Pro Football Hall Of Fame Enshrinement: Shannon Sharpe, Deion Sanders Deliver Moving Speeches

Deion Sanders was a generational NFL player entering the league with the confidence and bravado of a 10-year veteran Pro Bowler. He was arrogant, talked a lot and generally drew attention to himself.

But if he didn’t back up every last bit of his talking.

I’m not one for speeches, especially by personalities I have no real connection to. But if you couldn’t feel real emotion as Deion Sanders and Shannon Sharpe spoke on Saturday night at the Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony, I’m afraid you may not be alive. Ahead of the ceremony, many expected Sanders and Sharpe to bring it, and they didn’t disappoint.

Throughout each of their careers, Sanders and Sharpe projected a persona to the world. Sanders was Prime Time, the brash cornerback who had no fear and boasted skills on the football field unlike any we’d seen before. Sharpe revolutionized the tight end position while carrying an outspoken demeanor. But all we knew was the image they allowed us to see.

Something was missing from Deion Sanders’ Hall of Fame bust. It was an accurate enough depiction of the man they call Prime Time, but was still missing that finishing touch -- the cherry on top. So after delivering a lengthy speech about his upbringing, career and people around him who shaped his life, Sanders finished off the bust with the missing element: his trademark bandanna.

↵Here’s the new and improved bust, pictured as Prime makes it his own.

After thanking a list of players, coaches and families that must have been over 100 individuals long (and included Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube), Deion Sanders finally began the inspirational portion of his Hall of Fame speech. At age seven, Sanders made a promise that he would make enough money one day to make sure that his mother didn’t need to work another day in her life. When she heard this, she told him until that happened he needed to go out and mow lawns.

Sanders wanted to live a dream, but it one bigger than himself. If it’s not, he said, then there’s something wrong with the dram. It was to help his mother live a better life--that is what drove him to succeed. Every time he was told he couldn’t do something, wasn’t big enough or wouldn’t succeed, he would just think of his mother and know that he could do it and overcome everything in his path. Like Shannon Sharpe doing everything for his grandmother, Sanders did it all for his mother.

Faulk’s election into the Hall of Fame is “the fulfillment of a life’s dream.” He didn’t want to be just the best running back; he wanted to be the best football player out there. He hopes that one day there will be another athlete on that stage because he looked to Faulk’s perseverance and determination to be the best.

Faulk harkened back to his days in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, a place many don’t leave. Faulk didn’t want to wind up like that and his high school coach helped him make important life decisions, including his choice to attend San Diego State.

From the outset of his NFL Hall of Fame Speech, Shannon Sharpe told everyone that he couldn’t fit his entire speech into an 8-10 minute span. “No chance,” he said. Proud and excited of his NFL career, this was the “culmination” of that career.

Sharpe wanted everyone to know why he succeeded from such an obscure background: determination, dedication, discipline. He never listened to those who said he couldn’t make it, because he believed he could do it.

Chris Berman is the MC at Saturday night’s Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony. That’s bad enough, especially if he decides to work “back, back, back, back” into the festivities at some point. But his choice of jacket and tie, a combination that’s loud and out of control, is just too much.

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Old commercials are always funny, especially old commercials involving Deion Sanders. On Saturday evening, Sanders will enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, a deserved honor for the man who may be the best cornerback of all-time. But Sanders was a versatile player and person, as evidenced by his amazing ability to pitch just about anything with a hard sell.

For example, did you know Sanders had his own hot dog cooker? It’s true! Excuse the poor quality of this Youtube video, which looks like it was recorded at the beginning of the Internet.

Before getting to the pros, however, Faulk put together some pretty nice runs while playing his college career at San Diego State.

Just in case the highlights during his professional football career weren’t enough, it seems that Faulk is still working on making highlight videos — though now they are coming on the golf course.

Deion Sanders put together quite a few highlights during his 14-year playing career. That should be obvious considering his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame -- and his nicknames of “Prime Time” and “Neon” -- but it seems there are always a few exciting things forgotten from a career that spanned two sports, three decades and five different NFL teams.

Luckily, there are plenty of highlights available to remember Sanders’ career, starting all the way back to his time with the Florida State Seminoles in the 80s.

One of two senior candidates inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the 2011 class, Les Richter was a dominant linebacker in the 1950s, making the Pro Bowl in eight of his nine seasons in the league. As was fairly common back in the 50s and earlier, Richter was one of the many players who did double duty as a placekicker. His one interception for a touchdown, 109 extra points and 29 field goals gave him 193 points for his career.

Richter was involved in what was the largest trade ever at the time he was sent from the Dallas Texans to the Los Angeles Rams in 1952, going to LA for 11 players. The trade paid dividends for the Rams, as Richter obviously became a Hall of Fame caliber player.

Defensive statistics aren’t easy to come by for NFL players who played in the 1960s and 1970s -- sacks didn’t even become an official stat until 1982 -- but perhaps you don’t need numbers to understand how Chris Hanburger played the game. Perhaps you just need to know how he got his nickname.

In all, Sanders returned 212 punts for 2,199 yards and six touchdowns and 155 kickoffs for 3,523 yards and three scores. He also had 784 receiving yards and three touchdowns on 60 catches as a wide receiver. Sanders was an eight-time Pro Bowler, was second in interception return yardage when he retired the second time and was the NFL Defense Player of the Year in 1994.

Sanders also dabbled in baseball as a hobby, with his best season coming in 1992 for Atlanta. Sanders hit .304/.346/.495 and had a league-leading 14 triples despite only playing in 97 games. He was 8-for-15 in the World Series, which was of course a loss for the Braves.

After playing in all 16 games as a rookie, Dent followed that up in 1984 with 17-1/2 sacks, third best that year. He didn’t let up in 1985, leading the league with 17 sacks. He was in midst of recording double-digit sacks in eight of 10 season from 1984-93. In 1993, Dent, 33, had 12-1/2 sacks, his last great season. He would float around the league for the next four seasons to San Francisco, back to Chicago, then in Indianapolis and finally finishing things with Philadelphia.

All he did the next season was win the MVP award after setting the single season record for total touchdowns (26). That was part of 136 career touchdowns, including 100 rushing. The seven-time Pro Bowler rushed for 12,279 yards in his career -- ninth all-time when he retired -- and averaged 4.3 yards per carry. Faulk was also named Rookie of the Year for his 1994 season with the Colts (1,282 yards rushing, 522 yards receiving). Faulk averaged more than four yards a rush in all but three seasons.