Tony Dungy and his 2016 classmates enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame
Reporting from Canton, Ohio — A trail blazer and Super Bowl winner, Tony Dungy now is a Hall of Famer.
The first black coach to win an NFL championship and a mentor to dozens of players and fellow coaches, Dungy was inducted Saturday night into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
And instead of concentrating on his role as a pioneer, he paid homage to those before him in a poignant and sometimes enthralling speech.
“Many of them never got the chance to move up the coaching ladder like I did, but they were so important to the progress in this league,” Dungy said of the 10 African-American coaches in the NFL when he broke in as a player in 1977. “They were role models and mentors for me and my generation without those 10 laying the groundwork, the league would not have the 200-plus minority assistant coaches it has today.
“And we would not have had Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy coaching against each other in Super Bowl 41. I feel I am representing those 10 men and all the African-American coaches who came before me in paving the way, and I thank them.”
Dungy led the Indianapolis Colts to the 2006 NFL title. He also has a coaching tree that has featured Mike Tomlin, Herman Edwards, Jim Caldwell, Rod Marinelli, Leslie Frazier and Lovie Smith.
A disciple of Hall of Fame coach Chuck Noll, for whom he played on a Super Bowl winner, Dungy went 139-69 in 13 seasons, including 85-27 with the Colts from 2002-08. Before joining Indianapolis, Dungy turned around a perennial loser in Tampa Bay, taking the Buccaneers to the 1999 NFC title game.
“I’m the 10th Steeler from Super Bowl 13 to be enshrined,” he said with a chuckle, “but you could have won a lot of money if you would have said I would be one of those 10.
“Be uncommon, not just average,” he added before paying tribute to former NFL coach Dennis Green, who recently passed away. “That thought has stuck with me throughout my life.”
Dungy joined one of his stars, Marvin Harrison, in the shrine. Also inducted Saturday night were Kevin Greene, Orlando Pace, Ken Stabler, Dick Stanfel and Ed DeBartolo Jr., with Brett Favre up last.
Harrison’s 143 receptions in 2002 are an NFL record. He retired in 2008 with 1,102 catches, now third behind Jerry Rice and Tony Gonzalez. He had eight consecutive seasons with at least 1,100 yards receiving for Indianapolis. His receptions, 14,608 yards and 128 touchdowns are all Colts franchise records. He topped the 100-catch mark four straight times as Peyton Manning’s prime target.
He came full circle Saturday.
“I worked extremely hard to get to this point,” said the Colts’ first-round draft choice in 1996. “I played my first NFL game right on this very field.”
Harrison made eight Pro Bowls, was a three-time All-Pro, and missed only 18 games in 13 NFL seasons.
“He was this quiet, unassuming guy,” Colts owner Jim Irsay in presenting Harrison for induction. “He was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Marvin’s greatness is earned as well as natural.”
Pace was the blocking cornerstone of the Rams’ Greatest Show on Turf that won the 1999 NFL title. The top overall draft pick in 1997, he helped turn running back Marshall Faulk and quarterback Kurt Warner into NFL MVPs.
Like Harrison, he had memories of the Canton shrine, too, recalling visiting the hall when he was 13.
“This occasion marks the fulfilment of each and every goal I have had,” Pace said of his athletic career. “This became my first goal, and here I am 27 years later standing in Canton, Ohio, accepting this incredible honor.
“My goal has always been to be the very best I can be not simply in football but in life. My name in the Hall of Fame will stand as a lasting reminder. When you set your goal to be the very best, there is no other path.”
Always a showman who also spent some time as a professional wrestler, Greene usually found the path to quarterbacks. His 160 career sacks are third most in NFL history. In 15 pro seasons for four franchises, Greene played linebacker and defensive end with an unmitigated spirit.
“The best a football player can do is exhaust his passion, go out on his terms, and on the way having fun kicking people’s butts with his brothers,” Greene said.
In Greene’s time with the Rams, Steelers, 49ers and Panthers he missed just a dozen games, and 10 times finished with at least 10 sacks, including 12 with Carolina at age 37.
“I am standing on the stage with the best ever,” he said, Terrible Towels waving in the crowd, Steelers fans cheering when he mentioned Blitzburgh. “This is pretty cool.”
Greene, whose father and brother served combat missions, drew a standing ovation from his fellow gold jackets and from the fans when he concluded by saluting the armed services.
Nicknamed “Snake” for his elusiveness on and off the field, Stabler helped the Raiders win their first Super Bowl and make it to four other conference championship games in a five-year span. One of the first great left-handed pro QBS, Stabler, who died last year, was elected by the seniors committee.
He was known for some of the biggest plays in Raiders history, including his intentional fumble forward in the closing seconds of a game against San Diego in 1978 that led to a touchdown — the “Holy Roller” play — and to a rule change.
He was presented via video by Hall of Fame coach John Madden.
“Whatever the thing was, that focus, concentration, competiveness, he could just step up a notch when you needed it,” Madden said.
Stanfel, who died last year at age 87, also was a seniors committee selection. He helped the Detroit Lions win the NFL title in 1952 and ‘53. He earned All-Pro honors five times in his seven-season career, four years with Detroit and three with Washington, before retiring at 31 and going into coaching.
“I think he is the guard of the century,” said his presenter, Hall of Fame coach Marv Levy.
DeBartolo’s 49ers became the first franchise to win five Super Bowls. He was known as much for his compassion and care for people throughout his organization as for building a winning football team.
“I could be the only inductee of this great hall who didn’t make his high school football team,” he said. “To share this stage with these gentlemen is more than humbling. We may be wearing the same jackets, but they have shoes I could never fill.”
The 69-year-old DeBartolo, who owned shopping malls, was embroiled in the corruption case against former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards and suspended by the NFL for the 1999 season after being found guilty of failing to report a bribe, a felony. After the suspension, DeBartolo gave control of the team to his sister.
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