The Class of Football Read online

  Andy Robustelli

  Los Angeles Rams and New York Giants Defensive End

  Class of 1971

  Robustelli anchored defenses in eight championship games and was named the NFL’s top player in 1962.

  This is a long way from that little kid that used to love to go to the store for his mother because when she needed Italian bread, it looked like a football, and he could take it and toss it up into the air and then run from the store to his home yelling, “Robustelli’s on the goal line! He’s home!”

  Well, it was a long way from the offensive days of a little kid to the defensive days of today.

  As I look upon this place at the Hall of Fame, I try to be very realistic because I think that, in life, one learns to become realistic when he uses the tools that have been available to him. In my life, football has been a tremendous tool. Looking at myself, I know that no one does anything alone. There’s a great family, a wife, hardworking parents, and a lot of good defensive people.

  I look at the days and I think about the days that I looked at all those films and, like our society, I think I was looking for what is right. And I hope that these young kids today that participate in sports are looking for what is right, because until you can look at yourself as an athlete on film or wherever and say, “Yes, it’s me, it’s my fault, I was a little lazy, I wasn’t dedicated, I expected my teammates to do what I was supposed to do,” or “I took the easy route, I really didn’t try,” and until we as athletes can look at ourselves and admit failure, then do we start to grow.

  And as I look at our country, some people say we are divided. Well, maybe this is the start, ladies and gentlemen. Because in being divided, you know where to start. So, as we do in sports, let’s look at ourselves and let’s start to put all of the pieces together like so many men that are here have done over the years in their pro football lives. They’ve taken failures and made them successes.

  Ollie Matson

  Chicago Cardinals, Los Angeles Rams, Detroit Lions,

  and Philadelphia Eagles Halfback

  Class of 1972

  Matson scored nine touchdowns on kickoff and punt returns and, in 1959, was traded for nine players.

  When I was a youngster, I didn’t have the money and my family didn’t have the money to buy a football. We had to take a can and wrap it up, and we played with it. So in playing with this can, I used to tell my mother, “I’m going to be a football player.” My mother had a different opinion. She said, “No, son, you’re going to be a doctor.” I said, “No, I can’t be. I want to be a football player.” So we went on and proved to her that I was a football player.

  I think the most significant thing in my life is that there were many people that I have met that had the faith and courage that I could do a lot of things. And I would like to talk now about making the 1952 Olympics. I know many of you know or remember a man by the name of Dink Templeton, the late Dink Templeton [a track-and-field athlete and coach].

  Dink told me, “Ollie Matson, you will never make the ’52 Olympics because you have been playing football for four years. Those fellows have been training for four years, their legs are trained to run and your legs are not.”

  I looked at Dink and I said, “You know, Dink, if the boat sails, I’ll be on it.” I made up my mind then that Ollie Matson was going to make the ’52 Olympics, and I did. And when I did, I walked up to Dink and I gave him my medal and I said, “You know, Dink, there is one thing in life that I guess that you must have forgotten and that was this: When a man wants to do something and he has worked diligently, honestly, and sincerely, as I did, you can’t beat him. There has to be a way.”

  And as I look through the stadium today and at a number of young people, I would like to say to you, “Don’t quit.” Don’t always ask for something without working for it. Because this life is not that way. You only get out of life what you put into it. And I put a lot into it. And now I’m receiving a lot.

  Another thing I would like to say at this moment as I look at my wife is that we have four youngsters. We are pushing them to know that you can make it if you try. And as I close today, I would like to say I have many youngsters in a Los Angeles high school and I tell my young people this: “Don’t come to me unless you want to work.”

  Football will enable you to do many things. And I had a football player tell me when I was voted to the Hall of Fame, he said, “Mr. Matson, you may be in the Hall of Fame this year, but I’m going to make it next year.” And I looked at this young man who didn’t know what he was saying and I said, “Son, look, I hope that you can make it next year. But remember, it took me twenty-six years.”

  Raymond Berry

  Baltimore Colts Wide Receiver

  Class of 1973

  Berry caught 631 passes for 9,275 yards and sixty-eight touchdowns. He set the NFL title game mark in 1958 with twelve catches for 178 yards.

  Presented by Colts and Jets Coach Weeb Ewbank

  According to our scouts and criteria used in picking ends, Raymond had none of the characteristics you normally attribute to a great pass receiver. As a matter of fact, we used to build up Raymond’s shoe because he had a back condition and also wore a brace for that back. The doctors here gave him his first set of contact lenses, which made him see better, and then he had special rib pads.

  It is true also that he wasn’t possessed with blinding speed, he wasn’t physically overpowering, and he didn’t stand several inches taller than the defenders trying to stop him. However, Raymond’s pass patterns were so minutely perfected that he was almost unstoppable. Raymond had many other things going for him—unusual jumping ability, a pair of fantastic hands, and a dogged sense of purpose that allowed him to become nothing less than the very best.

  As one newspaperman in Baltimore said, “It wasn’t the great passes always thrown by Johnny Unitas that made this a great Baltimore team but rather it was the great passes that Raymond caught.” There may be pass receivers blessed with more natural ability than Raymond but few have ever approached the standards of proficiency that became a weekly habit for Raymond. And it should be emphasized that Raymond, and Raymond alone, made himself into the superstar he was.

  Raymond Berry

  When I came into professional football with Baltimore, I can assure you that the furthest thing from my mind was making the Hall of Fame. I was hoping that I would make the first thirty-three players for just a couple of years.

  I don’t know if you’ve ever considered how long the odds are for a young Texan high school football player to end up in this spot today. The odds are unbelievable, and the reason how it happens is it depends on a whole lot of folks and a whole lot of things going for you.

  I’d like to start with my parents because I came from a home that gave me background and stability that a football player needs to play the game. I was born in the state of Texas and they take great pride in their high school athletic programs in that state. I benefited from the work that many men have put into that athletic program because I had the opportunity that a program provides for a youngster to grow.

  In every level, an athlete is dependent upon coaches seeing something in him, encouraging him, and giving him a chance. When I was in elementary school, high school where I played under my dad, when I went to Southern Methodist University, and then when I went to the pros, I always had coaches who believed in me and gave me a chance and encouraged me along the way. And if it had not been for the men who made pro football possible, I would have gone into some other profession.

  Ray Nitschke

  Green Bay Packers Linebacker

  Class of 1978

  Nitschke was the MVP of the 1962 title game and was named the NFL’s all-time linebacker in 1969.

  Presented by Packers Assistant and Head Coach Phil Bengston

  Ray’s enthusiasm was, of course, always obvious on the field, both in games and in practice. But he was also a very enthusiastic student of the game and was very attentive in squad meetings and
shoptalks.

  I remember one week we were preparing for an opponent and, in the film study, I asked Bill Forester to keep track of the first-down plays, I asked Dan Currie to keep a chart of the second-down plays, I asked Willie Wood if he would watch the third-down plays, and I asked Willie Davis if he would keep the short yardage plays.

  And before I had a chance to assign a category to Ray, he said, “What do you want me to keep? Quiet?”

  Ray Nitschke

  Football is a game that I enjoyed and a game that I tried to play as hard as I could, never dreaming, never thinking, that someday I would have the honor of being enshrined and immortalized here in this wonderful city of Canton, Ohio….

  The Green Bay Packers organization is here and boy, I am so proud to have played here for fifteen years. I do want to say how important the game of football was in my life.

  When I was a child, I lost my mother when I was thirteen and I lost my father when I was three years old. My brother, Bob, became my guardian, and he more or less adopted me and gave me direction, and he put me on the right direction of sports.

  And I played sports, and I played football, and football gave me a chance to express myself, to get recognition, and to do something well. I was committed to the game of football, and I will never forget the great game that it is, and that it gave Ray Nitschke a chance for an education, to better himself, and be a better human being.

  Looking back at it all in a nutshell, looking back being a quarterback in high school outside of Chicago, being a fullback at the University of Illinois, being a linebacker with the Green Bay Packers, I just wish I could go back twenty years—more than twenty years—and do it all over again.

  Jim Otto

  Oakland Raiders Center

  Class of 1980

  Named the AFL’s all-time center, Otto played in 308 games, twelve AFL All-Star games or Pro Bowls, and six AFL/AFC title games.

  Presented by Raiders Owner Al Davis

  For two memorable decades in the last twenty years, the Oakland Raiders have had the greatest players, the greatest coaches, the greatest plays, and performed in the greatest games ever played in the annals of sports. During the period of 1960 to 1974, the Oakland Raiders had the best record in professional football. Among the greatest players, the quarterbacks during these years, were names like Flores, La-monica, the legendary Blanda, Stabler. But there was one constant, one center, one captain, one original Raider who started in each of the 210 consecutive regular-season games during those fifteen years. His name was Jim Otto, his number was 00.

  For more than a decade he was the standard of excellence by which centers were judged in professional football. He was the most honored offensive lineman in the history of professional football. But statistics are just a measure of accomplishment, not really the measure of a man.

  If it is true that great men inspire in others the will to be great, that alone qualifies Jim to be a great man. He had towering courage in spite of his first injuries. His loyalty, devotion, dedication still carry on in Oakland and reach the rewards of victory. While the word “company man” has a bad and good connotation, Jim Otto was an organization man. He played football for the organization, he wanted to win for the organization. Plain old-fashioned wholesomeness was not passé. He was an organizational dream.

  The enshrinement here in Canton of Jim Otto is like a reaffirmation of the values and the virtues of what is still the American way of life. Religion, family, and country, as he preferred them in that order. The fires that burn brightest in him are for the great love and enthusiasm he had and has for the game of football and everyone and everything in life.

  Jim Otto, the seasons have stopped rolling, the cannons are still, the playing field is quiet, the crowd no longer roars, that silver-and-black uniform is retired. But I can still faintly hear the National Anthem and those of us who saw the Raiders battle to the top during the last decades will never forget you and now, no one else will forget you, either. Because the name of Jim Otto will ring down the corridors of remembered times as long as this Hall of Fame immortalizes the greatest warriors of the greatest game. My friend, someone that I will always love, someone who has been a vital part of my life, and I will always hope I have been a vital part of his, my friend, Jim Otto, Hall of Famer.

  Jim Otto

  It started with a dream and it wasn’t an unconscious dream. It was a daydream. It started when I was about eleven years old and part of that dream is coming to an end today, but the rest of the dream will go on.

  Daydreams are the best because you can always remember them and you can work on a daydream to make it come true. My favorite daydream was that I was going to be a professional football player someday, and it was at the age of eleven while listening to a football game on the radio that I told my grandfather that someday I was going to be a professional football player. And it wasn’t long until that day began. Not all dreams come true, it takes a lot of dedication, a lot of pride, and, above all, a lot of faith and prayer.

  My minister, Pastor E. H. Bertermann, back in Wallsall, Wisconsin, was a big help in getting me going as a youngster. Back in those days things were hard. There wasn’t too much money and at one time I started getting cards from the YMCA giving me a membership. Then when I was thirty-four years old, I went home to Wallsall for a visit to speak at the high school dinner and Pastor E. H. Bertermann was there to give the invocation. It was at that time, he told me, “James, when you went to school, there was a little bit of shyster in you and it had to come out and I knew the only way to get it out was to send you to the YMCA.” He was the one who gave me the membership to the YMCA all those years.

  So you can see God put these people out there for me so I could be guided properly. The dream must go on now, but only to my other plans and that is to help my fellow man in some way and to save my own soul.

  George Blanda

  Chicago Bears, Houston Oilers, and

  Oakland Raiders Quarterback/Kicker

  Class of 1981

  In a twenty-six-season, 340-game career with the Bears, Colts, Oilers, and Raiders that turned out to be the longest career in NFL history, Blanda scored 2,002 points.

  Presented by Raiders Owner Al Davis

  It is true that great men inspire in others the will to be great. George Blanda inspired a whole nation. I used to think that the fires that burn brightest in George was the will to win. It was more important than any single event.

  But George Blanda, a fierce competitor, had a God-given killer instinct to make it happen when everything was on the line. He knew how to lead. He knew how to win. I really believe that George was the greatest clutch player that I have ever seen in the history of professional football.

  George Blanda, I can hear the roar of the crowd, the clock is ticking down and in a few moments, number 16, you will be here at this microphone and it will be the most important play of your life, your enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

  George Blanda

  If I had one word to describe how I feel, it is proud. Being proud to be here, being enshrined with the other athletes who had the good fortune to make it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

  I’m also proud of the fact that I grew up in a very, very small town with a great mom and dad who raised eleven kids in that tradition of playing football in Western Pennsylvania. Proud I grew up in a little town called Youngwood, which was in the heart of football in Western Pennsylvania. I was very proud of my heritage and I developed a lot of character in the early days and learned that with hard work, dedication, discipline, tenacity, and never giving up, you can succeed in improving your life.

  I never aspired to be a professional football player. All I wanted was to go to college, get an education, and better my life.

  Mel Blount

  Pittsburgh Steelers Cornerback

  Class of 1989

  A five-time Pro Bowl selection, Blount intercepted fifty-seven passes that he returned for 736 yards and was named the NFL’s
Defensive MVP in 1975.

  Presented by Steelers Owner Dan Rooney

  You’ve all heard of Amos Alonzo Stagg—he was the great coach that the rules were written to stop. Well, Mel changed the rules in the NFL. He was so big and tough that they changed the bump-and-run rule to stop Mel from dominating wide receivers.

  His appearance is dominating, as you can see. But even with the new rules, he continued to defend his position like no one else. Scouts say they don’t even look for corners like him anymore because you don’t get corners with his size or his speed or who can jump like him.

  One time my brother was working on a hot-shot prospect that had a great vertical jump and as Mel wandered through the stadium hall, the prospect touched a mark so high that he bragged it was the top mark. Mel, in his street clothes, then jumped, touched a higher spot, and when he landed, said to the kid, “That is the Steeler mark.” And he has made many Steeler marks.

  Mel Blount

  It is an awful long way from the cotton and tobacco fields of Vidalia, Georgia, to the Hall of Fame here in Canton, Ohio.

  It is a great opportunity for my family and young people throughout the country to see exactly what can happen when you are willing to pay the price and when you are willing to make a commitment and when you are willing to give it all you can.

  If the odds were against anybody, they were against me. Being the youngest of eleven kids, brought up on a farm in Georgia, a family who lived and prayed and hoped it would feed eleven kids off the land. Out of eleven kids, seven of us were able to go to college because we had the kind of parents that America is thirsty for today, parents who are committed, parents who want to see and will instill in their kids that they strive to be the best.