Here is the transcription of my interview for Spectrum News 1 with former Packers safety LeRoy Butler about making the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
We’ve been doing the Roundtable together for eight years, but I’ve known him for over 30 years. I’m delighted he’s getting this overdue honor that will put him in the national spotlight.
Dennis: LeRoy, long overdue but congratulations. What’s your reaction to making the Hall of Fame?
LeRoy: It’s hard to say really, because it's one of the things you never know if it will happen. I guess the emotional part of it is that I represent so many people and I love that. Basically where I was brought up in poverty, special needs kid, special education. My teachers were the heroes every year. They had to stop kids from picking on and bullying me, because I was poor. Not having new clothes. I had to wear hand me downs because we couldn’t afford it. You know, these conversations that my mom just kind of taught me, my upbringing. She passed away like four years ago. I remember her, she was saying you have to enjoy. I was a first time semifinalist. She said, you gotta understand, yet enjoy it. I know you're upset, but it’s a lot of players not gonna be in your position. They only have 300, 400 guys in the Hall of Fame, so it may take some time. You just have to be patient. She said that to me. It really struck me, Dennis. That’s a good point. Me and my mom are proud. When they put my name up there, I played my whole career with the Packers. You don't see that very much. Matter of fact, it's almost like something you may never see. You see great players that outgrow the franchise. They need more money, a team can’t afford them. I restructured my deal three times, because I wanted to be a Packer. That was very important to me. That was a kind of emotion that will hit once you celebrate and have parties and talk about things of that nature.
Dennis: You've inspired me and many others by the class you've shown. The patience you've shown. You’re an all-‘90’s decade team performer in the NFL. This is your third straight year as a finalist, 16th year on the ballot. Does that make this sweeter, all the waiting?
LeRoy: I think what makes it sweeter, had it happened earlier, I just don't know the impact it would have been. It may have taken a long time, but my daughter Maria, she's at Whitewater, she said ‘think about this you are the only guy from the fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties, all decade first team that is not in.’ I didn't think about that and that gets a little embarrassing. So how can you be all decade? Then I heard my nephew say ‘well Aaron if he wins MVP will be four-time all pro. He would be tied with you.’ You forget all the accolades. And then my oldest daughter says I'm the only celebrity that works hard not to be a celebrity. I just try to be a normal person, so this would be impactful for the people that’s been with me, friends with me in Wisconsin and the state of Florida. I know that’s a wide range of people, but every year I didn't get in, I get new friends and new things to do. It just makes that tent bigger, which I think is great. I think that just says a lot, who I am. This is not so much about me. One of my first posts on my social media will be to thank my teammates. Man, my teammates were great. I mean, having Brett Favre and Reggie White is fantastic but it’s the other players. AvLamont Hollinquest, George Koonce, you know Gilbert Brown, Santana Dotson without these guys, I wouldn’t be doing this interview. My teammates, I love them. I love all my teammates the same. I just really think they're gonna be happy too, because it'll be just like them going into the Hall of Fame as well.
Dennis: This is an incredible honor. You think about it. It’s so hard to make the NFL. And to make the Hall of Fame. You touched on overcoming the adversity. This is all well documented, so I'm not spilling any secrets here. A wheelchair, bullied, when you went to Florida State, you were Prop 48, so Bobby Bowden had to decide to stick with you. A lot of hurdles that you had to jump to get to this point, right?
LeRoy: Even if you Google my story, you're gonna miss something. I just remember being in my class in like fifth grade. Everybody in the classroom got an invitation to go to a sleepover for somebody’s birthday. I was the only kid that didn't get one. My teacher was so upset, she was crying. Makeup was running. Then she came over to me. She said ‘they didn’t invite you?’ I said no. All these kids are going to want my autograph one day, when I am in the NFL. It was refreshing to tell her that, because it didn't bother me. It really didn't, because I was focused on getting my mom out of projects and poverty. The only way I could do that was to play in the NFL. Along the way, just be a normal guy. Me and my grandmother used to talk about why God chose me to navigate these rough waters. Very rough. I mean, at one point, where I grew up, I think 30 straight homicides for 30 straight days. It was a terrible place to raise kids in poverty, called the Blodgett Homes in Jacksonville, Florida. Every year, the people see me walking by and say that's the kid that said he’s going to the NFL. My sister Vicky, used to get a piece of notebook paper. She wrote ‘ ‘NFL’ and she folded it and put it under my pillow. She said every time somebody bullies you or says something negative, just go read it and remind yourself: you can't fight them, you can’t be violent. Just say ‘this is how my life is going to end’. That really grounded me. I think it's a head scratcher, when people really know my story and how I made it. I try to be as approachable as possible, and try to be as normal as possible. The Hall of Fame puts you in a football immortality that is hard to understand. So it may take years for me to wrap my head around it, and maybe the fans too, but it'll be a much better journey now.”
Dennis: Who's the unsung hero of your career and your life?
LeRoy: My mom is platinum. She was great. Single mom, raise five kids in the projects by herself. Had three jobs. Had to catch three buses, just to carpool to go to work. She worked minimum wage. She did it. She was just so good. She was like a scientist in a way, because she had four kids and one kid (LeRoy) who was different. Special needs, but every day she was like, ‘you got to still do what you wanna do.’ One of the days she was very upset. I say, why? She said everybody went to the pool and I couldn’t because I had braces like Forrest Gump, so you can't get in the water. I said ‘mom, don’t worry about it. I’m good. I can just stay here with you and learn how to cook. That’s why it taught me to cook and be domestic and clean up and do stuff. Thats why I have over 3,000 pots. I just got into cooking and domestic stuff. My mom is great, but after my mom and family, I have to say my teachers. So impactful to me. My teachers were fantastic. They just never get, headlines. I don’t see many people, when they make it, thank their teachers. To me, that is emotional.
Dennis: Have you started working on the speech for Canton yet?
LeRoy: My mom told me to have two speeches. I said mom ‘what is this two speech thing?’ She told me, when I was 11 years old, she said it’s a speech when you get an A. You tell me how you do your speech. It is a speech when you get a D as in dog. You can’t use the dog ate my homework, so always have two speeches. So, I've always had two speeches. First chance, when I was a finalist. I worked on it, so yes it’s done. My six daughters crafted it, and it was very special because I gave them notes. They got together and collaborated and wrote it and I'm very excited about it.
Dennis: I know you said your mom passed about four years ago, but you have to know that she's so proud of you right now.
LeRoy: No question, yes. She is beyond happy. Because she said ‘I told you! I told you!’ I'm just so proud of the fact that she was able to see my whole career. She always wanted me to be grounded, and be very measured, and don't change. I'll just love the fact that when I'm praying tonight, as I do every night, telling her that we finally did it.
Dennis: LeRoy Butler, everyone here at Spectrum News One is very proud of you. Congratulations.
LeRoy: Thank you so much, Dennis. Thank you to the control room for allowing me to do this platform. I appreciate and love and respect them and I hope they know that. Sometimes I joke on them, but it's just being a comedian. I just love and respect them, because they don't get the headlines, and they should. We wouldn't be this show if it wasn't for them, so I want you to pass on to them, thank you very much.
Butler will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this summer in Canton, Ohio.