Favre, Dungy highlight Hall of Fame induction, but others also shined

Brett Favre and Tony Dungy were the clear headliners for the 2016 Pro Football Hall of Fame class, each charming the crowd in far different ways, but there were other great highlights throughout Saturday night’s induction ceremony.

Two of the funnier other speeches came from pass rushing great Kevin Greene, who played for four teams, and former San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr.

Greene traced his career from Auburn to the NFL and dropped several hilarious lines — including a great one on Bo Jackson — and also spoke from the heart.

[Yahoo Fantasy Football is open for the 2016 season. Sign up now]

DeBartolo, who said he “might be the only inductee in this Hall that didn’t make his high school football team,” is a great storyteller, and he managed to zing one of his former players, Jerry Rice, with an unflattering nickname from the old days. It was enough to make Rice get out of his seat (twice) in an exchange that make the crowd roar.

Dungy was the penultimate speaker of the night. He spoke about the importance of his faith and the significance of being the first African-American to win a Super Bowl as head coach with the Indianapolis Colts and the second in the Hall of Fame after Fritz Pollard. He closed his speech by mentioning the 10 African-American coaches who where in the NFL when he started his coaching career, saying that “those men were like my dad.”

But the night belonged to Favre.

With chants of “Go, Pack, Go” raining down before he took the stage for his speech, Favre had to feel like he was at Lambeau Field. The stands were full of Green Bay Packers fans, and Favre delivered a vintage No. 4 performance — long, mostly brilliant and all from the heart.

It centered emotionally around his late father, Irv, who died in 2003 and whom Favre said would have been his presenter had he still been alive. Favre honored his father that week almost 13 years ago by going out and playing a great game in beating the Oakland Raiders. He topped that Saturday night by telling a heartfelt story of the inspiration his father was to him throughout his life.

“I want you to know, Dad, that I spent the rest of my career trying to redeem myself,” Favre said through a trembling voice, several times fighting back tears and needing to pause before continuing. “I hope I succeeded.”

Favre also mixed in his trademark humor, rambled through several great stories and turned in one of the longest, but certainly also one of the most memorable speeches, in Hall history.

Dungy’s former wide receiver, Marvin Harrison, kicked off the ceremony. Introduced by Jim Irsay, the quiet Harrison — who rarely did interviews during his 13-year career — started his speech by joking that he had no plans to “break the record for the shortest speech,” and he kept to his word more than surpassing the 3-minute, 46-second speech of former Pittsburgh Steelers defender and scout Jack Butler.

Harrison’s quarterback, Peyton Manning, predicted the length of his receiver’s speech to be 9:20. Former Colts center Jeff Saturday went with five minutes. Harrison blew them away, clocking in at just over 11 minutes.

And he made more than one funny line. The Philadelphia native thanked Colts fans for being the “best in the NFL,” apologizing to the legion of Packers fans who made the trip for Favre. Harrison added: “In Philadelphia, if you get the coin toss wrong, they want to trade you the first thing Monday morning.”

Harrison had a complex legacy in the NFL, but there was little doubting his greatness as a player — and it turns out he’s a bit funnier than we thought.

St. Louis Rams offensive tackle Orlando Pace was a quiet man, too, and often took a backseat to his more famous “Greatest Show on Turf” teammates — including fellow Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk, whom Pace thanked along with the trio of Kurt Warner, Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt, three players Pace said he hoped he could stand alongside as Hall of Famers one day.

Pace was held to unbelievable expectations as one of just a handful of offensive linemen ever to be No. 1 overall picks, and he had a brilliant career — especially during the heyday of those Rams teams from 1999 to 2004. Introduced by his son, Justin, on Saturday night, Pace also was honored at the former Edward Jones Dome in July at halftime of Bruce’s charity flag football game where many of his former teammates spoke about his greatness.

Pace thanked many people from high school to his final years in the NFL and, in a poignant moment, made sure to mention his former Ohio State teammate, Korey Stringer, who died 15 years ago this week in training camp with the Minnesota Vikings. “As a freshman I wanted to play the game the way he played the game,” Pace said of Stringer. “I’d love to share this honor with you, Big K. I love you.”

Hall of Fame coach Marv Levy spoke on behalf of the late Dick Stanfel, an offensive guard who played only seven NFL seasons before pursuing a coaching career. “He was named ‘the guard of the 1950s,’ but I think he was the guard of the century,” Levy said.

Stanfel was a finalist for Hall of Fame as a senior candidate twice when he was line — in 1993 and in 2012 — but failed to be inducted until after his death. Sadly, the same fate happened to Oakland Raiders quarterback Kenny Stabler, who also was inducted posthumously.

John Madden was support to present “The Snake,” who died last year at age 69 after being stricken with colon cancer, but couldn’t make it. In Madden’s place, Stabler’s two grandsons, Justin and Jack Moyes, got emotional on stage — surrounded by many of Stabler’s former Raiders teammates — when his bust was unveiled.

– – – – – – –

Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!

Follow @Eric_Edholm