Next Sunday night, the Saints will host the Cowboys on NBC. As part of the festivities, a trio of all-time franchise greats will become charter members of the team’s Ring of Honor.
The initial inductees are quarterback Archie Manning, linebacker Rickey Jackson, and tackle Willie Roaf.
“This is really a special honor and I’m grateful and indebted to the Saints and the Saints Nation of fans,” Manning said in a statement released by the team. “We have lived here in New Orleans for 42 years now and I can tell you from the bottom of my heart that this area, not just New Orleans but also southern Louisiana and really the entire Gulf Coast, has been so wonderful to our family To be joining two incredible football players and men in Rickey and Willie certainly adds to this honor. I’m truly honored and look forward to a special night.”
“The Saints and our fans have been part a huge and very important part of my life since 1981,” said Jackson, a Hall of Famer. “To be honored by being inducted in the first class with Archie and Willie means the world to me. We’re the first guys but we all know that none of us would be there if it wasn’t for the support the organization and our teammates and coaches gave to us. It will be our names up there but I know we proudly represent a lot of people that were key parts of our journeys.”
“When I played for the Saints I used to look up and see Rickey and Archie’s legacies in the Superdome and quite honestly, I aspired to be like them and that helped motivate and drive me,” Roaf said. “When I was told that this was happening, it was incredible. Obviously it’s been a nice run recently with the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction. It’s something I’m very thankful for, heartwarming to be 100 percent honest. I went to school in Louisiana, I know the legacy of incredible athletes that have played in Saints uniforms but I also know that incredible moments that have shaped the history of the Superdome. I thought of Jim Finks when I was told of this honor and how he changed my life. This is a chance for me to once again thank the Saints fans for what they’ve meant to me.”
Finks is a guy who likely will join them at some point, along with other all-time greats like Deuce McAllister, Sam Mills, Joe Horn, Drew Brees, Sean Payton, and I’m going to stop now before I start omitting deserving names.