Dwight Freeney He was playing football in high school when the football coach took him off the field.
It was a change that changed my life.
Freeney, a three-time All-Pro defensive end with the Indianapolis ColtsHe was the first player enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame among seven members of the Class of 2024 on Saturday.
“My parents are Jamaican, so football was in my blood,” Freeney said. “If it wasn’t for my high school coach, Jack Cochran, who pulled me off that football field and convinced me to play this great game, I wouldn’t be on this stage today. Your invaluable lessons in work ethic stayed with me throughout my life. You also taught me what it takes to be a champion.”
The other players who were included on Saturday were Randy Gradishar, Devin Hester, André JohnsonSteve McMichael, July Peppers and Patrick Willis.
The ceremony was delayed nearly two hours due to heavy rain and lightning at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio. Similar weather Thursday night forced the first preseason game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Los Angeles Angels to be postponed. Chicago Bears and Houston Texans Be stopped with 18 minutes left in the match.
Colts owner Jim Irsay, who is recovering from a fall, introduced Freeney in a video message. Irsay then rode onstage in a wheelchair to help unveil Freeney’s bronze bust.
“He was arguably the best Colt defensive player in our 60-plus year history,” Irsay said.
Considered undersized by some analysts and overhyped when the Colts selected him 11th overall in the 2002 draft, Freeney quickly proved skeptics wrong and thrived in coach Tony Dungy’s Tampa-2 defensive scheme.
He lasted 11 seasons in Indianapolis and played 16 total, recording 125 1/2 sacks, many of them using his signature swing motion. He forced 47 fumbles, was selected to seven Pro Bowls and won a Super Bowl ring.
In her speech, Freeney apologized to her mother for scaring her when she jumped out of a second-story window at a babysitter’s home when she was 2 years old.
“Maybe that daredevil helped me create my spin move,” he joked.
Dungy, former Colts assistant Bruce Arians and Hall of Fame Colts quarterback Peyton Manning Among those in attendance at Freeney’s induction ceremony was Basketball Hall of Famer Michael Jordan. Freeney plays golf with Jordan.
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