CHARLES WOODSON: (Singing) Mama, mama, you know I love you. Mama, mama, you're the queen of my heart. Your love is like tears from the stars.
(Cheers and applause.)
I think I lost a bet. I love my mama, man.
(Cheers and applause.)
Look no further than my mama to find out where I get it from. My passion, how hard I work, that comes from my mother.
(Cheers and applause.)
I watched her every day as a child get up, work her fingers to the bone to make sure that she provided for her family, for myself, my brother and my sister. Single‑parent household.
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They say that– you hear people say a woman can't raise a man. I call bullshit.
(Cheers and applause.)
My mama raised two of them. Thank you, Mama.
I want to thank my dad. I want to thank my hometown of Fremont, Ohio. They say it takes a village to raise a child, and my village certainly done right by me and my family. So I thank you.
So to my mom, my dad, my hometown: Without you, I am not here.
To my sister, Shannon, who cannot be here to join in this occasion: Big moment for our family. Dealing with COVID. She's fighting.
(Cheers and applause.)
You know, throughout my career, I can remember getting calls from my sister periodically, whether I was riding down the 880 freeway in Oakland, or Lombardi Avenue in Green Bay, and she would just hit me with these three words: “Hey, little brother, I love you.”
It always seemed to hit me at the right time, you know, to get me through the day or get me through the week. Sister, I just want you to know we're thinking about you. Wish you were here. I love you. Without you, I am not here.
To my brother, Terry, my brother, my rabbit who I was chasing as a child: You built me for this game through tough love. I remember we would wrestle as kids, man, and fight. You would hold me down, and you'd make that fist, man, and put your knuckle out and just hit me in the same place till my skin would raise, and I had to sit there and endure that pain.
But when I go back and think about 2002, going through the playoffs with a broken leg, and I think about the coach telling me, “You've got to practice if you're going to play,” and I had to go out there and run around on that leg every day and practice just to prove that I could do it. On a Sunday.
And I did that. We made it to the Super Bowl. The only problem is I ran into Derrick Brooks and (John) Lynch, and it didn't turn out so well.
But, Bro, you built me for an 18‑year career. I thank you for that tough love. Without you, I am not here.
(Cheers and applause.)
My boy James, my brother from another mother: Ain't nobody in this world, man, that I would want to stand back to back with, toe to toe, and fight with anybody. As a matter of fact, we've done that a couple of times. We got this tattoo years ago, man, that said "My Brother's Keeper." And we've been having each other's back ever since. Man, I love you, man, like no other. Without you, I'm not here.
To my family, my wife, my kids. April, my front, my back, my side to side. I told you years ago that you was the best thing that ever happened to me, and that still rings true today.
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You lift me up. You keep me humble. You make me honest. You've allowed me and made me the best version of myself, and I love you for that. I thank you and I love you now and forever. Without you, I most definitely am not here.
To my boys, Charles and Chase, you guys don't quite understand it right now. You haven't been through anything. You haven't fought for anything as hard and as long as I have, as these men up here. But once you go through life, you go through your own journey, and life throws its obstacles at you.
When you turn 35, 40 years old, you'll begin to understand why a grown man will stand up here and cry.
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For me and your mother, the sun, the moon and the stars revolve around you two boys. I just want you to do one thing for me: Love your mother the way that I love mine.
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You see, football is what I did. But those people that I mentioned, that's who I am. I love you guys. I love you back.
And I need you to indulge me for a minute. My teams. Fremont Ross Little Giants. Anybody that went to Fremont Ross, any player that played with me, please stand up. Stand up.
Any Michigan Wolverine out there, a player, keep standing, keep standing. Any Michigan Wolverine, stand up. Any Green Bay Packer, past, future, present, old fans, stand up. Any Oakland Raider fan, Las Vegas Raider fan, stand up. Keep standing. Keep standing.
Anybody who's a fan of the way I played the game of football, you stand up to. Anybody.
(Cheers and applause.)
My coach, Lloyd Carr, told me a long time ago: There's no one bigger than the team. No one bigger than the team.
The things we were able to– keep standing. Don't sit down. Stand up.
(Cheers and applause.)
We did this together. Together, me and you. We were Mr. Ohio together. We were a Heisman Trophy winner together. We were National Champions together. We were Defensive Rookies together, Defensive Player of the Year together. Super Bowl champions, together.
(Cheers and applause.)
So when I say that when I go in, we all go in, I mean that from the bottom of my heart.
So I want to say thank you to all my coaches that ever pushed me to be better, all my teammates who I battled against and went into battle with, all my trainers who pieced me back together to get me back in the game, the medical staff, I thank you. I would not be here without you.
You may sit down now, thank you.
(Cheers and applause.)
You know, I grew up hour and a half west from here, in Fremont, Ohio. It's where I picked up my first pair of cleats to play this great game that we play. And I feel like it's so fitting that here today I put those cleats down for the last time, here in Canton, Ohio, and I walk into the Hall of Fame.
I leave you with this: Be unique, innovative, learn discipline. You own undeniable respect. Love everyone, give everything, never doubt, build your legend.
Thank you. We're in the Hall of Fame, baby.
(Cheers and applause.)