Pro Football Hall of Fame journey: The evolution of Enshrinement

This Saturday, DREW BREES, ROGER CRAIG, LARRY FITZGERALD, LUKE KUECHLY and ADAM VINATIERI will take center stage in Canton, Ohio, to join 382 other members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Their Enshrinement will be watched live by more than 12,000 people inside Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium while millions will watch the event on television via ESPN and NFL Network.

Enshrinement has turned into a massive spectacle compared to the far more modest version of the event that preceded itself.                                                                                                                                                              

On Sept. 7, 1963, 17 members were enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as part of its inaugural class. Each enshrinee or representative of the Class of 1963 delivered a brief speech, vastly different from the now-accustomed tradition of a longer-form speech. In fact, Green Bay Packers founder EARL “CURLY” LAMBEAU spoke only five sentences in his Enshrinement speech, joking that the Packers were still in the league last time he checked.

The Enshrinement speech has developed into something much more than a short monologue; it has become something deeply meaningful to the enshrinee and sometimes emotional.

In 2012, running back CURTIS MARTIN delivered a deeply heartfelt message, referencing his trauma-filled childhood and how football offered him a gateway to escape that reality. Five years prior, Dallas Cowboys wide receiver MICHAEL IRVIN was brought to tears at the end of his speech, explaining the highs and lows of his career on his way to becoming a Hall of Famer.

Defensive lineman and Canton, Ohio, native ALAN PAGE chose to go a different route with his speech in 1988. Rather than reflecting on his playing career, he spoke on how we can impact the future generation, specifically with educating the youth. He chose Minnesota school principal Willarene Beasley to present him at his Enshrinement, straying away from picking a former coach, teammate or family member. Beasley was one of the first female presenters in the history of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“[Enshrinement] was an opportunity to recognize that I was being honored and to inspire others to understand that they could have success, particularly academically,” Page said exclusively to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in a recent interview. “It was great to be inducted, but, quite frankly, it was more important for me to shine a light on the ways that we can help others have the same kind of successes.”

Similar to the speeches’ maturation, the ground on which the Hall of Fame has celebrated its new members also has changed.

In 1963, only a few thousand people sat inside Fawcett Stadium to celebrate the inaugural class. Three years later, Enshrinement was moved to the front steps of the Hall of Fame, where the event was held for the next 35 years. During that time span, the Hall and its museum expanded three times (1971, 1978, 1995). What once stood as a 19,000-square-foot building at its inception had been renovated into an 83,000-square-foot, four-building complex shown off in the background of each summer’s Enshrinement.

In 2002, the event was moved back into the stadium and has been hosted there every year since. In 2014, former New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson donated $10 million to the Pro Football Hall of Fame to renovate Fawcett Stadium, which last had been improved in 1997. Developments were finished for Enshrinement in 2017, and the stadium was renamed to Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in honor of his contribution.

As the Hall of Fame expanded and more fans were drawn to Canton in the late summer, major sports television networks took notice. In 1995, ESPN reached an agreement with the Pro Football Hall of Fame to televise the annual ceremony. ESPN’s media rights deal with the Hall of Fame has lasted for more than 30 years. In 2006, NFL Network started televising the event, less than three years after the network was launched.  

What once consisted of a short, simple message to a few thousand people has transformed into a nationally attended and broadcast event in a stadium rich with history, where each enshrinee delivers a profound message. It will be no different this Saturday when five legends officially etch their name into pro football lore.