Terrell Owens waited three years to hear his name called by the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Despite becoming eligible in 2015 with 1,078 receptions, 15,934 receiving yards, and 153 touchdowns, Owens was passed over in his first two years before finally being selected for the Class of 2018. But when the time came to celebrate his induction in Canton, the former NFL receiver chose not to attend the official ceremony.
Instead, Owens held his own celebration at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga on the same day his fellow Hall of Fame classmates were being enshrined in Canton. At the time, he clarified that the decision was about more than simply waiting until his third year of eligibility. Now, Owens has revisited the controversial decision and revealed what specifically made him feel that the Hall of Fame had disrespected him.
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"It became a point of being disrespected. And so understanding where I came from and how I got to where I where I got, with a lot of help, with a lot of people along the journey, me understanding like I wasn't one of those athletic phenoms that really jumped on the scene right away and everybody knew, 'This guy's going to be good,'" said Owens on
The Tenai Show
. "There was a lot of hard work that went into that. There was a lot of sacrifice that went into that."
Terrell Owens spent 15 seasons in the NFL with multiple teams, including the San Francisco 49ers
, Philadelphia Eagles
, and Dallas Cowboys
. The receiver established himself as one of the league's best, ranking third in the NFL in career receiving yards and receiving touchdowns.
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One of the biggest moments of his career came during the 2004 season with the Eagles. Earlier in the season, Owens had sustained a severely sprained ankle and a fractured fibula, which required surgery. The surgery included the insertion of a screw into his leg, as he wasn't expected to make a return for the rest of the season.
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However, with his trainer's help, Owens defied the odds and started in Super Bowl XXXIX against the New England Patriots. He recorded nine receptions for 122 yards, as the Eagles lost to the Patriots. Later, while addressing the criticism he faced for insisting on playing in the Super Bowl despite the injury, Owens gave a telling answer.
"The media made it a situation to where they thought I was grandstanding," said Owens in 2005. "But like I told a lot of people. If [that was] Brett Favre, they would have called him a warrior. For me, they said I was selfish. If I'm selfish, I'm selfish because I want to help my team win."
Years later, when the Hall of Fame overlooked him during his first two years of eligibility, Owens felt that the decision wasn't primarily based on his on-field accomplishments. And now, Owens has revealed that his participation in the Super Bowl should have been enough to earn him a place in the Hall of Fame.
"I think a lot of people, when they saw what happened and didn't happen- just the performance alone in the Super Bowl, coming back from six and a half, seven weeks with a torn ankle, ligaments in my ankle, and a broken leg- that in itself should have been put the hammer in the nail of me being inducted into the Hall of Fame," Owens added. "
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"And so, when they didn't do it the second time, I was like, 'I'm done.' So I was like, 'I'm not going to be disrespected.' And especially with the people in the Hall of Fame. They appointed those writers who ultimately decide the fate of athletes, and they've never played before.
"Not to say that they're not knowledgeable about the game and they can't have some insight and input, but when you overlook the criteria and what it actually takes to get in the Hall of Fame, which is supposed to be stats and not put me in, I'm like, 'No, I'mma do it. I'mma do it my way.' And a lot of people had a lot of things to say about it."
Terrell Owens' argument was essentially that the Hall of Fame's criteria instructed voters to judge what a player accomplished on the field. However, Owens' personality and locker-room history, including his feud with quarterbacks like Jeff Garcia, Donovan McNabb, and Tony Romo, influenced the Hall's decision to delay his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction.
Owens' statistics were never the problem. His relationship with teammates was. Several Hall of Fame voters questioned whether a player repeatedly described as disruptive and difficult to manage could belong among the game's greatest. Eventually, Owens was voted into the Hall of Fame in 2018, but the NFL legend declined to attend the ceremony in Canton.
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