Marvin Harrison Pro Football Hall of Fame speech: Colts legend says thanks

Marvin Harrison is one of the most enigmatic players in recent memory and has never been much of a talker, which is why his Hall of Fame speech was one of the most anticipated of the evening.

“You don’t have to be so quiet,” Harrison opened, and the crowd responded with applause

“I’ve broken a lot of records, I’ve held a lot of records, but records were made to be broken,” Harrison said. “But my current Hall of Famers sitting to my left and right -- I’m not going to break the record to have the shortest speech in Hall of Fame history.”

Harrison’s speech centered around gratitude toward all of the people who helped him reach this point, starting with a high school teacher who promised Harrison he’d make it to one game a year if Harrison went pro. The teacher, who was in attendance, kept that promise. Harrison also thanked a speech professor at Syracuse whose class helped him prepare for this, the biggest speech of his life.

Harrison also thanked several of the men who served as his head coaches and position coaches over the years. He credited Lindy Infante, his first head coach, with helping him become a Hall of Fame receiver.

“During practice he would say to us, ‘I don’t like you guys catching passes. You make it look too easy,’” Harrison said. “I was a rookie and I didn’t know what he was talking about, and he said, ‘You’ve got to make tough catches and practice them.’” The tough catches became routine for Harrison.

Harrison said that he and Jim Mora were the “best of friends.” Mora was always impressed with Harrison’s work ethic.

“He just always told me, ‘I’m not used to this,’” Harrison said. “‘I’ve seen those guys that I’ve coached for years, and when I got here, you just work your butt off, so I just want to congratulate you on that, and you’re a great kid.’”

For Tony Dungy, what he taught them was bigger than football.

“You taught us how to be teammates and you taught us how to be men, but the most important thing is you taught us about fatherhood,” Harrison said of Dungy. “I think that’s more important than anything that a head coach or any coach could ever tell his players, so I want to thank you for that.”

Harrison also shared gratitude for Bill Polian, who called him a Hall of Famer early in his career, and Jim Irsay, for all Irsay has done for the city of Indianapolis and for Harrison and his family.

“I just want to thank you for all you do differently,” Harrison said to Irsay.

Harrison thanked former teammates Peyton Manning, Edgerrin James and Reggie Wayne, and he thanked Colts fans for never booing him and always supporting him. As a Philadelphia native, the unwavering support of Colts fans was a pleasant surprise.

“If you get the coin toss wrong in Philadelphia, they want to trade you first thing Monday morning,” Harrison said. “I wasn’t used to that in Indianapolis.”

Harrison said that retirement was an easy decision for him for one reason -- his sons.

“I have two sons, Marvin and Jet,” Harrison said. “To be able to come home and be your coach, be your father and be your friend, there’s no other feeling that I’d rather do than come home to you guys. You made life what it’s worth.

Harrison said the most important person in attendance was his grandmother, Lue Anna Harrison.

“The hard work and dedication had to come from somewhere, and it probably had to start at the top of the Harrison family,” Harrison said of his grandmother.

Harrison, 43, helped revolutionize the wide receiver position. At a relatively modest 6’0 build, Harrison was one of the first No. 1 wideouts who preferred to skirt around defensive backs rather than try to beat them down the field. He led the league in receptions and yards on two occasions and caught more than 100 passes every season from 1999-2002.

Alongside Peyton Manning, Harrison was a primary part of the one of the most potent offenses of its time. He reeled in 95 receptions during the Colts’ Super Bowl season in 2006 and retired just two years later.

Ever since he walked away from the field, Harrison’s legacy has been complicated by a couple of gun-related incidents. Off-field matters aren’t supposed to influence Hall of Fame voters, though Harrison wasn’t elected until his third year of eligibility.

On the field, Harrison’s legacy remains. He still owns the single-season record for receptions, which he set in 2002 with 143 catches. In 13 years with the Colts, Harrison caught 1,102 passes for 14,580 yards and 128 touchdowns. He was named to eight Pro Bowls and six All-Pro teams.