Former Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Marvin Harrison was enshrined into the Hall of Fame on Saturday, leading off for the Class of 2016.
Team owner Jim Irsay introduced Harrison, as the legendary wideout delivered a memorable speech despite his reputation as being very quiet and reserved in public settings:
"“Thank you very much,” said Harrison. “Before I begin, I just wanted to say one thing. I’ve broken a lot of records. I’ve held a lot of records and the records may be broken, but my current Hall of Famers that are sitting to my left and to my right, I just want to tell you one thing: I’m not going to break the record of having the shortest speech in Hall of Fame History. That’s not going to happen.”Aug 6, 2016; Canton, OH, USA; Former Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Marvin Harrison gives his acceptance speech during the 2016 NFL Hall of Fame enshrinement at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports“With my fellow enshrinees that are going in with me, the Class of 2016, I just wanted to say thank you to you guys. I couldn’t be going into the Hall of Fame with a better group of guys. We’ve had a great time since February, and I just wanted to say thank you to you all–you all deserve it.”“Throughout the year, I’ve looked back at a couple of things. Sometimes, we as people, we overlook some of the small things in life that probably got us here to this point. I just wanted to shoot you a couple of examples of what I mean.”“At my high school back in Philadelphia, Roman Catholic High School, I had a few teachers who took the time and their days off before school, after school, before practice and after practice, to help myself and other students prepare for the SAT’s. I always said, ‘What would ever happen if I lost the eligibility to play college sports. I wouldn’t be here today.’ But one teacher in particular, his name was Joe Ferraro, he promised he would come to at least one game every year if I turned pro and he came to every game, one game a year. He wouldn’t let me buy him a ticket. He wouldn’t let me buy him a dinner. A hotel room. Nothing, and Joe I just wanted to say thank you for the work ethic to make me a better player. And you told me you did because you thought I was a great kid, and nothing more. So I just wanted to say thank you to Joe Ferraro.”“I had a teacher at Syracuse University. My first class was called Speech 101. The first day of class, the class was going to be divided up into 3 parts: 50% attendance, 25% exams, 25% presentation. I told her right away, ‘I’m going to do the best I can do to get a 75% in this class.’ She said, ‘What do you mean?’ And I said, ‘I don’t think you know, but that’s what I do. I’m not going to give you a speech.’ She said, ‘You don’t have to, but you won’t pass the class.’ I told the teacher timeout, we’ve got to go over this because that’s not something I do, and as the year went on, I did the course and I passed the class and she said to me, ‘Marvin, some day you’re going to look back at this day and say thank you because you’re going to have to give the biggest speech of your life and you might as well do it now. So, I want to thank Ms. Lucia Johnson for that.”Aug 6, 2016; Canton, OH, USA; Former Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Marvin Harrison gives his acceptance speech during the 2016 NFL Hall of Fame enshrinement at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports“Being inducted into the Hall of Fame is something that doesn’t happen overnight. I’m very thankful and very gracious that this has happened. I worked extremely hard to get to this point, and the Green Bay fans would recognize this. I played my first NFL game right on this very field. It was the Colts versus the Saints and my first coach was Lindy Infante–and he’s not here with us today, but I definitely got to thank him and (former teammate) Marshall Faulk can vouch for this. During practice, he would say to us, ‘I would like you guys catching passes, you make it look too easy.’ I was a rookie, I didn’t know what he was talking about. He said, ‘You got to make tough catches in practices.’ I was a rookie, so I listened to what my head coach told me, and I would make these tough catches in practices because that’s how we were supposed to catch. These catches that you see on the film today, they may look tough to me, but they were routine. And I just wanted to say thank you to Lindy Infante, you played a big role in me getting started in my career.”“Jim Mora. They said Jim More was tough, hard-nosed. Jim Mora was probably my best friend as a head coach. Everyday, he came to my spot in line during the stretch line. He always talked about his family and his time in Philadelphia. He and I would talk about what we’re going to eat for dinner tonight. Me and Jim, we were best friends. They said he was hard-nosed, and he would laugh about how he ran those guys into the ground with the Saints, but he always told me, he said, ‘Boy, I’m not used to this. I’ve seen those guys that I coached for years, but when I got here, you just worked your butt off. I just wanted to congratulate you on that. You’re a great kid.’ So Jim Mora, I just wanted to say thank you to you also.”“Coach Dungy. My final head coach. I can stand up here for 10-15 minutes and tell you how important it was to have you as my head coach and talk about football, but what you brought to our team and to me was more important than anything. You taught us how to be teammates. You taught us how to be men. But the most important thing is, you taught us about fatherhood. And I think that’s more important than anything a head coach or any head coach could ever tell his players, about fatherhood. So I thank you for that.”“My position coach Clyde Christensen. We would block from the first day of training camp all the way to the Super Bowl. You didn’t take it easy on us. He didn’t treat us line prima donnas. We worked extremely hard, and you had a great cast with the Colts–and I just wanted to thank Clyde Christensen for being there for me and allowing me to be a professional, Pro Bowler, and Hall of Famer. The only problem we had is was I going to come out of a game or come out of practice. That’s the only argument that we had, but I wouldn’t come out of practice and I wasn’t going to come out of games, so you have to forgive me for that one, Clyde.”Aug 6, 2016; Canton, OH, USA; Former Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Marvin Harrison gives his acceptance speech during the 2016 NFL Hall of Fame enshrinement at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports“Now, Tom Moore. That’s a whole other game. There’s a couple of guys here that can relate to that. C.C. I’m sure you can relate to Tom Moore. Anytime, you’d come off a record-breaking season and you’d have 143 catches and the first day of training camp, your coach comes over to you and he’s upset, he’s sad and he says, ‘What’s your problem?’ And I’m like, ‘Nothing, what’s up?’ He said, ‘I’m a little upset with you.’ And I’m like why would you be upset with me, I just had 143 catches. And he says, ‘But you should’ve had 150. I’m a little upset at that.’ I want to thank Tom Moore, he played an extremely big role in me being here today. He would always tell me, ‘I’m going to throw you the ball whether it’s double coverage. No matter who’s guarding you. You better get open because I want to throw you the ball and Tom believed in me, and he just kept throwing me the ball. And I just have to thank Tom Moore right now. He’s not here today, but he’s coaching and he’s 77 years old. I’ve seen him with the Cardinals, and he said, ‘Marvin, I’m going to be coaching for another 20 years,’ and I’m like nothing’s changed with Tom Moore. I want to thank Tom Moore for all that he’s done for me.”“Bill Polian. Where are you? Where are you at? B.P. I don’t know this was 15, 16 years ago, we were walking and crossing paths in the locker room, and Bill Polian said, ‘What’s up, Hall of Famer?’ And I’m like, ‘What’s this guy talking about?’ I’m in my 6th or 7th year, and he’s talking about the Hall of Fame. It just goes to show you why he’s up here today as far as this elite group because he can pick out talent a mile away, and he told me that when I get inducted he’d be right here up with me on this stage, and he is. I just wanted to say to Bill Polian, thank you for all that you have done for me. It’s been a great run, and I just wanted to say thank you for all that you have done for me.”“Mr. Irsay. It goes without saying, you’ve done a great job for our city of Indianapolis. You’ve done a great job for me and my family, and no other way I can thank you more than to have you present me today. So for all of the things you’ve done for this city. We won a Super Bowl. You hosted a Super Bowl. And I just wanted to say thank you for all that you did for me, and the best thing I can do for an owner is to have you present me here today.”“Speaking of the city of Indianapolis, the fans. The fans are what makes this game possible, and I say this from the bottom of my heart. We have the best fans–no offense Green Bay, but I had the best fans in the game. Let me explain why, now anytime we’d lose a game or dropped a pass, they never booed me. Nothing. You all would say, ‘Don’t worry about it, Marvin. You’ll get the next one.’ I’m from Philadelphia, the home of the Eagles. If you get the coin toss wrong in Philadelphia, they want to trade you the first thing Monday morning. So, I wasn’t used to that in Indianapolis. We have the best fans.”Aug 6, 2016; Canton, OH, USA; Former Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Marvin Harrison reacts during the 2016 NFL Hall of Fame enshrinement at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports“To my teammates, Peyton (Manning). You came into the league and in your first year, I was happy to be a part of that and I saw the work ethic that you had. We carried that on for quite a few more years. So I just wanted to say thank you to Peyton.”“Edgerrin (James). Edgerrin, you and I talked everyday during practice. We’d talk about life after football. I just wanted to say thank you Edgerrin. You were a great teammate. We talked a lot about more than just football, just about life. So thank you to Edgerrin.”“My partner, Reggie. Reggie Wayne, man. I couldn’t have asked for a better partner than you. I mean I trusted Reggie with my life. If I had to go across the middle, Reggie had to curl it off for me. I knew full well he was going to get his job done. So when he came in, he brought in some talent. He worked hard. We challenged each other in practice. And Reggie, I just wanted to thank you for everything that you’ve done for me. And there’s not another receiver in the game that I would rather have on the other side of me than you. I just wanted to say thank you, bud.”“There may be one other receiver. I’m not going to mention the name. I want to get through here and stuff, so thank you.”“The guy that made the (bronze) bust, I wanted to say thank you. He’s spent a lot of time with me over the past 4 months, making it. And Michelle, you’ve been working all year long. She didn’t think I was going to come up on this stage and told me I was going to go 4th, and I told her that I wanted to go first and she didn’t want to gamble on it so she made sure I was first. She thought I was going to disappear on her, but I’m up here now.”“Retirement. Retirement was easy for one reason. I have two sons: Marvin and Jet. To be able to come home and be your coach, be your father, and be your friend. There is no other feeling that will ever do than to come home to you guys. You made life really worth it.”“The single most important person for me today, I just have to acknowledge her is my grandmother Louanna Harrison. You’ve been around for a long time. An extremely hard-working woman and my hard work and dedication came from somewhere and it probably had to start at the top of the Harrison family. So I just wanted to say thank you, that you’re still able to be here to see your grandson get into the Hall of Fame.” “Last, but not least, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone at Canton. This is my new home. A great group of guys that welcomed me in, and I just wanted to say thank you very much. I look forward to seeing you guys in the years to come. Thank you.”"
Even though he was at the podium for his Hall of Fame enshrinement, it still feels like Harrison was so underrated as a player–watching his film and highlight catches simply doesn’t do him enough justice.
Yet, I could still watch both for hours on-end.
In an era where wide receivers would eat pop corn, call on cell phones, and use other props to attract attention to themselves, Harrison would simply hand the ball to the referee after scoring a touchdown. He let his play on the field do the talking and was a breath of fresh air during a time where many superstar receivers were glorified divas.
In 13 NFL seasons, Harrison had 1,102 receptions for 14,580 receiving yards and 128 receiving touchdowns. That ranks 3rd all-time in receptions, 7th in career receiving yards, and 5th in career touchdowns respectively.
Harrison was a Super Bowl XLI Champion, 3x First-Team All-Pro, 5x Second-Team All-Pro, 8x Pro Bowler, and a member of the NFL 2000’s All-Decade Team.
Among his other accomplishments:
- His single season record of 143 receptions in 2002 is still the best all-time.
- He trails only Jerry Rice for most 1,500 receiving yard seasons with 3 such seasons.
- 1st Player to have 50+ receptions in his first 11 seasons
- 3rd for most consecutive games with a reception (190)
- Second fastest player to achieve 100 receiving touchdowns
- 3rd most receiving yards per game all-time (76.7 rec. yards per game)
Some of his elite cornerback contemporaries such as Champ Bailey, Charles Woodson, and Charles ‘Peanut’ Tillman have named Harrison as the toughest wideout they ever had to cover.
Not Randy Moss. Not Terrell Owens. Marvin Harrison.
Simply put, Harrison was the gold standard for how wide receivers should run routes, running every route like it was the same. There was a time where his curl play with Peyton Manning was nearly uncoverable for an easy 7-8 yards.
If a cornerback made a mistake, Harrison had the deep speed to burn them, making them look foolish in the process. That’s why most cornerbacks offered him so much cushion, having been burned too many times before.
Harrison showcased elite speed, hands, and route-running that was the model of consistency on a game-to-game and even year-to-year basis. He was the closest thing to Jerry Rice from that standpoint, that I’ve ever had the luxury of watching play.
It was the stuff of legends.
As such, it’s great to see him finally get some well-earned national recognition, as Harrison was enshrined into football immortality with his newly unveiled bronze bust in Canton, Ohio.
“Remember kid, there’s heroes and there’s legends.”
“Heroes get remembered but legends never die.”