Spotlight on Hall of Fame's 2025 class at Gold Jacket dinner but others share the moment

CANTON — This crusty old town turns into a glamorous oasis during the Gold Jacket Dinner.

Memorial Civic Center, in its 75th year, seems the most debonair of silver foxes when the lights go soft, a full house dressed to the nines settles in, and history’s most famous football icons put on a pleasant little parade.

The dinner has had different names but has been in the same place for ages. It does more than set up Saturday’s Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement. It sparkles with an alive camaraderie and some friendly ghosts.

Friday night's guests of honor were Antonio Gates, Eric Allen, Jared Allen and Sterling Sharpe, the Class of 2025. They received their gold jackets signifying they are now in the club.

Returning enshrinees were called to a stage in the heart of the big crowd.

The 100-plus of them approached one by one, many limping, several using canes, many more mixing struts, waves, and antics.

Six-foot-8 former receiver Harold Carmichael flapped his arms like a slow-motion flamingo as ascended a ramp to where Fouts ran the show. Famed speedster Darrell Green mimed running up the ramp and grabbing a hamstring.

Bobby Bell got a thank-you-very-much ovation when Fouts noted he had returned to Canton for the 43rd time. The applause went on for quite a while when Fouts said, “This man has beaten cancer four times,” and Jim Kelly appeared.

Former Ohio State Buckeyes and Hall of Fame members Cris Carter, Randy Gradishar, Orlando Pace and Randy Gradishar kept O-Hs echoing as they were introduced. Steve Wyche, emcee for the night, had teed up the O-H theme by smartly playing to the crowd.   

Those who have been to the dinner many times feel the history the most.

The local ghosts elicit the most chills.

Cleveland icons Paul Brown (1908-1991), Marion Motley (1920-1999), Lou Groza (1924-2000), Otto Graham (1921-2003), Bill Willis (1921-2007) and Jim Brown (1936-2023) drew uproarious cheers at dinners past, in this same arena, en route to fields beyond the horizon. Their day was eons ago when the Browns won championships.

The latest dinners always call to mind the more distinctive ones.

Roger Staubach was the biggest star on “America’s Team.” If you disliked that his Dallas Cowboys had the audacity to embrace the nickname, you still had to like Staubach, especially if you were an Ohioan.

He grew up in Cincinnati. Reds slugger Ted Kluszewski lived less than two miles from his house. Roger frequently rode his bicycle that way hoping to catch a glimpse of “Klu.”

It was a pretty big thrill when he chanced to meet his hero one day.

Staubach was a defensive back who didn’t even want to play quarterback, but a Cincinnati Purcell High School coach who saw him throwing baseballs from the outfield got him tossing footballs.

“I think God has His hand in these things,” Staubach says.

He played football and baseball for the U.S. Naval Academy, then served a five-year commitment to his country.

You may not recall Brandon Weeden, a Browns’ first-round pick who was a 28-year-old rookie in 2012. Staubach, who was a 27-year-old Cowboys rookie in 1969, is remembered by everyone who saw him sock it to the 1970s after he finally got out of the Navy.

In 1985, Staubach was part of what was then and remains 40 years later the most star-studded Pro Football Hall of Fame Class.

Class of 1985 members were Joe Namath, O.J. Simpson, Pete Rozelle and Frank Gatski. Gatski was an outlier on the national fame-o-meter, but he was a huge hit with locals because he was a center during the Otto Graham/Paul Brown dynasty.

Each was an event unto himself at the dinner. Namath invented swag. Simpson was so big a personality that his role in a murder saga years later was the trial of the century. Rozelle was a rock-star commissioner.

Staubach stole the show the day after the dinner at the Hall of Fame Game.

The Giants were in town with an assistant coach no one knew, Bill Belichick. Quarterback Warren Moon was the face of the other team, the Houston Oilers.

Few cared much that the Giants took a 7-6 halftime lead. Everyone in Fawcett Stadium wanted to see that Hall of Fame class take a bow at midfield during intermission.

Staubach hatched a playful idea. He spotted two ballboys sitting on the bench, thrilled to be there while the Giants and Oilers were in the locker rooms.

Andy Logan was a rather grown-up ball boy. He had been a top player on the 1984 North Canton Hoover team that reached the OHSAA Division I state finals.

Logan picked up the story:   

“Roger Staubach came over and said, ‘Hey, kid, throw me a ball.’ I looked to my left, thinking, ‘Is he talking to me?’ I threw him a ball.

“He said, ‘I’m going to throw you a pass in the end zone … I want to throw one more touchdown pass.’”

The next thing Logan knew, he was sprinting like mad while Staubach dropped back from the 50-yard line.

“I didn’t have time to get nervous,” Logan said.

Staubach was 43 years old.

“My arm was in good shape,” Staubach said this week. “It was a 50- or 55-yard throw. He ran a nice deep route. He looked like Drew Pearson.”

It was a nice throw. Logan caught the ball and kept a lifetime memory.

The Hall of Famer and the kid from North Canton became friends. They talked this week.

“My arm is still in good shape,” Staubach said. “I throw it to my son and grandson. I don’t think I could throw it 55 yards and more. Maybe 40 or 45. I can’t believe I’m 83.”

The dinner featured speeches by media long-timers Mary Kay Cabot, winner of the Bill Nunn Memorial Award, and Brent Musburger, recipient of the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award.

Cabot drew one of the biggest reactions of the night after describing how Bill Belichick tried to give her trouble when he was the Browns’ head coach in the 1990s.

“I was 28 years old at the time,” the still-active Browns beat writer said. “He just couldn’t relate to a woman that old.”

Musburger piggybacked on the Browns-related amusement when he said, “By the way, Mary Kay, who’s your quarterback?”

And then he added …

“Has Shedeur (Sanders) paid his speeding ticket?”

Joe Thomas, a Browns bright spot in the expansion era, was part of the huge group of returning enshrinees.

His smile was a mile wide as he soaked in serious applause.

Reach Steve at [email protected]

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Hall of Fame's Gold Jacket Dinner mixes humor, emotion and stories