Traveling to Canton this past August to attend the Class of 2013 inductions into the Pro Football Hall of Fame was one of the great adventures of my life. Canton had been a dream of mine since my discovery of professional football, and it's history, in the 1970s. It took me nearly 40 years to finally get there. I attended this particular edition of the inductions to see Cris Carter get his much deserved honor. Carter was one of my favorite football players from the moment I saw him catch a football for Ohio State. Even more so when he started catching footballs for the Minnesota Vikings. He caught a lot of them. No one did it better. I had to see him finally honored with this induction. I had to see Canton. It was better than I ever imagined. And, I have quite the imagination. I can't wait to go back.
Seeing the busts of all of the football greats. Seeing the exhibits. Seeing the history. It was all surreal. I wanted to spend the night in the bust room to see if John Madden's thoughts of the greats talking to one another were true. It was truly fortunate to attend the inductions of the 50th anniversary of the Hall of Fame. This significant anniversary brought back more football greats than any before. I'm sure that the Hall of Fame visits are a real treat on any day of the calendar year. The presence of so many Hall of Famers make the induction weekends the best. You can literally see the busts of a Hall of Famer and turn around and see the actual mug of that Hall of Famer. It's simply incredible to see so many of the all-time greats walking around you. As I was making my first pass through the bust room, I turned and saw Warren Sapp being prepped for an interview with the NFL Network peeps. Sapp's bust was yet to be put on display but his real person was right there in front of me. Incredible. All of the busts are grouped by their induction classes. From the 17-member class of 1963 to the 7-member class of 2013, I could spend hours going from class to class and just staring at those busts. Each one means so much to the life that I have led. As soon as my wandering mind landed on football as a kid, I was a Minnesota Vikings fan. Most thought it odd that a California kid fell for a Minnesota football team. It just sort of happened. At the time, the Vikings history went back a little more than a decade. With the help of my father, I went back to 1920. My father was born in 1920. About a month before the birth of the NFL. Last August I found the Canton location of the league's birth. It's no longer Ralph Hay's Hupmobile dealership but I imagined that it was. My father had seen or lived through most of what I was starting to love. I was fascinated by my father's tales of the All-America Football Conference, the football teams that he saw, the games, the 1958 NFL Championship game, the football players that he saw, all of it. I'm watching Terry Bradshaw as he watched Sammy Baugh. Earl Campbell for me. Bronko Nagurski for him. He was a student at the University of San Francisco in 1951. I could never get enough of his stories about that incredible football team. I spent so many hours looking at his Dons yearbook. Looking at football pictures, team pictures, class pictures of Ollie Matson, Gino Marchetti, and Bob St. Clair. I saw the busts of those players this past August at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Pete Rozelle too. I've spent over forty years reading about the history of the NFL. In August I actually saw the history of the NFL. It was simply incredible. And, I didn't just see it.
I went to Canton to see Cris Carter finally enter the Hall of Fame. I met Alan Page. I had a brief, excited, conversation with Page. Shook his hand. Not too much. It was incredible! In all my days as a Vikings fan, Alan Page and Cris Carter have stood out as my favorite Vikings players. It was simply incredible to see one of them honored and meet the other. I talked to, then, Hall of Fame president Stephen Perry. I asked him about job opportunities. He said that my commute could be troublesome as I'm still in California. I talked to Forrest Gregg. All induction weekend, I saw football greats. I saw Steve Young and Jerry Rice zip by in golf cart. I saw Marv Levy walk right by me. I turn around and there's Roger Staubach. I walked past a concession stand and saw a woman ask Willie Lanier to sign her book about Willie Davis. Lanier was very polite in pointing out the error. The fact that the mistake could legitimately be made was fantastic. Willie Davis was around somewhere. I saw the NFL Network crew of Deion Sanders, Michael Irvin, and Marshall Faulk milling about before the induction ceremonies. I was in Fawcett Stadium with Jim Brown! The only thing that could have made the weekend better would have been a Bud Grant appearance. Fran Tarkenton too. I wish that Deacon Jones had made it to many more induction ceremonies. I'd heard that he'd enjoyed them all. Except when quarterbacks were honored.
In June of 2012, I had the great opportunity to visit NFL Films. I'd grown up on the incredible work of Ed and Steve Sabol and all of those talented artists. It was an honor to see the fantastic place that the Sabols have built. After visiting NFL Films and the Pro Football Hall of Fame, I feel closer to the game that I love than I ever have before. I feel like I'm a part of it like I never have before. It's a very, very nice feeling. I will get back to Canton. If I don't get back there before, I'll definitely go there to see the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction of Adrian Peterson.
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