After nine years of playing for the Steelers and 46 with the BLESTO scouting service, former NFL defensive back/end Jack Butler has joined the immortals.
In so doing, the man who shares with 18 others the single-game interception record may have set a record for the shortest Hall of Fame induction speech.
Butler gracefully stepped away from the podium after only three minutes and 42 seconds, 15 of which consisted of fans chanting, “Here we go Steelers, here we go!” (They stopped when Butler barked, “That’s enough.”)
Undrafted at a time when the selection process had up to 30 rounds, Butler finished his career with 52 interceptions, second only to Hall of Famer Emlen Tunnell.
Butler, a member of the Steelers’ 75th Anniversary team and the NFL all-decade team of the 1950s, is still 26th on the all-time list, despite the proliferation of passing in the years since he retired.
During his speech, Butler thanked a variety of family members and colleagues before closing with the sentence I’ll be uttering every day if, like Butler, I make it to 84: “I’m thankful I’m here.”