Michael Irvin Impassioned Hall of Fame Speech | NFL Network

father I'd like to thank you for allowing all of us to travel here safely and thank you in advance for the same and allowing us to travel home father thank you for the man that you sent me to help me in Bishop TD jakes my spiritual father and I ask you now to put your arms around my hall-of-fame classmate Jean Hickerson and his family father hold them tight and love them right and Jesus name I pray amen hey thank you I want to send a special love to all the people in Dallas Texas special love to all the Dallas Cowboy fans all over the world special love goes to my hometown of South Florida and all the Miami Hurricane fans st. Thomas acquaintance fans but I want to send love to every fan everywhere because you hear so often that people say oh these are the guys that built the game no it's your hunger and your love for the game and your love for what we do that make this game what it is I thank you for loving the game like we love it Jerry those were kind words thank you you know when I first met Jerry he had just purchased the Dallas Cowboys he had a bit of a concerned look on his face and I I said to him I said we will have fun and we will win Super Bowls you see I knew Jerry had put all he had into purchasing the Cowboys and that's the way I see Jerry he's a man that's willing to give all he has and all he wants is to bring the cowboy family Super Bowls Jerry I appreciate your commitment to family the Dallas Cowboy family and your own family he has a beautiful wife Jean uh and I tell her this and I just love her to death her spirit exudes beauty a mannerisms exhumed class she's one of a kind Jane I do love you they have they have beautiful kids daughter Charlotte son Steven and Jerry jr. each have played a role in my life and I thank all of them too so heartfelt thank you to the selection committee especially Rick Gosselin and Shireen Williams Shireen is the first woman to have a seat on the selection committee so serene congratulations to you these gentlemen behind me these men they inspired me to become the player that I became and as I spent this week with these gentlemen that I've admired growing up I kept thinking about how gifted they are man they're gifted to run and cut gifted to throw and catch gifted to running through blocks and make great tackles and then I met their wives and their families and I realize that it's not only about the gift God gave us but equally important is the help that God gave us the help is the people that God put in place to support us on our journey so I will try to put the credit in the right place tonight and share with you my help and my journey I think God for the help of my father Walter Irvin whom I lost at the age of 17 he was my hero and he loved I'm telling you he loved the Dallas Cowboys I woke up this morning smiling knowing that my father will not be here in the flesh but that he is in heaven watching and celebrating with his all-time favorite coach coach Tom Landry also tech SRAM Derek Shepherd and Mark tournay those guys we think about him here we feel them here and they were always be with us before my father made his journey to heaven i sat with him his final words to me were promise me you will take care of your mother she's a good woman as you heard my mother raised 17 children most of whom are here tonight there were challenges but she would never complain she always walked around the house and said God has promised me that my latter days will be better than my former days my mom and my aunt Fanny her older sister they are part of my travel squad now and as we travel all they want is a nice room and an open tab on room service and what my workday is done I get to come by their room and we tell stories and we laugh and we have fun we always end the night with them telling me baby this is what God meant when he said our latter days will be better than our former days you know I can't tell you how it makes me feel to know that God uses me to deliver his promise I love you mom I love you on fanny for better or for worse those are the vowels we take before God in marriage it's easy to live with the for better but rarely can you find someone who sticks around and endures that for worse sandy my beautiful wife I have worked I worked tirelessly maybe to give you the for better but I also gave you the for worse and you didn't deserve it you didn't deserve it but through it all I experienced the depth of your love and I thank God for you I love the mother that you are the wife that you are loved the way that you take care of our family our daughters Aisha and Chelsea and our sons Michael and Elijah I thank you from a place that I can't mention I can't even express baby for keeping our family together I love you so much my football family has Jerry told you began at st. Thomas Aquinas high school under the wise tutelage of a great coach named George Smith George Smith has dedicated 37 years to that great program the great man and I think all the people at st. Thomas for believing in a young man like me and then I went on to the University of Miami and I think most of y'all know how I feel about do you yes to you you better believe it and after that I was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys where I where I played and worked with some of the best to ever be around this game for example Emmitt Smith Emma Smith is the all-time leading rusher and the great thing about that his rookie year he said to me he was going to become the all-time leading rusher I doubted him like I think everybody would have but what an inspiration to be in a room and see a man settle goals so high and then be persistent be dedicated and accomplished that in which he set out to accomplish in it your inspiration was so many the third part and the third member of the triplets is Troy Aikman my quarterback our leader train command led us to three Super Bowls when I say lad I mean led to three Super Bowls it's all times awareness quarterback in the decades of the 90s and if you talk to him and you ask him what's his most memorable game he will tell you that 94 NFC championship game that everybody's talking about it's a game that we were down by 21 and we lost but we never gave up that's the mark of a true leader all he wants it's for each player to give all he has all the time that's Troy Aikman that game is one of my most memorable games for all of those reasons but it had a little something extra for me we were down 21 and Troy came in that huddle but those big blue eyes and he looked up and he said hey I'm coming to you no matter what who let me tell you as a wide receiver that's all I ever wanted to hear just come to me no matter what and he did he did he came to me no matter what but sure you've always come to me no matter what and I'm not just talking about on the football field and for that you have a special place in my heart and you always will no matter what I love you Troy I love you deep as the triplets we receive most of the press and accredit but we were surrounded with some great guys great players talented guys guys like Darren Woodson Dallas Cowboys all-time leading tackler my cowboy counterpart Jay Novacek what a great title here Darrell Johnson the unsung hero moose Larry Allen and Eric Williams I'm telling you they are two of better linemen if not the best lineman to ever play this game the big fella Natan knew Jim Jeffcoat and one of the best quarterbacks and the finest athlete I ever went around that's Deion Sanders primetime and so so many more you can't accomplish what we've accomplished with just great players you also need great coaches and we had that we had guys like north turner Dave wants that Dave Campos my position coach Coach Hubbard Alexander who is my heart coach it took me as a young man out of high school and I know I gave you a lot of mess through the years thank you for being there coach and our head coach he will always be my head coach that's Jimmy Johnson we worked hard we had the best and I'm telling you the very best and I'm willing to take an argument with anybody on this strength and conditioning coach in the world his name is Mike war Siq he has six Super Bowl rings six people twice he has won three Super Bowls in four years once with us and now with the New England Patriots so if anybody wants to take an argument I am a debater I am here and ready Mike worship you are man the very best you put me back together from that knee injury and as we always tell each other when we say goodbye miss Park which means may God hold you till we see each other again I also walked on campus at the University of Miami same day with our PR director rich Del Rio I don't know some of you are saying is fitting that you are tight with the PR director Michael your Dover riches has rich has been a great friend when I walk in his office now rich has a pictures of us he has pictures of us at the University of Miami when he has this nice beautiful black hair and then he has pictures of us now when he's all great and he says to me all the time you see these gray hairs I said yeah he says you gave them to me and I tell him I said well you see those four championship rings you have I gave them to you two you know I have experienced all this game has to offer on the football field they're losing going 3 and 13 and even 1 in 15 and in my second season the career-threatening knee injury thinking I would never play this game that I love again and even in 1999 the career-ending neck injury that in which football players fear the most but I've also had some beautiful victories we want three Super Bowls in four years and I can't tell you what that feels like and we did it with guys that we love to play with and guys that we loved folks I'm telling you that's the true essence of a football family and that's exactly what we are not was what we are I love all of those guys that I play with since retiring I have developed a deeper awareness and understanding for this game first as a fan and then as an analyst that is where I've learned that it's so much more than merely again thanks to ESPN Thank You ESPN for giving me the opportunity to travel to NFL stadiums throughout this country visiting with fans and seeing this game from a completely different perspective the movie Remember the Titans is my favorite movie starring Denzel Washington and I love the way in this movie the game of football brings those boys together it unites those boys on that football field it unites a whole town black white old young rich and poor and it happens every year around this time and NFL locker rooms and NFL stadiums so don't tell me it's just a game my most my favorite day was Monday September 2 25th 2006 New Orleans Louisiana site of the Superdome I watched our people who had suffered so grievously through Hurricane Katrina fill a stadium hours before a game and stay hours after the game I witnessed those fans as they look for each other hug one another and just be thankful to be in that stadium you see the game flexed his greatest muscle that day the ability to heal I I experienced a football game that contributed to the healing of a city so don't tell me it's just a game you know the Bible speaks of a healing place it's called a threshing floor the threshing floor is where you take your greatest fear and you pray for help from your great God I want to share something with you today I have two sons Michael he's 10 and Elijah he's a Michael and Elijah could you guys stand up for me that's my heart right there that's my heart when I am on that threshing floor I pray I said God I have my struggles and I made some bad decisions but whatever you do whatever you do don't let me mess this up I asked us here please help me help me raise them for some young lady so that they can be a better husband than I help me help me raise them for their kids so that they could be a better father than I and I tell you guys to always do the right thing so that you can be a better role model than dad I said right here where you are last year and I watched the class of 2006 Troy Aikman Warren Moon Harry Carson Rayfield Wright John Madden and the late great Reggie White represented by his wife Sarah white and I said wow that's what a Hall of Famer is certainly I am NOT that and I doubt it I would ever have the chance to stand before you today so when I returned home I spoke with Michael and Elijah and I said that's how you do it son you do it like they did it Michael asked he said dad do you ever think we will be there and I didn't know how to answer that and it returns me to that threshing floor but this time my I was voiceless but my heart cried out god I must I go through so many peaks and valleys I wanted to stand in front of my boys and say do it like your dad like any proud dad would want to I must I go through so much and at that moment a voice came over me and he said look up get up and don't ever give up and you tell you tell everyone or anyone that has ever doubted thought they did not measure up I want it to quit you tell them to look up get up and don't ever give up thank you and may God bless you

Channel: NFL Network

Views: 186,622

Keywords: sp:vl=en-US, sp:st=football, sp:li=NFL, NFL, NFL Network, Football, Michael Irvin, hall of fame, speech, 2007, Dallas, Cowboys, Miami, Hurricanes, Emmit Smith, Troy Aikman, Jerry Jones, Jimmy Johnson, parents, children, wife, teammates, cry, emotional

Id: C8K-0b0n-VE

Length: 26min 5sec (1565 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 06 2016