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Former Green Bay Packers wide receiver Sterling Sharpe’s wait to become a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame came to an end on Saturday.
Sharpe delivered a heartfelt speech and received his bust in Canton on Saturday. But perhaps the most memorable moment of Sharpe’s special day involved returning the favor to his brother and fellow Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe.
Sterling handed his brother his long-awaited gold jacket on Saturday. The gesture came years after his brother gave him a Super Bowl ring, something he described as ” the most precious gift I’ve ever received.”
Sterling retired after the 1994 NFL season. Three seasons later, the Denver Broncos defeated the Packers in Super Bowl XXXII. The victory secured Shannon’s first championship ring. He gifted his older brother the coveted Super Bowl ring, before winning two more titles over the next three years.
During his speech on Saturday, Sterling acknowledged the special bond he shared with his younger brother. “Everything I did athletically, everything, I did for an audience of one,” Sterling said. “I didn’t want this person to look outside our own dinner table to find a role model.”
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Shannon was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2011. At the time, he famously declared his older brother was the better football player between the two of them.
“The last time I was here, you said you were the only pro football player in the Hall of Fame that could say this, that you were the second-best player in your own family. Well, I agree with that statement…,” Sterling quipped.
“It would be my extreme pleasure for you to be the only player in the Pro Football Hall of Fame with two gold jackets.”
The Sharpe brothers became the first sibling duo in NFL history to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
In a prerecorded video played before Sterling took the podium, Shannon lauded his brother for playing a physical style of football.
“He was a freight train,” Shannon said. “He was a physical receiver. He ran to contact. He didn’t shy away from it. It didn’t matter if it was a slant over the middle and he had to run through two tackles…
“He wanted to dole out the punishment, just as they were going to try to punish him.”
The elder Sharpe spent his entire storied career with the Packers, earning All-Pro honors three times and leading the NFL in receiving touchdowns twice. He was also the first player in league history to finish consecutive seasons with 100-plus receptions.
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