Steelers great Bettis leads eclectic Hall of Fame class

“The guy was larger than life everywhere we went”.

Saturday was a bittersweet evening in Canton, Ohio.

By the end of the festivities, Jerome Bettis, Tim Brown, Charles Haley, Junior Seau, Will Shields, Mick Tingelhoff, Bill Polian and Ron Wolf were all immortalized in commemoration of their contributions to the game of football. It was the largest induction class since 1967.

There was no wondering for Bettis, who wasn’t shy about his desire to follow in the footsteps of other Steeler greats who guided the team to greatness.

“This night is not about me,” he said. Well, Reggie, you changed my life. To many fans in San Diego, Junior Seau was to the Chargers as Tony Gwynn was to the Padres.

“I’ve been blessed to have the best teammates you could ever have”. In fact, you were everything.

“Coach, you are one of the reasons I stand here today”.

Jerome Bettis was the star of last night’s show. They gave me everything they had every time we stepped onto the football field. “But now I know the Bus will always and forever run in Canton, Ohio.”. Several of Bettis’ former teammates, including quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and wide receiver Hines Ward, watched from in front of the stage as the Hall’s doors finally opened for the player known simply as “The Bus”. I’ve expressed that to his family on behalf of our organization. He credited her for helping him to success as an NFL player and entrepreneur.

“I was really honored to do this”, Benson said, via the Canton Repository.

“The Bus” made it out of a rough upbringing in Detroit and rushed for 1,912 yards in his career at Notre Dame. “He admired her toughness “” the fight that enabled her to win her bout with cancer. “She handled it like a champion. Tonight, I would like to honour him and his legendary heart”, Sydney says in the video. “Congratulations. You made it”.

To Steelers Nation: “I want to thank you all for appreciating a power running game – 3 yards and a cloud of dust was far better than a 40-yard bomb down the field”. “He epitomized Steelers’ football: smash-mouth, down-your-throat football”. We had Jack Lambert, Joey Porter and James Harrison, but (Bettis) infused attitude into the offense. During a broadcast last week, Jemele Hill of ESPN called the Hall’s refusal to let Sydney speak “incredibly heartless, because what’s the downside of this?” But most of all, you gave us your heart, ” she said, the image lingering painfully.

May 2, 2012, we all endured a loss. Each season he goes to the Pro Bowl to measure that year’s inductees, giving him about six months to complete them all.

The induction began with a brief moment of silence. Just inside the main entrance of the Hall of Fame is a display honoring each of the members of the 2015 class. While Pittsburgh is a two hour drive, the Jerome Bettis spot is certainly popular. He understood what you were trying to do to him. It was his tenacity that had fans clamoring for a handshake as he entered the stadium.

Chiefs guard Will Shields stayed true to his roots. “It’s a life term”, said Bettis.

“This is awesome,” Davis said as he tugged at his Bettis jersey.

It might seem simple: Give me the dad who is always there.

“My kids were raised to be Steelers fans,” Mary Allen said. Johnson recalled the intensity building every time he drove to the ballpark on the day he pitched, “morphing into something I didn’t know I was becoming….”

Hall policy does not allow live speeches during a posthumous induction.

And immediately upon taking the podium, Bettis paid tribute to them. “I thought someone had shot him, and that was not OK”. “He very much was the embodiment of the Steelers.”. He said Holtz taught him humility and an incredible work ethic. “You could never tell where Junior was going to be, but he was going to make a play nine times out of 10”, Polian said. She painted him as the happy warrior, relentlessly playing the game hard because he knew no other way. Wounds in the Vietnam War that should have ended his career only served as an obstacle for this tough, too-small-for-the-NFL running back to overcome.