It was a beautiful night in Foxborough at Gillette Stadium as the greatest player the New England Patriots have ever had and ever will have made a final official visit. With his various former teammates and coaches in attendance, Tom Brady, the greatest quarterback of all time, was inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame.
Usually, players have to wait for four years before they are eligible to be inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame. However, owner Robert Kraft made an exception for a very special player who did a ton for the organization and the New England region. It was a powerful and emotional night.
Tom Brady’s Emotional Hall Of Fame Induction
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Many emotional moments were had during the event, not just by Tom Brady when he talked about Robert Kraft’s late wife Myra Kraft, or during his speech at the end of the ceremony, but by former wide receiver Randy Moss as well. After receiving a loud and long standing ovation from the crowd, Moss got overwhelmed with emotion and started to cry. He felt an immense amount of gratitude for the fans.
Randy Moss played just four seasons with the New England Patriots but made a huge impact during that time. In Moss’ first season with the team in 2007, he set an NFL single-season record for most receiving touchdowns with 23. That record still stands today and will likely not be broken anytime soon. Ever since that season, a wide receiver has not caught more than 17 touchdowns in a single season.
Continuing with the emotional nature, there was a video of Tom Brady’s family, including his mom and dad, and two out of Tom’s three sisters. Tom’s dad Tom Brady Sr. and mom Galynn Brady talked about their kids growing up and how Tom was the youngest of the four in a family full of athletes. Because of this, Tom was ultra-competitive playing with his older sisters. I guess some things never change.
My favorite moment was a clip of a kid asking Brady who his hero is during Super Bowl media week seven years ago and Tom said his dad is his hero and got choked up. Brady’s dad also got emotional watching that and went on to say that that’s the goal of a father, to have that kind of a relationship with his son where he appreciates him.
A Star-Studded Lineup Of Speakers
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Several of Tom Brady’s former teammates spoke about him both as a player and as a person at the Hall of Fame induction. There were teammates present who were there in the early days of Tom Brady as a Patriot, including Willie McGinest, Drew Bledsoe, Ty Law, and more! Willie McGinest commented, “He’s a better person than he is a football player.”
There were also newer teammates of Brady, who were there after multiple Super Bowl rings, including Julian Edelman, Rob Gronkowski, Devin McCourty, and more!
A common theme his teammates and everybody else talked about was how hard of a competitor Tom Brady was and how hard he worked. Other Boston professional athletes like Paul Pierce, David Ortiz, and Patrice Bergeron also recorded messages congratulating Tom on his Hall of Fame induction.
Former opponents like Eli Manning, Michael Strahan, Ray Lewis, and Charles Woodson also recorded some nice words to say about the GOAT for the Hall of Fame induction. Several sportscasters also recorded remarks. Jim Nantz, Al Michaels, Joe Buck, and fellow Michigan man and Tom Brady hipster Rich Eisen all had great things to say about the GOAT.
long-time rival Peyton Manning made an in-person appearance at the Hall of Fame induction because he said that he would not talk about Tom Brady to a camera again. He also made some nice comments about his former opponent and main competition. Although Manning is known to be a comedian a lot, he kept it sincere and made it known that this was Brady’s night.
“When you played against a Tom Brady team, you better be at your best because if you weren’t, Tom Brady was gonna beat you every time.”
Another great quality of Tom Brady was his ability to bring people together. Rob Gronkowski said that Brady is the only person who can bring all these fans, and former players to descend together upon Gillette Stadium on one Wednesday night in June.
Bill Belichick Makes Another Appearance
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Bill Belichick made another appearance at a Tom Brady event, the other recent appearance being the Roast of Tom Brady. He was given a very warm welcome from the fans. It seemed like the ovation and cheers for him went almost 5 minutes! Belichick did what he does best, pointed out things that most people don’t see. He went on to say that what made Tom Brady great was his ability to not make bad plays. He was a very disciplined quarterback and was very methodical in his approach on the field.
“He was a model for consistency,” Belichick said.
In a great moment of unity after all the divisiveness about who was more responsible for the Patriots’ success between Brady and Belichick, Brady said in his speech at the end,
“It wasn’t me. It wasn’t you. It was us.”
That got thunderous applause from the audience. Brady then went on to say that he would not have rather played for any other coach. It has been well-documented that Tom Brady and Bill Belichick didn’t have the greatest relationship and that it deteriorated in Brady’s last couple of years with the Patriots. Even with that, it was a great gesture by Tom to give equal credit to Belichick. It was a classy move.
All in all, it was an all-time great ceremony for an all-time great player. A good number of fans didn’t quite like how Tom Brady’s time ended in New England and Bill Belichick certainly had a lot to do with it. However, it was great that they seemed to have squashed the beef there at Gillette Stadium and that Brady and the fans got some good closure about his time with the Patriots.
The seven-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback ended his speech with this sentence while choking back tears.
“I am Tom Brady and I am a Patriot.”
You can’t get much more cut and dry than that.
About The Author
Cooper Sherman is an avid NFL fan and enjoys watching and covering it the most. The NFL is king. He previously wrote and was a podcaster for the online publications Pro Sports Fanatics and Jersey Column. He is also an NBA fan and watches it occasionally, more when the NFL season ends. Tennis is also an underrated sport to watch. His teams are the Patriots and Celtics, as tough as it is to be a Patriots fan right now. He is optimistic that Jerod Mayo will turn this team in the right direction! Follow him on Instagram and Threads @coopstershermy456, and X/Twitter @justcoopthings.
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