Charles Woodson had such a long and impressive career that his selection to the Pro Football Hall of Fame seemed like a foregone conclusion. But Woodson was still shaken when he found out it was official.
Woodson said that when Hall of Fame President David Baker told him he was going to have a bust in Canton, he broke down.
“I couldn’t hold it together when I found out. You tell yourself you won’t cry, but when the moment comes, it’s real,” Woodson said, via Ed Graney of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “When [Baker] comes up, you know what that means, and it hits you. When I turned around and saw my two boys and my wife and my mom . . . I tried to hold it back, but when the emotions are real and raw, you have to let the tears flow. I felt like I had been running all my life. So as soon as David Baker left the house, I went and ran like a mile, mile and a half. I just had to get that last one out of the way.”
Woodson said he hopes he’s remembered as a player who never gave anything less than 100 percent effort.
“I was a guy each and every week who gave it all I had,” he said. “It didn’t matter if I was healthy or not. Broken leg in the playoffs. Dislocated my shoulder in the opening week of my 18th year and playing a full season. I left it all on the field. That’s what I want people to remember and say about me — there’s a reason he’s in the Hall of Fame.”