Road to greatness
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CANTON, Ohio — Sports fans wanted to talk passing stats and lifetime achievements. But Steve Young wanted to talk about love of family, perseverance and real greatness.
During his induction speech into the NFL Hall of Fame, he drew lessons from his 13 star-studded years as a professional football player to teach lessons of eternal importance.
"I have found the secret to life: loving others more than yourself," he said to a sun-drenched crowd of 21,000 Aug. 7, gathered in Fawcett Stadium, including his parents, his wife, Barb, and their two sons, Braden and Jackson.
The former BYU and San Francisco 49ers quarterback was one of four inducted into the Hall of Fame, including Dan Marino, Fritz Pollard and Benny Friedman. Of the more than 17,000 who have played the game professionally, he's among the 229 greatest ever.
The first left-handed player to be inducted gave an 18-minute oration on happy memories, conquering insurmountable obstacles and finding true happiness.
Beginning with a childhood incident, Brother Young recounted challenges that steeled his nerve to become, what his former 49ers coach Bill Walsh called, "the best player in all of football at one point."
With his mother, Sherry, sitting near the front, Brother Young told of when she charged the field one day when he was 8 years old.
"She was upset that another kid had neck-tackled me and knocked the wind out of me," he said. "It was supposed to illegal, but no penalty was called, so she felt it imperative to rush the field and help her boy.
"Imagine the visual," he continued, "late 1960s, a 20s-age woman, in a dress, purse on her shoulder, big sunglasses, high-heeled shoes aerating the field. She grabbed the kid on the other team, picked him up by the shoulder pads and told him he better not do it again," he said to the delight of the crowd.
"Mom," he continued, "now you know why we never gave you any field-level tickets."
Unlike the other Hall of Fame inductees, Brother Young did not rise to stardom the moment he stepped onto the field — neither in college nor the pros.
As a freshman at BYU, listed eighth on the depth chart to play quarterback, he was encouraged to consider a different position, like defensive back, if he wanted to play.
This was a moment of truth. "I had the faith that the opportunity would create itself at the appropriate time," he said. "The road to greatness is not a smooth path."
Learning from failures was as important as successes, he said, noting how "the boos motivated me to work harder."
He recounted a conversation with former BYU coach LaVell Edwards prior to the ceremony. "He said, 'It's amazing that you came to college not knowing how to throw a football.' "
But he applied himself and learned from some of football's finest coaches. At times after games at BYU, he would dwell more on the handful of passes he missed, instead of gloating in the three dozen he completed.
In the end, after reliving the glory moments, such as huddling with the team after their 1994 Super Bowl victory to bask in the joy of victory and close friendships, he said life "will never again be third-and-10, late in the fourth quarter, down by four, at Candlestick Park. Nothing in life can be like those great moments.
"But today, life for me is even better," he said. "I have found the secret to life: loving others more than yourself."
