CANTON, Ohio — For Kenny Easley, the wait was all worthwhile.
Easley, a hard-hitting safety for the Seahawks and a member of the 1980s All-Decade Team, was inducted Saturday night into the Pro Football Hall of Fame along with running backs Terrell Davis and LaDainian Tomlinson, quarterback Kurt Warner, defensive end Jason Taylor, placekicker Morten Andersen and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
A seniors committee choice, Easley played only seven seasons and 89 games for Seattle. But what an impact he made as an intimidator and ballhawk.
The 1981 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, Easley was the league’s top overall defender in 1984 when he had a league-leading 10 interceptions, a career high.
Easley, who was presented for induction by his high school coach, Tommy Rhodes, retired after the 1987 season. He had to wait 24 years before being voted into the hall.
“I was first nominated for the hall in 1997,” Easley said. “Twenty years later — be anxious for nothing — the Hall of Fame was dropped on the shoulders of Kenny Easley like a pair of shoulder pads. Some folks said I deserved to be in the hall earlier; I don’t believe that. Others say he didn’t play long enough, I don’t believe that.”
Easley concluded a politically and religiously toned speech by saying: “I thank you for welcoming me into your exclusive club.”
As he so often did on the field, Tomlinson stole the show. With a powerful speech calling for “Team America” to be a place for inclusion and opportunity, the great running back of the Chargers was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday night.
“Football is a microcosm of America,” Tomlinson said. “All races, religions and creeds, living, playing, competing side by side. When you’re part of a team, you understand your teammates — their strengths and weaknesses — and work together toward the same goal, to win a championship.
“Let’s not choose to be against one another. Let’s choose to be for one another. … I pray we dedicate ourselves to being the best team we can be, working and living together, representing the highest ideals of mankind. Leading the way for all nations to follow.”
Tomlinson and Taylor were elected in their first year of eligibility. Taylor’s emotional speech during which he had to pause several times to compose himself was another highlight.
A third-round draft pick from Akron, Taylor’s 139 1/2 career sacks helped him make the All-Decade Team of the 2000s. He also was the NFL’s Man of the Year in 2007.
“I honestly can’t believe I am here,” Taylor said. “In 1992 I was at the University of Akron, just 20 miles away. It took 20 years to travel 20 miles to put on this jacket. It was worth every step.”
Andersen, the league’s career scoring leader, joined Jan Stenerud as the only placekickers in Canton.
A native of Denmark who knew nothing of American football when he came to this country as a teenager, Andersen played an incredible 25 pro seasons, a league record. A member of the NFL’s 1980s and ’90s All-Decade Teams, he played 382 total games, scored 2,544 points.
“Good evening, Canton, Ohio,” he began. “Good morning Denmark.”
It took Warner years to get discovered by the NFL. By way of the Arena Football League, NFL Europe — and stocking shelves at a grocery store in between football jobs — Warner stepped in when Trent Green tore up his knee in a 1999 preseason game.
He went on to win two NFL MVP awards and one league title, reinvigorating moribund Rams and then Cardinals franchises along the way.
“People say Hollywood couldn’t have written it any better,” Warner noted. “After this, they don’t have a chance.”
Davis had a similar story. A sixth-round draft pick after a nondescript career at Long Beach State and Georgia, his mercurial NFL stay (seven years, five of them spectacular) had been something of a hindrance for entry into the hall. But he was the catalyst for the NFL titles Denver won in 1997 and ’98 with another Hall of Famer, John Elway.
