Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2017 Quotes
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Wortham Theater Center Houston, Texas February 4, 2017 Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2017 Morten Andersen (on what it was like getting the knock at the door, and the fact that it’s been a long time since a kicker was inducted into the Hall of Fame) “Twenty-five years, I believe. I asked my wife, while we we’re in the room with some friends, ‘That’s an awful loud knock for room service. Is this a club sandwich?’ Dave (Baker), you didn’t have a club sandwich, but it was sure a nice alternative. It was very emotional – crying L.T. (LaDainian Tomlinson), I agree. We shed a few tears, and I’m tremendously humbled and excited to be in this class. Congratulations to everyone, it’s pretty mind blowing right now, I’m kind of floating, if you don’t mind.” (on what he knew about football coming from Denmark, and what it means for the country) “It’s going to be huge, there’s no question. I think the Crown Prince texted me (joking). I don’t know, maybe not. That would be kind of cool. I didn’t know anything about football when I came in 1977 and barely spoke the language. It happened very fast, watched the jamboree games in the metal bleachers, watched the quarterback-center exchange and said I don’t want to be that guy, or that guy. You have a big guy in tight pants bending over and then you have a small guy in equally tight pants going up behind him and I said, ‘No. No.’ They said you just have to kick and run off the field, and that’s what I did for 25 or 30 years. It just happened very quickly. Foot-to-ball and pick up the check, I guess. It was a good time. Twenty- five years flew by, and its kind of surreal, like Jason (Taylor) is saying. It’s surreal to sit here and know that that bust is going to last for 40,000 years. I’ll be there for part of that. Football has been an unbelievable tool and platform for myself and my family, as I think we all are. You’ll never give football as much in the NFL, as much as the NFL has given you. Bum Phillips was the guy that always preached that, and I’ve always taken that with me. Thank you.” (on if he thinks special teams is well represented in the Hall of Fame) “No, I don’t, but life’s not fair sometimes. This is an important step for us as a group I think. I’d like to try to move the conversation – and I know I’m considered a specialist – but move the conversation to saying that the game of football is very specialized now at every position and that it has changed over time. We’re still playing a 100-yard field and so forth, but the positions – you have pass rushers that come in on third down, different players that are situational players – and I was a situational player. I was in maybe 10, 15 snaps a game and my job was to put points on the board. I’m hopeful we can move the conversation to the inclusion of some more guys, the Steve Taskers – and if you look at kickers, obviously Adam Vinatieri would be one guy that you would have to look at, Gary Anderson, there’s a lot of guys out there deserving, but I’m just going to echo what a lot of guys said: It’s a very tight squeeze in there. This is my fifth go-around, and I’m grateful and I’ll do whatever I can to spearhead and try to move the conversation toward more inclusion for specialists, whether it’s at the punting, place kicking, long snapping or kick return position. We need more, because it’s a great game at all positions, and it has to be properly represented. I don’t have a vote, but it’s a step in the right direction for sure. I don’t think the door to Canton is wide open as a group for us, but this is a good step in the right direction for sure.” -more- Wortham Theater Center Houston, Texas February 4, 2017 More Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2017 Terrell Davis (on if he is surprised to be elected to the Hall of Fame the same year as LaDainian Tomlinson) “I'm shocked. Yeah, I followed the process the last couple of years because being in the media, you have to because we talk about it quite often. The last three years, for myself, I started to notice a little bit more momentum in terms of people talking about it on air. I felt that it was getting close, but the one caveat was L.T. being in the same class, and I knew he was going in. So I really thought that there's no way they're going to put two backs in the same class, especially a guy who was a first-ballot Hall of Famer versus a special circumstance guy like me, as I sort of created that—I thought that's what they saw me as. When I got the knock, obviously, I was shocked. We talked about it. I said that the best chance that I would ever have would probably be 2018. Of course, I was ecstatic that they didn't look at it as two backs in the same class like I thought they viewed it.” (on being a San Diego native and representing the city now that the Chargers have relocated) “For me, it's huge. Obviously, being born and raised in San Diego and watching the Chargers now move to LA is - I don't like it. It's hard for me to even say Los Angeles Chargers. I grew up with the Don Coryell, Kellen Winslow, John Jefferson, the Dan Fouts era, so to me, the Chargers were always San Diego. But then, obviously, coming from San Diego and having some of the athletes who have come out of San Diego like Marcus Allen – same high school as myself – and I watched him grow up, and I sort of tried to follow his career a lot, so I'm happy that Lincoln High School now has two Hall of Famers represented in the Hall. That's powerful. The bottom line is, if there's still kids in San Diego who, obviously, want an NFL team, they certainly don't have that team now, but hopefully they're inspired by what's happening here with myself and, obviously, LT. They watched him for a number of years. Hopefully, the dream continues and lives on in San Diego for guys who want to watch pro football.” (on if he is hopeful his induction into the Hall of Fame will spur the induction of more Broncos players) “Yeah, I was looking at something today where it talked about the Broncos being underrepresented, and I'm hopeful that Steve Atwater, Karl Mecklenburg, John Lynch, some of the guys who, obviously, I believe are deserving to be out here with us, I'm hoping that this sort of opens up the gate for those guys. It's a difficult process, as we've seen. I don't know what it is about Denver. Maybe it's the media market, but it certainly doesn't have the attention that it probably deserves to have when it comes to Hall of Fame members. I think, hopefully, if I can influence any of that, if I have any control of that, then I would certainly try to aid and bring some attention to that to make sure we have more players represented in the Hall of Fame.” -more- Wortham Theater Center Houston, Texas February 4, 2017 More Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2017 Kenny Easley (on how he can sum all of this up and what the induction means to him) “Well, I might have a different story, because it’s been 20 years for me. I had given up on the process, what had happened, to be truthful with you. But I have to thank, really the people in Seattle, the fans in Seattle who sort of launched the campaign for Kenny Easley in the Hall of Fame. To have my work reexamined after 20 years is really significant, very different, but I’m very excited about the opportunity, particularly for my family and friends and folks from the ‘80s who saw me play. It’s a unique experience. I’m very excited.” (on if it is a revitalizing feeling for him in any way) “Well, I don’t know if revitalized. I’m enormously grateful for this opportunity. Like I said, to be reconsidered after 20 years … I’m glad it happened though, because I feel that if it had happened in 1997, I wouldn’t be as grateful as I am now at age 58 for this to happen. So, that means a great deal, to happen to me now. Because, I would never get this feeling, this excitement out of my heart.” Jerry Jones (on his reaction to getting the knock on the door) “First of all, I was with my family. I have tremendous family involvement in everything that I've done in sport. I was married when I was a sophomore in college, my first son was born, who's probably the key guy with the Dallas Cowboys today.