I’d walk to Canton!

Joe DeLamielleure considers himself a fortunate person. After all, the 62-year-old former NFL star is among the elite group of players who’ve earned election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“Joe D” couldn’t be more excited for the 2013 Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival. The celebration has personal meaning to the six-time All-Pro lineman who spent 13 seasons in the league with the Buffalo Bills (1973-1979, 1985) and Cleveland Browns (1980-1984). This Hall of Fame Weekend marks the 10th anniversary of his enshrinement in 2003. In addition, he will be one of a record 120-plus Hall of Fame legends converging on Canton as part of the Hall’s Golden Anniversary Reunion taking place around the Enshrinement of the Class of 2013 – Larry Allen, Cris Carter, Curley Culp, Jonathan Ogden, Bill Parcells, Dave Robinson, and Warren Sapp – in August.

DeLamielleure has never been shy about his love of the football shrine in Canton, Ohio. In fact, he relishes every chance to come back and is a regular each summer when he joins his fellow greats on stage at the Enshrinement ceremony inside Fawcett Stadium.

“I’d walk to Canton if I had to,” he has often stated.

Starting July 10, that’s exactly what he is going to do. DeLamielleure is embarking on a 213-mile walk that starts at midfield of his former home, Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y., and ends on the front steps of his home for eternity, the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

The purpose of Joe’s walk is to raise awareness and support for the GRACE’S LAMP organization of Charlotte, N.C, that deals with young children who grow out of their prosthetic legs but cannot afford the high cost of new adult prosthetic legs.

In 2009 Joe and two of his college teammates from Michigan State, John Shinsky and Eljay Bowron, rode bicycles 2,000 miles from East Lansing, Mich. to Matamoros, Mexico to raise money for an orphanage. Joe D. was kind enough to write a daily blog on Profootballhof.com during that journey.

He has once again agreed to blog on our website. So, check it out to find out more about how he came up with idea. Then, read along daily as Joe shares his thoughts from the road during his Pounding the Pavement for Prosthetics Walk.


Route for Joe DeLamielleure’s Pounding the Pavement for Prosthetics walk