“If your dream ain’t bigger than you, then there’s a problem with your dream,” an emotional Deion Sanders said upon being inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
That dream was fueled by his mother. She worked in a hospital and provided him with all the essentials he needed for success, and he wanted to pay her back.
Family was the common theme in 2011’s Hall class. Both Sanders and Shannon Sharpe paid respect to the people who inspired them to greatness.
While Sanders was one of the most versatile athletes in history, Sharpe was the symbol of a “self-made” man, going from a seventh-round draft pick out of Savannah State to the most prolific tight end of his time.
Sharpe passionately thanked and praised his brother, Sterling: “I am the only player who has been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and I am the second-best player in my family.”
In a era in which someone like Michael Jordan can take jabs at those who had the nerve to doubt him, Sanders and Sharpe’s speeches certainly were more family friendly.
