you to think of all the great stadiums—Pittsburgh, Miami, Kansas City, Dallas—and as the crowd roars in my dreams and the stadium becomes thunderous, I can hear the PA announcer saying, “From Hialeah, Florida, where he was the high school All-American, from the University of Miami where he was a college All-American, from the Baltimore Colts, the Green Bay Packers, the Oakland, and now Los Angeles, Raiders where he was All-Pro with every team, number 83 in his finest hour, the indestructible Hall of Famer, Ted Hendricks.”

  Lem Barney

  Detroit Lions Cornerback

  Class of 1992

  A seven-time Pro Bowl selection, Barney intercepted fifty-six passes that he returned for 1,077 yards. He also scored seven defensive touchdowns and four on special teams.

  Presented by Lions Defensive Back Jim David

  Lem Barney was simply a natural and a true champion. But the stats do not give you the whole picture of Lem Barney.

  You see some players today think of football as an individual sport. Lem never forgot football as a team sport. On the sidelines and in the locker room, he was just as valuable to our team as he was on the field. He never failed to lend a helping hand, give advice, or take advantage of a situation to help raise the morale of our team and our level of play.

  All of this is so important today because Hall of Famers, as positive role models, must exhibit championship qualities on and off the field.

  Lem Barney

  For once in a lifetime a man knows a wonderful moment, when fate takes his hand. This is my moment. I’ve said all along, for many years, success, accomplishments, and achievements are no good unless you have someone whom you love to share this with. Today you share this moment with me.

  Life does not always deal us a fair hand, but the hands that life deals us, we must play them. We must play the game of life in order to win, and win at all costs. No one ever dreams of getting to this spot once he comes into the NFL. If anyone ever dreams of getting into the Hall of Fame, he is having a nightmare. When dreams of being able to utilize his God-given skills and talents and attributes to make them manifest and make them fruits. I believe my skills and talents were manifested.

  Football for me for twenty years was a way of life. I enjoyed it. I whistled while I worked and every opportunity I had, I tried to promote victories and wins. Life has been good to me and if I die tonight, I wouldn’t die blue because I have experienced great things in life.

  Love, I believe, is our most motivating factor we could have in life. Love, love for self. Love for God. Love for your family. Love for your friends. Love for your coworkers. Love for your community. And love for this country. Love is our most powerful weapon. Someone once said that love was the only game in town that is not called off because of darkness, and love is powerful.

  I would like to culminate my acceptance by rendering what I believe is the world’s greatest love song ever written, penned by one of the world’s greatest lexicographers, a great disciple, Brother Paul. It comes from Corinthians 1:13, and simply states:

  Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and I have not loved, I have become a sounding blast or a tinkling symbol. Though I have the gift of prophecy to understand all mysteries and understand all knowledge and have all faith so that I could move mountains and have not love, I am nothing. Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, though I give my body to be burned and have not loved if prophets be nothing. For love is long suffering, but love is kind. Love envied it not, love wanted not, and love is not all puffed up. Love does no
t behave itself unseemingly, does not seek her own, love thin-keth no evil. For love rejoices not in inequities, but love never failing but whether it is prophecies they shall fail, where there is tongues they shall cease. Whether there is knowledge it shall vanish away. The last of those scriptures it says and now abi-deth hope, faith and love, but the greatest of these three is love.

  I thank you very much, God bless you and I love you.

  Jimmy Johnson

  San Francisco 49ers Cornerback

  Class of 1994

  A five-time Pro Bowl selection, Johnson had opposing quarterbacks avoid throwing to his area. He intercepted forty-seven passes that he returned for 615 yards.

  The very first year of my junior varsity competition under Coach Les Ratzlaff I learned all the x’s and o’s and fundamentals of football. Coach Ratzlaff taught me how to be proud when I was a winner and how to be humble when we came up on the short end.

  I worked real hard for Coach Ratzlaff but unfortunately, early in that very first season, I got bumped around quite a bit—whirlybird left and right—and at the end of one of those early games, I came up with a tremendous stomach cramp, and it hurt.

  That was a Friday night, and I had pains throughout Saturday, throughout Sunday, went to school on Monday, and Monday evening I went to the hospital for a checkup and found that I had to have an operation. I had to have an appendectomy. I had the operation, convalesced for a very short time, and came back to the team. This is where I think I learned the biggest lesson in the game of football and sports.