Denver Broncos: Best moments from Hall of Fame weekend

Champ Bailey Receives His Gold Jacket

Champ Bailey’s night began with high praise from fellow Hall of Famer, coach Tony Dungy, who said on the broadcast, “Not many can call themselves shutdown corners. Champ Bailey was one of those corners. If you made a mistake, he could put it in the other end zone.”

Broncos Country knows this all too well.

My heart still skips a beat when I recall his 99-yard interception against Tom Brady in the 2005-06 playoffs, one of his all-time best highlights.

Bailey has the most Pro Bowl nods by a defensive back of all time (12) and this honor was often repeated throughout the weekend. Rich Eisen had this to say about no. 24 in his introduction:

“Champ Bailey somehow had 52 interceptions in his Hall of Fame career, which means that on 52 occasions, QB’s thought they could complete a pass against Champ Bailey. I would think it wouldn’t have taken that many tries to figure it out.”

Bailey received his gold jacket, and what a moment it was. We knew this man was so receiving of first-ballot honors, and I think we can all say it felt pretty good that we had to wait no longer to see this man get what he deserves.

After Bailey received his jacket, he took an opportunity to spread some words of wisdom with the crowd. “For me and how I perceive the game, it’s kind of what you want society to be. Very diverse, everybody working together as one. Wouldn’t it be great if our country was like that?” He then shared how he feels this concept needs to gravitate to how we approach our families, communities, and life in general.

It was noticed that Champ got a little emotional while receiving his jacket, and when asked what was going through his mind at that moment, he took the time to remember a legend, and he said he wished Pat was there.

This may be a good time to grab your tissues, as there are more tear-worthy moments on the way!

This was what he had to say when asked what it meant to be inducted with Pat, who viewed Champ as one of his favorites: “It means everything. He was the true definition of a leader and a great man. You heard the stories about him, you’ll continue to hear them. I think we should continue to echo those stories for the rest of time, because he was an example everybody should follow. Led by example, treated everybody the same, treated the guys on the bottom of the totem pole like they were on the top and that’s how you lead.”