Bruschi and Santos Inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame

The New England Patriots welcomes two new members to their hall of fame Monday night when longtime broadcaster Gil Santos and former linebacker Tedy Bruschi were inducted in front of a jam packed crowd outside of Gillette Stadium.

Speaking for nearly a half hour, Bruschi gave a passionate speech where he thanked practically everyone that had ever helped him in his football career.

It was somewhat ironic that a player known for being a team player was being honored with an individual achievement.

“The red jacked was never the goal. Free hats and t-shirts were,” Bruschi said, referring to the free merchandise given for winning titles.

It was an interesting journey for the linebacker that was originally a defensive tackle from San Francisco and never played organized football until he was 14.

Bruschi knew he was destined for football at eight years old after tackling his father while jumping into a family game of football. It wasn’t until high school however when Bruschi played his first organized game as a defensive tackle and on the offensive line. Despite his success at the positions, his father always advised him to play linebacker, a position the future Patriots never believed he would play.

The persistence from his father to change positions would come even after an NCAA record 52 sacks at the University of Arizona. The move would finally come only moments after being selected in the third round of the NFL Draft by the Patriots. Talking with former Patriots’ coach Bill Parcells shortly after becoming a Patriot, Bruschi was told that he would play linebacker. 13 seasons later, the moved seemed to work out well. While his father passed away in 2001, Bruschi had one more message for his dad on the issue of position.

“I'll tell you what I should of told him a long time ago. Dad, you were right but so was I, sort of,” Bruschi said to the laugher of those in attendance.

Never one for personal stats, only one individual statistic mattered to Bruschi. After suffering a stroke in 2005 and becoming the only player to return to football from one, the tackles he made after his return is one of the few stats he holds dear.

“One number sticks out in my mind and it's 366. That's 366 tackles I made as a stroke survivor,” Bruschi said.

On the heels of his final season as the team’s radio play-by-play announcer, Santos called the honor “the high point of my broadcast career of almost 50 years.”

Santos spent 36 years behind the mic for the Patriots, calling 745 games for the Pats including 33 of the franchise’s 41 playoff games.

“It (calling Patriots games) was never a job. It was an honor, a privilege,” Santos said.

Broadcasting was the goal for Santos ever since he heard Mel Allen call the Rose Bowl when he was 10. It was a dream he had despite the fact that he could not speak English until first grade. The child of immigrants from Portugal, only Portuguese was spoken in the Santos home. 

“I find it ironic that 60 years later I am going into the Patriots Hall of Fame for my ability to speak English,” Santos joked.

Another anecdote about a parent/teacher conference between Santos’ senior physics teacher and parents foreshadowed his future career and his love to talk. After the teacher told his parents that Santos had a bad habit of talking to his schoolmates during lessons, the teacher remarked, "I don't know what he'll do for a living, but if you can get him a job doing blah blah blah he'll be fine."

Santos ended with a final anecdote about a magazine article he read years ago. In the article, the reader was challenged to sum of their life in six words, something that was quite simple.

“I am a very lucky man,” Santos said.