HBCU News Spotlight:
Sterling and Shannon Sharpe have now made history as the first siblings to enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame. This comes 14 years after the younger Sharpe brother, Shannon, was first inducted and received his gold jacket. Back then, in 2011, Shannon praised his brother by calling him his “role model” and “father figure,” and said that he was the “second-best player” in his family even though he received the honor first.
Sterling, 60, played for the Green Bay Packers from 1988 to 1994, when a neck injury abruptly ended his career. In his speech, he said some emotional words about Shannon, 57, sharing that his goal was to be a role model to the former tight end, who played in the NFL for fourteen seasons and won three Super Bowl championships, two with the Denver Broncos and one with the Baltimore Ravens.
“Everything I did athletically, I did for an audience of one,” he said of his younger brother. “When you grow up in rural South Georgia, it’s hard to find heroes, and I didn’t want this person to look outside our own dinner table to find a role model.”
He then invited Shannon on stage to celebrate the honor together, and gave him his gold jacket, returning the gesture Shannon did for him when he won his first Super Bowl Ring in 1998.
Earlier this week, Shannon tried to celebrate his older brother’s accomplishment while addressing his own controversy on his podcast “Nightcap.” The Athletic reported this week that the “Club Shay Shay” host was fired from ESPN following the conclusion of the rape lawsuit brought against him in April of this year, which he settled earlier this week. He hasn’t appeared on the network since the initial filing of the lawsuit.
Sharpe responded on his podcast, saying he wished ESPN had waited until after Sterling’s Hall of Fame ceremony to break the news. Then, he apologized to his brother earlier for taking away from his moment.
“I hate the fact that I’m overshadowing my brother. I’m sorry that I upstaged you in this manner.”
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