Michael Strahan received the honor of being elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday, and the NFL made the announcement amidst Super Bowl preparations.
Strahan’s name was announced to loud cheers from the audience at Radio City Music Hall. The former New York Giants player was 2001 NFL Defensive Player of the Year and was on the NFL’s All-Decade team in the 2000s. He was one of seven players to be selected for the Fall of Fame.
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On Monday, his “Live with Kelly and Michael” co-host Kelly Ripa took the opportunity to honor him on the show. Strahan entered the studio to screaming fans amid red, white, and blue confetti and streamers.
On the show, he confessed that he wanted to quit playing football his first semester of college, but his dad gave him a look when he said he was thinking about dropping out and getting a job, stopping him from throwing in the towel.
“He scared me into going back to school,” Strahan told Ripa. “My parents are really happy.
“I remember getting awards in college and I used to think I want to do this and I want to do that, and then I’d get the award, and I’d be like ‘oh, I got it.’ But until I would take it back to Germany and give the trophies to my parents, and then it was like that’s why I’m doing this, to make my parents proud. Not necessarily for me,” he added.
Strahan said his parents supported his efforts, with his dad always saying “when” you do something, not “if.”
He tweeted Sunday:
Derrick Brooks was also inducted into the Hall of Fame, being selected on his first year of eligibility. Brooks was one of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ top linebackers.
Other inductees this year include Andre Reed, Walter Jones, Aeneas Williams, Claude Humphrey, and Ray Guy, the NFL announced.
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