Hall of Fame Report

We had a great time at the Pro Football Hall of Fame this weekend as we traveled up there to see our friend Bruce Matthews honored as a member of the class of 2007! The folks in Canton, Ohio really know how to plan and carry out a wonderful festival weekend.

Above are a couple of pictures from the front of the Hall and at Fawcett Stadium, where the Hall of Fame game was played Sunday night. The pictures below show Bruce giving his acceptance speech and the HOF mug that I won as a keepsake at the Friday night dinner.

Some quick observations about the weekend:

~ Lots of ex-players were in the crowd. They are Big and Tall. They made me feel, if not petite, at least almost average in height.

~ Big Men do cry. A lot. They supplied each inductee with an athletic towel. A couple of them made ample use of it. (Not Bruce).

~The guests were very friendly. We met lots of interesting people, including the current head of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes who, along with his wife, were seated next to us at the Friday dinner.

~The dinners were similar to industry or corporate events where awards you never heard of are given to people you don't know (unless you are a die-hard sports fan and consumer of sports news).

~Whenever I hear someone invoke their "spiritual advisor" I am immediately on my guard. Michael Irvin began his way-too-long and way-too-confessional acceptance speech with these words. Let me just say--too much information IMHO.

~The most poignant moment was when three of the members of the HOF wheeled out Gene Hickerson, who is suffering from Alzheimer's disease during the ceremony. His son had to give his acceptance speech.

~Every member of the HOF is represented by a bronze bust. Some are better likenesses than others. Bruce's doesn't look like him much at all. He joked that they had to pay extra for the bronze to cover his "dome" (high forehead).

~ There was a family-friendly carnival party for the Matthews' guests after the ceremony complete with jugglers, carnival games, an ice cream soda fountain, popcorn, funnel cakes and cotton candy. A perfect reflection of the family-focused Matthews clan.

~ Bruce must be exhausted. He was constantly being greeted, giving autographs, posing for photos and being ushered around from event to press opportunity along with the rest of the group. He's not someone who seeks or enjoys a lot of personal attention. I bet he was really glad to get home.

~El Jefe was really flattered when a former-player-looking-guy came up to him with a Hall of Fame football and asked him to sign it! We are still wondering who they thought he was, but as El Jefe quipped, "whoever he thought I was, I'm definitely down from my playing weight!

Bruce Matthews: My Favorite Hall of Famer

This weekend our friend Bruce Matthews will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton Ohio. If you're interested in reading about his remarkable 19 year career in the NFL you can go here. I'm going to share some things about Bruce that you won't read in the sports reports.

El Jefe and I got to know Bruce and his family years ago when we attended the same church. There are seven children in the family--five boys and 2 girls--which keeps Bruce and his wife Carrie hopping. Nonetheless they filled up a couple of pews on the side of the sanctuary every Sunday they were in town. El Jefe and my girls usually sat near them in what Babs termed "Testosterone Row" (because of all the boys).

Bruce has a wonderful singing voice, too, but because he needed to corral his restless band of cowpokes in worship he couldn't join the choir. But one year the children's choir director persuaded him to play the role of Goliath in the children's musical presentation of David and Goliath. My friend Dorothy and I had to create his Goliath costume from scratch. There's no pattern in the McCall's catalogue that will fit a strapping NFL center! Bruce was a great Goliath and it was a memorable performance.

Once the Houston Oilers morphed into the Tennessee Titans, the Matthews family spent football season in Nashville and the rest of the year in Houston. The first year they returned after football season was my first year as Director of Christian Education. Bruce came to me the first Sunday he was back and asked if he could help teach Sunday School. Could he ever! Bruce led the high school Sunday School class for several years. He was a wonderful teacher because he related easily to the kids. An evangelical Christian, Bruce shared freely with them how important his faith in Christ was for him in his personal and professional lives and encouraged their spiritual growth. That class had its highest attendance in the years he led it.

Bruce has a degree in industrial engineering from USC, so he began a small construction business that he worked with in the off season. He often loaned the services of his company to do repairs or upgrades for the church's physical plant. One time I asked the session for bookcases for my office when Bruce was serving as the elder in charge of buildings and grounds. Lo and behold a few days later Bruce appeared toting two extremely heavy tall bookcases that he assembled for me himself. El Jefe nominated him to the board of our presbytery's conference center and he was very helpful there with their building and expansion projects.

El Jefe and Bruce shared a deep interest in the history of the Civil War and had the same political, religious and theological viewpoints. Every Sunday between services they solved the problems of the world and the church on the porch outside the sanctuary. Every Sunday that he played football we were looking for number 74 on our television screen. In the past couple of years both of our families moved to different churches and we miss seeing them every Sunday.

With all the scandals today erupting around professional athletes in almost any sport you can it is important to recognize someone like Bruce Matthews, who not only excelled in his sport but lives a life of integrity and faith worth emulating. El Jefe and I were invited to attend the festivities at the Pro Football Hall of Fame this weekend with the Matthews' family and friends this weekend. We're off to Canton, Ohio tomorrow morning for this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Hooray for Bruce!