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Redskins Hog Limelight

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By MICHAEL MAROT

The Associated Press

Published: August 3, 2008

CANTON, Ohio - The Hall of Fame induction ceremony turned Hog wild Saturday.
Darrell Green and Art Monk walked across the stage waving their arms and urged thousands of Washington Redskins fans to give them one more salute. Emmitt Thomas, the former Chiefs player and Redskins coach, simply waved back.

And they applauded the three other inductees without Washington ties - Fred Dean, Andre Tippett and Gary Zimmerman - because they understood they would have been a good fit with the Redskins' blue-collar players.

Most didn't shed a tear.

Green, as usual, was the exception.

"Deacon Jones said I was gonna cry. You bet I'm gonna cry," he said after his son, Jared, introduced him. "You bet you're life I'm gonna cry. You bet your life I will. That's my boy, that's my boy right there."

From the red-and-yellow clad crowd to the pig's snouts to the responses whenever the Dallas Cowboys were mentioned, the ceremony looked more like a team Hall of Fame induction than a league-wide enshrinement.

Fans cheered louder each time Thomas mentioned a Redskins player or coach. They chanted "Dar-rell, Dar-rell."

Yes, it had everything but the band playing "Hail To The Redskins."

Dean, Tippett and Zimmerman all chose team owners as their introductory speakers. Green, Monk and Thomas each gave the honor to their sons. None was more moving than that by Derek Thomas, who suggested his dad finally let everyone know how good he was before breaking down as he tried to announce his dad's name.

"My dad always used to give me and my sister advice. Like most kids, we didn't always follow that advice," he said. "A piece of advice he gave me once was never make athletes your heroes because they make mistakes, too. I guess I didn't follow that advice very well. I'd like to introduce you to my hero, my mentor, my father, Emmitt Thomas."

In the middle of Dean's deliberate, emphatic speech that had the tone of a church sermon, he told the crowd he forgot his glasses and couldn't read his speech. Another Hall of Famer responded quickly by handing them to Dean.

"I think that's gonna work, dog," Dean said, drawing laughter.

Zimmerman talked about going from Minnesota to Denver, and learning about The Curse.

"It happens when you're protecting someone like John Elway and what happens is the night before the game you get little or no sleep," he said. "Because if you didn't do your job, you'll forever be known as the guy who lost our franchise. ... I would also like to thank John, it was worth every sleepless night."

Tippett, a fearsome pass rusher in the mold of Lawrence Taylor, talked about how he and his teammates at Iowa would pretend they played for the Pittsburgh Steelers in their black-and-gold uniforms.

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