Countdown to 2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement: Sterling Sharpe
Enshrinement
Published on : 8/2/2025
By Pete Dougherty
Special to the Pro Football Hall of Fame
In Shannon Sharpe’s acceptance speech to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011, he acknowledged to the world:
“I am the only person in the Hall of Fame that can say I was the second-best player in my own family.”
At the time, his brother, Sterling, looked like a long shot for Canton because his prolific career as an NFL receiver had been cut short by a neck injury suffered at the end of the 1994 season. He was only 29 years old.
But it turned out STERLING SHARPE did enough in his seven NFL seasons to make it to the Hall of Fame after all. This year, he became a finalist via the Hall’s Seniors Committee, and then the full Selection Committee voted him in as one of four players in the Hall’s Class of 2025, where he and Shannon have made history: They are the first set of brothers to be enshrined into the Hall.
“It is incredible to be the first brothers in the Pro Football Hall of Fame,” Sterling Sharpe said recently. “But it is more incredible for him to be in the Hall of Fame than it is for me. My road, from my perception, was a little bit easier. I went to a Power Five school, I got drafted in the first round, so at that time, the way the NFL was set up, I was guaranteed four years to either succeed or fail.
“He came from a historically Black college (Savannah State), was drafted in the seventh round (Denver Broncos), was too big to play receiver and too small to play tight end (in the NFL), and only one or two franchises used an H-back at the time. So, I thought his journey and his road were a little tougher than mine. I used up all my Hall of Fame energy when he went in because it was such a joyous occasion for not only him but for me and my family. T \here aren’t many people in this world that you can say, ‘I know exactly what your journey was like.’ I can say what his journey was like.’”
Ending up with busts in Canton is an incredibly satisfying moment for the pair, whose close bonds go back to growing up doing daily chores on a farm in Adairsville, Ga. After the early death of their father, Pete, they were raised by their mother, Mary Alice Dixon, and grandparents. Because of the farm chores, Sterling, the older of the boys by three years, didn’t begin playing organized sports until he was in eighth grade.
But he loved football from the start and quickly became single-minded about one lofty goal. “I just knew I wanted to play football, and I wanted to play in the National Football League,” Sterling said. “That was the only dream I ever had.”
In a sign of how close the brothers were, even then, Sterling’s driving force and sports companion was Shannon. Even before they started playing organized sports, they played on their own. They’d pretend to be Dr. J, Marques Johnson or Bobby Dandridge on the basketball court, and in football they’d be quarterbacks such as Terry Bradshaw, Doug Williams, Roger Staubach or Condredge Holloway.
And from the start of Sterling’s career, first as a star quarterback at Glennville High School and then a six-year run in which he was second only to Jerry Rice in pretty much every receiving category.
Over that span, he was voted first-team All-Pro three times (1989, ’92, ’93) and led the NFL in receptions three times (’89, ’92, ’93) and in touchdown catches twice (1992 with 13; ’94 with 18). His 108 receptions in 1992 set a league record, and he became the first player with back-to-back 100-catch seasons when he hauled in 112 in ’93.
He also won the receiving triple crown in 1992 by leading the league in catches, yards (1,461) and touchdowns, a feat that’s been accomplished only four other times since the AFL-NFL merger — by Rice, Steve Smith Sr., Cooper Kupp and Ja’Marr Chase.
That ’92 season, not coincidentally, was Brett Favre’s first as Packers quarterback. The team lacked offensive weapons that year — their leading running back, Vince Workman, totaled only 631 yards, and their second-leading pass catcher was tight end Jackie Harris with 55 receptions. But the Favre-Sharpe combination was nearly unstoppable.
“All we had in 1992 was Sterling Sharpe,” said Ron Wolf, the former Packers general manager and a Hall of Famer himself. “I am sure that every team in preparations to play us decided, ‘All we have to do is take away Sharpe, and we’ll beat ’em.’ Well, you know what? They never took him away. He was a fantastic receiver, and it’s a shame he had that injury. But that doesn’t matter; he was as good as it gets.”
And to let you know how good he was, from 1998 through 1994, Sharpe’s 595 receptions and 65 touchdown catches ranked second in the NFL to the legendary Rice and his 8,134 receiving yards were third-most in the league.
By 1994, Sharpe was on a route that seemed headed for the Hall of Fame. But in the second-to-last game of that season, he experienced numbness in both his arms after a hit to the helmet, and then after getting cleared to play the next week, he felt burning in one arm after delivering a block.
That would be his last game. He missed the Packers’ two playoff games that followed, then underwent surgery the following February, when doctors discovered his C1 and C2 vertebrae were loose. The surgery left him with limited range of motion at the top of his neck, and it was too dangerous to continue his career.
“My career ended exactly like it had to end,” Sharpe said recently, “because there’s a good chance I wouldn’t have ended it. I wouldn’t have known how to end it. To have my career end the way it did was not hurtful to me at all. I never had one day of, ‘I wish I could have played more.’ No, because all I wanted to do was play.
“I got to play football in the National Football League for seven years. That’s all I wanted to do. I didn’t care about anybody else’s expectations. I never concerned myself with anybody else’s vision for my career. My job, my goal, my dream, was to play in the National Football League.”
The video of Shannon Sharpe’s surprise reveal to Sterling that he’d been voted into the Hall of Fame is another illustration of just how close these brothers remain. Sterling arrived at Shannon’s house not knowing what was coming, and when he joined his brother in the basement, he asked what was going on because Shannon was wearing his Hall of Fame Gold Jacket and there was a film crew in the room.
“Welcome, bro,” Shannon said.
“To your house?” Sterling asked.
“Pro Football Hall of Fame, Class of 2025,” Shannon said.
Sterling laughed and hugged his brother and was momentarily speechless. “
This is something I …,” Sterling said. “Oh wow, I need a seat, and a drink. ... Shan, this is crazy. Really don’t know what ...”
Then Shannon talked briefly about their childhood nights in that small farmhouse in Adairsville, where they prayed and dreamed of making it to the NFL.
“I’ve had some great moments in my professional life,” Shannon said. “This is the proudest moment of my life.” “I felt like that when you went in,” Sterling said. “You know I’m not a crier, but when you said you were in, and that weekend we had in Canton, I was like, ‘Ain’t nothin’ toppin’ that.’”
“This tops it,” Shannon said. “The difference is you had to do this uncharted. There was nobody to tell you how to do it. You see, you had the hardest job because [grandpa] was hardest on you because he knew I was watching you and because you didn’t have a guide. You had to do it on your own. And you had to do it and be perfect because I was watching. That’s why.”
And now, 14 years after Shannon’s enshrinement, Sterling joins him in a Canton first: the first brothers to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Special to the Pro Football Hall of Fame
In Shannon Sharpe’s acceptance speech to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011, he acknowledged to the world:
“I am the only person in the Hall of Fame that can say I was the second-best player in my own family.”
At the time, his brother, Sterling, looked like a long shot for Canton because his prolific career as an NFL receiver had been cut short by a neck injury suffered at the end of the 1994 season. He was only 29 years old.
But it turned out STERLING SHARPE did enough in his seven NFL seasons to make it to the Hall of Fame after all. This year, he became a finalist via the Hall’s Seniors Committee, and then the full Selection Committee voted him in as one of four players in the Hall’s Class of 2025, where he and Shannon have made history: They are the first set of brothers to be enshrined into the Hall.
“It is incredible to be the first brothers in the Pro Football Hall of Fame,” Sterling Sharpe said recently. “But it is more incredible for him to be in the Hall of Fame than it is for me. My road, from my perception, was a little bit easier. I went to a Power Five school, I got drafted in the first round, so at that time, the way the NFL was set up, I was guaranteed four years to either succeed or fail.
“He came from a historically Black college (Savannah State), was drafted in the seventh round (Denver Broncos), was too big to play receiver and too small to play tight end (in the NFL), and only one or two franchises used an H-back at the time. So, I thought his journey and his road were a little tougher than mine. I used up all my Hall of Fame energy when he went in because it was such a joyous occasion for not only him but for me and my family. T \here aren’t many people in this world that you can say, ‘I know exactly what your journey was like.’ I can say what his journey was like.’”
Ending up with busts in Canton is an incredibly satisfying moment for the pair, whose close bonds go back to growing up doing daily chores on a farm in Adairsville, Ga. After the early death of their father, Pete, they were raised by their mother, Mary Alice Dixon, and grandparents. Because of the farm chores, Sterling, the older of the boys by three years, didn’t begin playing organized sports until he was in eighth grade.
But he loved football from the start and quickly became single-minded about one lofty goal. “I just knew I wanted to play football, and I wanted to play in the National Football League,” Sterling said. “That was the only dream I ever had.”
In a sign of how close the brothers were, even then, Sterling’s driving force and sports companion was Shannon. Even before they started playing organized sports, they played on their own. They’d pretend to be Dr. J, Marques Johnson or Bobby Dandridge on the basketball court, and in football they’d be quarterbacks such as Terry Bradshaw, Doug Williams, Roger Staubach or Condredge Holloway.
And from the start of Sterling’s career, first as a star quarterback at Glennville High School and then a six-year run in which he was second only to Jerry Rice in pretty much every receiving category.
Over that span, he was voted first-team All-Pro three times (1989, ’92, ’93) and led the NFL in receptions three times (’89, ’92, ’93) and in touchdown catches twice (1992 with 13; ’94 with 18). His 108 receptions in 1992 set a league record, and he became the first player with back-to-back 100-catch seasons when he hauled in 112 in ’93.
He also won the receiving triple crown in 1992 by leading the league in catches, yards (1,461) and touchdowns, a feat that’s been accomplished only four other times since the AFL-NFL merger — by Rice, Steve Smith Sr., Cooper Kupp and Ja’Marr Chase.
That ’92 season, not coincidentally, was Brett Favre’s first as Packers quarterback. The team lacked offensive weapons that year — their leading running back, Vince Workman, totaled only 631 yards, and their second-leading pass catcher was tight end Jackie Harris with 55 receptions. But the Favre-Sharpe combination was nearly unstoppable.
“All we had in 1992 was Sterling Sharpe,” said Ron Wolf, the former Packers general manager and a Hall of Famer himself. “I am sure that every team in preparations to play us decided, ‘All we have to do is take away Sharpe, and we’ll beat ’em.’ Well, you know what? They never took him away. He was a fantastic receiver, and it’s a shame he had that injury. But that doesn’t matter; he was as good as it gets.”
And to let you know how good he was, from 1998 through 1994, Sharpe’s 595 receptions and 65 touchdown catches ranked second in the NFL to the legendary Rice and his 8,134 receiving yards were third-most in the league.
By 1994, Sharpe was on a route that seemed headed for the Hall of Fame. But in the second-to-last game of that season, he experienced numbness in both his arms after a hit to the helmet, and then after getting cleared to play the next week, he felt burning in one arm after delivering a block.
That would be his last game. He missed the Packers’ two playoff games that followed, then underwent surgery the following February, when doctors discovered his C1 and C2 vertebrae were loose. The surgery left him with limited range of motion at the top of his neck, and it was too dangerous to continue his career.
“My career ended exactly like it had to end,” Sharpe said recently, “because there’s a good chance I wouldn’t have ended it. I wouldn’t have known how to end it. To have my career end the way it did was not hurtful to me at all. I never had one day of, ‘I wish I could have played more.’ No, because all I wanted to do was play.
“I got to play football in the National Football League for seven years. That’s all I wanted to do. I didn’t care about anybody else’s expectations. I never concerned myself with anybody else’s vision for my career. My job, my goal, my dream, was to play in the National Football League.”
The video of Shannon Sharpe’s surprise reveal to Sterling that he’d been voted into the Hall of Fame is another illustration of just how close these brothers remain. Sterling arrived at Shannon’s house not knowing what was coming, and when he joined his brother in the basement, he asked what was going on because Shannon was wearing his Hall of Fame Gold Jacket and there was a film crew in the room.
“Welcome, bro,” Shannon said.
“To your house?” Sterling asked.
“Pro Football Hall of Fame, Class of 2025,” Shannon said.
Sterling laughed and hugged his brother and was momentarily speechless. “
This is something I …,” Sterling said. “Oh wow, I need a seat, and a drink. ... Shan, this is crazy. Really don’t know what ...”
Then Shannon talked briefly about their childhood nights in that small farmhouse in Adairsville, where they prayed and dreamed of making it to the NFL.
“I’ve had some great moments in my professional life,” Shannon said. “This is the proudest moment of my life.” “I felt like that when you went in,” Sterling said. “You know I’m not a crier, but when you said you were in, and that weekend we had in Canton, I was like, ‘Ain’t nothin’ toppin’ that.’”
“This tops it,” Shannon said. “The difference is you had to do this uncharted. There was nobody to tell you how to do it. You see, you had the hardest job because [grandpa] was hardest on you because he knew I was watching you and because you didn’t have a guide. You had to do it on your own. And you had to do it and be perfect because I was watching. That’s why.”
And now, 14 years after Shannon’s enshrinement, Sterling joins him in a Canton first: the first brothers to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
More on the Class of 2025 Enshrinement
- Countdown to 2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement: Eric Allen
- Countdown to 2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement: Jared Allen
- Countdown to 2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement: Antonio Gates
- Countdown to 2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement: Sterling Sharpe
- "Knock on the Door": Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2025 members get the big news
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