Deion Sanders Hall of Fame Speech

into the Pro Football Hall of Fame Eugene Parker thank you lord I thank you Jesus I love you if it wasn't for God I wouldn't be here today so lord I thank you the Hall of Fame staff Canton Ohio that was a wonderful parade although I thought we was headed to Cleveland it's a good parade love you all president Steven Perry Tammy Dave Steve Jerry thank you thank you that you made this a wonderful thing we often times we have football coaches but when it comes to the spiritual things we don't want any coaching but I have a wonderful team of spiritual advisors I just want to appreciate so if you could bear with me I'm gonna run through a lot of thank-yous because unfortunately or fortunately I played for five teams it's not like I wanted to leave one but I had to so I got a lot of thank-yous my spiritual advisors my spiritual father Bishop TD jakes Bishop Watkins Bishop Jones was blown Bishop Owens pastor RJ and April Washington the Horn buckles dr. Leroy Thompson pass through Polo Randy white passed in Tracy David Forbes who led me to the Lord thank you because often times when we have public success we have private struggles and thank you for blessing me and speaking into my spirit coach C coach David Helen capable coach capable who suffered a massive heart attack and it's excitement to get here was so vital in Who I am what I am to where I am today coach Ron Hoover my high school coach for kicking me off the team my junior year although I'm the starting quarterback that taught me a valuable lesson but to this day I still wasn't insubordinate in that cafeteria I promise you I what I don't know what that lady was talking about she for real principal Stickles DeShazo athletic director Bobby doing my English teacher miss Fleming I thank you so much recruiter Jim Harbison coach Bobby Bowden the best college football coach ever Jimmy and Donna Callaway I love you because you love me like I'm your own Mickey and Diane and choose my defensive back coach at Florida State coach Andrews where are you you taught me everything I love you the two things that you taught me I could be two persons at the same time you would yelling us screaming us then over time we get in the cafeteria how's the family how's everything going and you blessed me also you may need a punt returner that I am because you remember that drill that you had that you laid this mat out on the field and the punter would kick and everybody had to come and lay out and dive and try to block the punt and and and I don't even dive in pools I don't even do that but the guy before me right before me dole and the kicker kicked him and split his jaw wide open and I said coach I'll go back there return these punts so I want to thank you for allowing me to be that punt returner special people Eugene I love you man you've been there you've been straight up you've been forward I've never heard you use profanity I've never seen you out of character you've always been a blessing and told me the right things not just was a yes-man I love you for them I really really do Jamie Dukes like my brother Andre Rison Keith Ross that funds away him story Fuller who allowed me to come back and play for the Ravens by telling my beloved Ozzie Newsome that I could still do it Jason Phillips who's the offensive coordinator at University of Houston but when we went at it against each other in Atlanta on the scout team he didn't have Sunday's to play he had winces and Thirsty's and he went at mine but we had a battle every day and I love you J feel for that the snoop d-o-double-g thank you for coming my man q were you at Q loving loving you since the early nineties thank you constance course my business manager Jose Ayana Jeremy project the Sandman Thomas Neil Smith Nancy Lieberman Natan Noonan DL Wallace sponsors Under Armour you see a bunch of kids around him with truth own it would have been possible had it not been for you a I thank you you a and I love you dearly my family unti scooty thank you for the sacrifices to love the compassion that you give for me stand up baby that car phone that you got me when I was in college that love you for that I'm back for putting this whole thing together because you know I'm not like this really I have a hard time of being a recipient of things I still got presents and birthday cards and gifts way back from two birthdays and Christmases ago from thank you for handling all of this uncle Billy for being my man a dog from forevermore my sister Tracy for always having my back I love you girl cousin Carson needs TIA grandma had he made me miss my prayer warrior who's always prayed me through I thank you so much Lana Falcons Taylor Rankin Smith can hair Rock coach Campbell Hannaford Glanville Jones Jones Jimmy Carr Fred Rooney my defensive back coach special teams Bobby April frankly equipment manager that I wore his helmet every game I played in until I went to Baltimore delayed whitey Zimmerman and God bless you thank you horse Daniels the new regime I had a wonderful meeting today where one of the most beautiful owners I've ever had and I wish I would have played for him Arthur Blank Thank You Man I love you Rich McKay Reggie robbers Kevin Winston Thomas de metrio thank you so much for everything Eddie DeBartolo Carmen policy the Wyatt Clark Seaford railroads my man railroads I love you so much defensive back coach Tom Holmoe PR Rodney Knox Jerry Jones tell me so much about family told me so much about business taught me a lot about life your beautiful wife Jean Steve and I love you to Jones whole family secretary Marilyn love who's the best cover corner I've ever seen coach Barry Switzer Chan Gailey Dave Campbell Mike Zimmer defensive coordinator of the Cincinnati Bengals right now you will be a head coach one day sir Joe a bizarre-o rich Dalrymple Mike and Bucky equipment man I told you I had five teams Washington Redskins Daniel Snyder Vinny cerrado north turner rebus key railroads once again Ron Meeks j-bird equipment man and my man Mel Bratton I appreciate you so much Baltimore Ravens Steve bisciotti Ozzie Newsome thank you for giving me the opportunity to end right you must end everything you do in the right way head coach Billick Jim fossil Mike Nolan and I love me some Rex Ryan defensive back coach Dennis Thurman Johnny Lynn pyaara Kevin and Chad steel equipment manager Ed Carroll I'd like to thank all the trainer's as well who are there prominently for me I thank you so much do you understand this is the Hall of Fame I love on some of you guys I couldn't wait to just get a glimpse of that television and some of you guys the play against the Marino's the player gets to Montana's Troy Aikman man Emmitt Smith Mike Urban are you kidding me Jerry Rice Steve Young I got to play with some of the best in the business of urban friar from the Washington Redskins Andre Rison once again Jamie Duke some of these guys that I adore Scott case the best secondary every symbol to me in San Francisco Marin Hanks Erik Davis until McDonald Dedrick dodge as well this game this game this game this game this game taught me how to be a man this game told me if I get knocked down I gotta get my butt back up again this gang taught me to some things in life you can't do to prematurely in football they call it offsides and life is just life throughout this game I've lost some people but throughout this game I'm game five wonderful beautiful kids diandra Dion jr. Shiloh shador she'll of mine with all my team's Jersey's own I love you Thank You babies my beautiful wife Pilar who was sacrificed in put her dreams ambitions on hold to make sure I cheat mine thank you baby for all you do and fall you put up with with me because I know I'm not easy to deal with this game I appreciate this game so much because I thought about it as a child I wanted to do it and they told me that we would get compensated and paid for a game that always loved and I hear so many people say I would do this for free I would too as long as you're doing it for free but this game this game means so much to me but I always had a rule in life that I would never love nothing they couldn't love me back so I admired this game I liked this game it taught me how to be a man it taught me how to get up it taught me how to live and play with pain this game this game taught me so much about people it taught me so much about timing it taught me so much about focus dedication submitting oneself and sacrifices this game this game this game and I went at this game and I take this game because I made a promise that I needed this game to fulfill I made a promise when I was seven years old to this young woman at the age of 27 she was working two jobs just to see it ends can see one another cuz they never met and she was slaving over the pots and pans on that precise day and I can remember it was a little high chair right by the this kitchen in the kitchen it was a high chair right by the stove that she was cooking and I said mama coz I was tired of seeing her go to work and come home Oh tired then I said I'm gonna be rich one day mom I'm gonna make a lot of money and you would never have to work another day of your life my mama say that's fine but until the end you get the alarm or I go out there and cut that grass 14 years later that's why you can't give up on your dream your promise because 14 years later this dream this promise came then I was able to allow my mama to go into a job and say I I'm not doing it anymore my son has blessed me but it's something inside of me mama that I never told you that I never could admit and I'm gonna share it with all of you because now we're family I played for you team called the Fort Myers rebels and they blessed me they took me all over the country to play and expose me to things expose you to things and everybody on that team that parents owned something and their parents were doctors or lawyers so the chief of police it was that type of organization me and one of my friends were the only African American kids that was on that team it was a very affluent team and I was a shame my mom cuz my mama worked in the hast and she cleaned up the hospital she pushed the cart and I was ashamed of my mama Oh sacrificed loved me who protected me who gave me everything I want to make sure I was best dressed in school and I had everything that was laid that came out I had it first I was shamed I'm a mama because what am i friends in a high school he saw her in a hospital one night pushing a cart and he came back and he clowned me he ridiculed me and he mocked me because of my mom so I made a pledge to myself then I don't care what it takes I don't care what it may take I'm not gonna do anything illegal but my mama would never have to work another day of her life and I recognized the defensive backs at that time did get paid a lot quarterbacks running backs linebackers defensive backs weren't paid a lot and in my dormitory room at Florida State I created this image this thing that you could imagine you could love him I hate him but he was proud dad I would pre rehearse the quotes I would pre rehearse the sayings because I knew I had the substance I knew I had the goods I knew I had to work at the but I needed to secure myself enough that my mama I would never have the work another day of her life see the problem is with some dreams the dreams are only about you if you dream ain't big inand you there's a problem which you'll dream so throughout my whole career I understood there were gonna be stones because when you make it a difference it's gonna be haters when you provoke and change its gonna be naysayers people don't condone what they've never seen and some of the stuff I tried to do they had never seen but when you talked about me media guess what behind you I saw my mama when you wrote about me when you nae saved me when you criticize me I saw right through your people's right through your TV and I saw my mama when you told me what I couldn't do when you told me what I didn't do when you told me what I would never be I saw my mama pushing that card when you do my was too small I wasn't educated enough I saw my mama because I made a promise whenever you make a promise there will be a responsibility to that promise and you have to maintain that responsibility that's why I love this game when we get away from this game and we put these jackets on we no longer on that field in that locker room we lose responsibility because this game has given us responsibility that you had to make that throw joy when Emmitt wouldn't one might came out of that break image you had to pick up that block Jerry Rice your had to be what you said you was gonna be responsibility it was a promise it was a responsibility didn't answer intellect there's the intelligence that one must have you think these guys is sitting up here flanked on my right on my left and they didn't have the intelligence I'm not talking about the IQs that you learn in school I'm talking about that knowledge of life intelligence I had a promise I had a responsibility I had somewhat of intelligence then I had to manage all these things there's no class that teaches how to manage people there's no class that told us how to manage Millions there's no class that teaches how to manage time we had to learn this on the fly because ultimately most people that are around us are on a payroll and oftentimes they tell you what you want to hear Thank You Eugene for being you and I got a promise I got a responsibility I've got an intelligence and intellect now I'm managing things the last thing that I have is expectation what separates us from some of you kids from some of you adults from some of you people that we expect to be great I heard some of the hall of famer saying I would never illy dreamt like this I'm sorry I did I expect to be great I respect to do what hadn't been done I expected to provoke change I respect when I walk into a room and in 72 degrees when I get there it's gonna be 70 I expect to make change I expect it no matter what the team I played on to be great and thank God I went to five different teams because when I got to the next team I had to prove myself all over again when I got the next team I had to prove myself all over again I expect certain things people start expecting what you desire start thinking outside the box on my shoes right now on these kids shirt behind them it says you gotta believe I have a problem that if you don't believe in yourself how will somebody else believe in you now let me back up a minute I gave you a promise I gave you the responsibility I gave you the intellect intelligence I gave you the management I gave you the expectation I don't know if you figured it out by now but I just gave you Prime I just gave you the formula and who is really standing before you because I was trick-or-treating and it wasn't even Halloween because all the things you really thought I was and some of the things you didn't like you didn't love you didn't want to accept I was doing it for my marble I would leave you with this minute - Aires said you know Prime didn't tackle as they were showing me some fam where he didn't away hurt his team but I want to respond to that publicly because that affects me it bothers me since in your waiting it I'm solving I got kids since 1989 I've tackled every bill my momma has ever given me hadn't missed one the next time they say Prime didn't tackle make sure you let him know yes he did hall-of-famers I am so privileged and so thankful to be amongst you you don't understand how I didn't understand it until I got here until I spoke to some of you until I seen some of you until I heard some of you articulate yourself what I heard the struggles in the trials I met a new friend his name is Chris hand Berger I know all the rest of y'all so I'm not giving you that but Chris I Love You Man you're a good dude man NFL Network thank you for blessing me for giving me opportunity to be me truth family stand up ladies and gentlemen I came here with seven buses full of kids and parents all ethnicities all social climates and social statuses we're one family I tricked these kids I'm gonna tell him by using sports to educate them I'm trying to open a charter school what are we doing with this platform that we have just the weather's gold jacket just to walk around and say I'm a Hall of Famer come on people let's provoke change truth family I love you because we are training you we are raising your kids to be CEOs not employees we are raising your kids to be leaders and not followers and truth family thank you for your sacrifices for your love for your compassion that you have for me because guess what I needed I thank you I love you Hall of Fame I tell you what I don't know what's going on in other tents but snoop Nelly cube you gonna do something we better go tear this thing up I appreciate you I got one final thing because I like I like him but something's missing thank you governess that was weight into speech Dion would tom is that cowboy colors there is nobody like it yeah there is nobody quite like crime and I think to certain extent that was the point he was making during his speech and he made it during a brilliant 14 seasons in the NFL that ended up with D on prime-time in all effect tired of

Channel: Lance Nicolai

Views: 413,635

Keywords: Deion Sanders, Hall of Fame Speech

Id: f4vLu9NZn0Q

Length: 25min 37sec (1537 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 09 2011