Pleasant Hall of Fame memories

Posted Aug 8, 2011 by TBO.com

Updated Aug 8, 2011 at 12:25 AM

By LINDA McEWEN

Reading about this year’s Pro Football Hall of Fame ceremony brought back wonderful memories of the time back in 2000 when Tom earned the Dick McCann Memorial Award for Long and Distinguished Reporting in the Field of Pro Football in Canton, Ohio. It was quite a distinction and honor for him to be chosen by his fellow writers across the country, very accomplished journalists who chose one of their own for this recognition.

It seems like it was yesterday when our family went to Canton with Tom for this special occasion. The ceremonies, lasting several days, had Tom emceeing the very prestigious breakfast with all in attendance on the morning after we had arrived. As he rose to the occasion, he entertained the crowd, with the light shining down in the darkened room on his silver hair, and he had them laughing at his anecdotes of his career in sports and with his game stories of his experiences.

Our grandson, Thomas, dressed up in a suit at age eleven, could not contain himself at the event, bursting with pride for his grandfather. He went from table to table pointing to the speaker at the podium, saying, “That’s my grandfather, that’s my grandfather.”

Then there was a reception given by Eddie DeBartolo for the crowd, and Joe Montana of the San Francisco 49ers, was inducted into the Hall. It made a fine quinella for Eddie. For Ed Sabol, of NFL Films, revolutionized the presentation of football games, using slow motion, exciting music and dramatic narration to bring pro football to the eager public.

Ed and his son, Steve, generously sent me anything I wanted so that I could share the films with my Sport classes at the Learning Center for Gifted Students, at the old Tampa Library in downtown. Needless to say, this innovative way of teaching was enormously popular and made me look pretty good as a teacher. Many of my students from the 70s still remember the films I showed them, even now.

The players inducted in 2011 were Richard Dent, Chris Hanburger, Shannon Sharpe, Marshall Faulk, Les Richter and Deion Sanders, not bad choices for a selection committee including Ira Kaufman, knowledgeable Tribune sportswriter, who was hand-picked by Tom to succeed him on the committee.

Babaloo!