Just last week, the Hall of Fame issued the following statement about his daughter Sydney previously thinking she would be allowed to speak. The unveiling usually includes a presenter and the enshrinee, but will include Sydney and her three brothers. Sydney also will practise the Thursday overnight “Gold Jacket” rite, the very first chief occasion of…
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It will still be a very sad day for all, as we wish Junior could be there to make one of his great speeches on his way in to the Hall, but now his wishes will be followed.
Baker’s goal was echoed by his longtime friend and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who earlier spoke to the Hall of Fame president encouraging him to seek additional ways for Sydney Seau to speak about her father. Seau’s three sons will also be able to participate in the unveiling.
The change comes after a firestorm of criticism sparked by a July 24 Times article in which the Seau family expressed frustration at not being given a chance to speak. “Should she choose not to speak afterward, that should be okay”.
The former San Diego Charger killed himself on May 2, 2012 in his home in Oceanside.
As it turns out, the Hall of Fame has a hard rule for posthumous inductions and does not permit anything more than a video presentation containing a speech given by the inductee’s presenter. After his death, he was diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a neurodegenerative disease due to repeated head trauma that has been found in the brains of dozens of deceased NFL players.
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She won’t be giving an induction speech in place of her late father. It wasn’t going to be about this mess. Instead, a longer-than-usual video with highlights of the player’s career and comments from his family and friends will be shown before his bronze bust is unveiled at the ceremony in Canton, Ohio. He was named to the all-decade team of the 1990s. Researchers did find evidence and his family has since sued the NFL.
