During his NFL Hall of Fame speech, Deion Sanders dramatically tried to tell us that the media criticized him for his flamboyant persona. Huh? The media loved and loves Neon Deion, Primetime.

Do a Google search and most of the headlines mention Sanders but none, other than the Washington Post, mentions Washington Redskins great Chris Hanburger. There’s “Football Hall of Fame enshrines Deion Sanders, six others.” Then there’s “Sanders, Sharpe steal show in Canton.” And even “Sanders, Sharpe, Faulk, Dent enter Hall of Fame.” I could go on and on but you get the idea.

The Associated Press article got around to mentioning Chris Hanburger in the 38th paragraph of a 44-paragraph article. It’s true that it’s been more than 30 years since Hanburger played but I suspect that it’s more about today’s celebrity culture exemplified by brash, showboating, loud mouths like Deion Sanders and Shannon Sharpe.

Sanders’ presenter, his agent of all people, talked about how Sanders changed the game. Yeah, he helped necessitate the NFL putting in a rule about taunting. Don’t get me wrong, Sanders was a great talent (until late in his career) but he’s a guy I wouldn’t want to have on my team.

Hanburger, on the other hand, is someone I’d want on my team. For one his nickname “The Hangman” was given to him by teammates, not himself. But he was in it to do the best job he could to win the game. Sanders came across as a self-promoter – a “look at me, look at me” type guy. Not surprisingly, CBS Sports ran a story on the inductions with a picture of Sanders beside his likeness with the headline, “Look at me now.”

Sanders said during his speech that he was motivated by the fact that he was ashamed that his mother “pushed a cart around at the hospital” while other players had parents who were doctors and lawyers and police chiefs. He said at age 7 that he was going to be rich and he set out to do just that with football and the persona that he thought would bring attention to him. About 14 years later, his mother didn’t have to work that “lowly” job at the hospital.

It sounds more like to me that he needed counseling to teach him the truth that there is nothing wrong with someone doing the “dirty work” at a hospital. Had he respected the work she did, I suppose he wouldn’t have had the motivation to become “Prime Time.”

But the media ate up his comments describing the tale as “poignant” and “emotional” and “inspiring.” For me I cringed as he talked about being ashamed of his mother for the work she did while she was sitting there in the audience looking up at him.

He said he knew defensive backs didn’t make the big money so he created this image. “You could love him or hate him but he was Prime Time. I would rehearse quotes and sayings. I knew I had the substance, the goods, the work ethic but I need to secure myself enough that my Mama would never have to work another day of her life.”

I guess someone else’s mama is cleaning up the hospital now.

Anyway, rather than hearing Sanders’ shout outs to guys like Snoop Dogg, it was refreshing to hear Hanburger pay tribute to the military, which he called the real Hall of Famers, the real heroes.

It was refreshing to hear about how Hanburger, far from scripting his way to a career, didn’t even know he’d been selected to play pro football. It was refreshing to hear a humble Hanburger say, “I think they were just running out of folks to grab when I got drafted. It was like throwing darts at a board and somebody hit my name and the Redskins got stuck with me.”

Sanders could have used some of that humility. Of course Hanburger went too far minimizing himself. And his speech, which he admitted to winging, wasn’t perfect. There was very little mention of the Redskins organization (he spent his entire career with them) and no mention of Coach George Allen, whom he loved and whom he spoke glowingly about to me in a recent interview. But those are things that happen when you wing it.

Interestingly, it appears that Sanders, the social butterfly, and Hanburger, the borderline recluse, despite having never met, have become fast friends over the last few days. After Sanders’ speech he hugged and spoke to each of the inductees but his hug and his conversation with Hanburger lasted the longest.

During his speech, Sanders alluded to the friendship. “I made a new friend. His name is Chris Hanburger. Chris, I love you man. You’re a good dude.”

I’m sure Sanders is a decent guy himself behind his hotdoggin’ over-the-top persona, which obviously worked for him in today’s culture. But it sure was refreshing to hear a solid – but perhaps boring by today’s standards – old white guy like Chris Hanburger.

(Chris Hanburger, the former UNC and Washington Redskins linebacker, was inducted tonight into the NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame. His son, Chris of Apex, presented his father. Below is the full transcript of his speech.)

I tell you one thing, I brought that boy, (son, Chris Hanburger) up right. That’s for sure. Before I get started, it’s hard for me to see at my age, up close and far away, but there are some guys that I played with out there, I think. I can see one of them because he’s got a full head of gray hair that attracted my attention. That’s Billy Kilmer. There he goes.

Ron McDole, the dancing bear defensive end, and I think Brig Owens might be out there. There he is. And I’m not sure about Pat Fischer, I think Pat was coming. And Larry Brown, I don’t know if he made it. There he is. Thank you, guys.

This is something that I never gave a thought to, and I’m most appreciative of it. When it all got going, we were told that we had six to eight minutes, and I don’t think anybody’s going to tell Richard Dent not to exceed that.
But I got to thinking about this when I realized where my finances were bringing my children, their families, my grandkids and everybody else up here. I thought, well, you know what? I think I’ll try to sell some of my time.
I knew Richard Dent was out, because if I upset him, I was dead. Marshall Faulk was out because he walks around with his phone texting and Twittering and whatever else all day long, and I realized that there were two other guys that do a lot of talking on TV and everything else. I figured Shannon Sharpe would be the easiest guy to start with. I closed him real quick, put a wad of cash in my pocket.

I went to the last guy, Primetime, he told me I had to go talk to his agent (laughing). And I told him I don’t talk to agents. The next thing I know he’s doing all this stuff and trying to get a discount. I’m only kidding, but I congratulate all of the inductees for this year. These are great guys. These guys down here are wonderful.
It’s been a tremendous thrill for me. I’ve known a lot of these guys. I’ve played with some of them, but I’ve known the names. I’ve never had a chance to meet guys in the Hall of Fame before like this. For me it’s a tremendous honor, just a great honor.

There is another guy out there, I believe he’s here, Joe Mark. I don’t know where you are, Joe, but if you’re out there please stand. There he is. This is a guy at the University of North Carolina where I went to college, back when I was in college you could only substitute a couple of players when the ball turned over, other than that you just stayed on the field and played offense and defense, and I used to go in as a sophomore and for the All-American receiver we had.

After that year Coach Mark grabbed me and said, Son, you better learn how to snap the ball. You’re going to play center, and not only do you have to get it to the quarterback, but you have to get it back to the punter and for extra points.

All summer I’d worked on that and never did get it down very well. But that’s how I got to play linebacker, because the center became linebacker on defense. I think they were just running out of folks to grab when I got drafted. It was like throwing darts at a board and somebody hit my name and the Redskins got stuck with me.

But I want to thank all you folks for being here. I think it’s fantastic. It’s overwhelming for me. I had a blast in the parade today. The folks of Canton, you all are tremendous. I think the support is just great. I thank all the volunteers. For those of you who don’t know, there’s over 4,000 people that volunteer their time to help put this whole week together for all of us, and I thank them. I thank the folks from the Hall of Fame itself. They have been most helpful for all of us.

I know it’s been very confusing for me. To be honest with you, I try to stay out of it and I dump it on everybody else. I don’t understand the process to get in here at all. I don’t know who is involved in the voting, the nominations, et cetera. But I can tell you one thing, I thank those folks very much. This is one of the greatest moments in my life, and I mean that from my heart.

I will tell you that I respect this so much because when I think that there were so many players that played before I did. There are men that I played with and against, and there’s guys playing now. Unfortunately nominations aren’t going to come their way, an election is not going to come their way.

But it’s a system. It is what it is. That’s why I’m just so fortunate. It’s not so much what I did by any means. I look at it as what the people around me did on the field that let me kind of try to be somewhat of a loose cannon out there or just run around like a chicken with his head cut off not knowing exactly what I was doing.

I don’t think folks here that are Hall of Famers are sitting here, I don’t consider myself a true Hall of Famer. I say that because to me, I’m an Army brat. I spent two years in the Army right out of high school before I went to college to me the real Hall of Fame people are all the men and women of our armed forces, all the men and women in law enforcement, and all the firefighters, men and women. These people, to me, go over and beyond making a tackle or a blitz or doing anything, completing a pass. They’re wonderful people.

I just ask you when you get a chance, just thank them. Two words, thank you. That means the world to them. I appreciate so much my family. You’ve met my son. I have two daughters, and my wife Evelyn out there. They keep wanting me to smile more. They keep wanting me to change. All I can tell you is it isn’t going to happen. I am what I am, and nothing’s changing.

But I tell you what, I am just overwhelmed by this. It’s just a great time in my life. People ask me, what is the greatest thing before this happened? And I would say getting elected to the first Pro Bowl, because back then the people you played against voted you in, and to me that was just the ultimate honor. But this takes the cake. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you. It’s the greatest thing in my life right now.

Former UNC linebacker Chris Hanburger, who played from 1965-1978 for the Washington Redskins, will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame Saturday. He chose his son, 37-year-old Chris Jr. of Apex, to present him.

But Hanburger, in an interview with me, indicated that while he was deeply honored to be chosen for the HOF, he wasn’t particularly excited about it. Hanburger, a private man, didn’t like the prospects of traveling and large crowds.

“I’m not a real sociable person. Never have been, never will be,” he said. “I’m just more comfortable hanging around the house.”

Hanburger and Evelyn, his wife of 48 years, moved from the DC area – where he owned a car dealership – to Darlington, S.C. He said while it would have been nice to be closer to his son, he wasn’t fond of all the traffic in the Triangle area. “My son was trying to get me to come to that area but I told him I’d never come there,” he said. “They were building everywhere. There was nothing but two lane roads and traffic was backed up everywhere.”

Chapel Hill was more his speed when he was in college. “It’s a great school with a beautiful campus,” he said. “When I was there it wasn’t too big. It was a great atmosphere and I enjoyed my time there.”

But when he moved on, he moved on.

“Unfortunately, I haven’t stayed in touch with too many folks. I haven’t even had much contact with the folks I played with at Carolina,” Hanburger said, including his roommate and teammate Glenn Ogburn. “I think I’ve only been back a couple of times since I graduated. I didn’t even go to graduation. I had enough trouble getting out – I was getting away as fast as I could.”

While he has an allegiance to the school and to the Redskins, he primarily keeps up with those two teams through the newspaper.

“I never got wrapped up in football – even today it’s no big deal. I very seldom watch (football) on TV,” Hanburger said. “I can’t remember the last time I watched an entire game. I may watch a quarter or, at most, a half. I read a lot.”

Hanburger, who recently completed reading a book written in the present tense about the American Revolution, said he became a voracious reader as he got older. In talking about his seven grandchildren, the one he talked about most wasn’t a football star but the eight-year-old who reads every chance he gets.

Hanburger reads a lot about U.S. history and the military. A self-described Army brat born at Fort Bragg, Hanburger traveled all over the country as a kid.

“In a military family, that’s just something you do and you don’t think about it,” he said. “I believe in a very strong military. I’m very supportive of them. They are the real heroes, that’s for sure.”

Hanburger never considered himself a hero by playing football. “To me it was just a job,” he said. “I enjoyed doing it and I tried to do it to the best of my ability all the time. But it wasn’t the end of the world for me. I was fortunate to even get a chance to play. I was thankful that I could play as long as I did. It certainly made things in life a little easier for me and my family.”

But he didn’t make the kind of money players today do. “Playing football was a thing you did for half a year and then you had something else you better be doing if you were going to pay the bills,” Hanburger said. “The first year I played in ’65, I made $7,500 dollars and I got two grand for signing.”

He said he doesn’t blame today’s players for getting as much money as they can get. “If the system today allows them to make the kind of money they make, whether it’s right or wrong, it’s not for us to judge really,” Hanburger said. “It’s a big business. Guys playing today are very fortunate.”

While former Redskins Hall of Fame quarterback Sonny Jurgensen describes Hanburger as “serious,” Hanburger says he had fun playing. He especially liked playing under Coach George Allen.

“I thoroughly enjoyed playing under George Allen, mainly because of the defensive system he had,” said Hanburger, who was the defensive captain and leader. “We controlled it completely from the field. We didn’t have to have signals sent into us. We just had a lot of fun with the system.”

Ironically, when asked about some of the players he played with that he respected, he chose offensive guys. He praised center Len Hauss and running back Larry Brown in particular, in addition to Duke grad Jurgensen, as good players and good people.

“I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for Sonny,” Hanburger said of Jurgensen who was raised in Wilmington. “Sonny was a very unusual quarterback. He had a unique ability to get the ball where he wanted it. He knew when to sorta float it in there or throw it hard in there. He was just unbelievable out there.”

A lot of opposing running backs and wide receivers thought Hanburger, who used his speed and instincts to make plays, was pretty unbelievable too. If they remember. Hanburger was known for tackling hard up around the head and neck, something that in today’s game would be penalized. The so-called clothesline tackle became his signature move.

“Only reason I did it was it worked for me,” Hanburger said matter-of-factly. “My philosophy in tackling was to get close to the person – you had less chance of missing a tackle. Guys coming up today they are diving down at the runner’s feet. They aren’t taking them head on.”

Hanburger probably would rather take on a runner today than endure the big crowds and accolades awaiting him in Canton, Ohio.

Redskins General Manager Bruce Allen, son of George, said the honor is as much for the Redskins fans and teammates as it is for Hanburger. “Chris’ speech will probably be about one minute long,” he said, “but the party we are having for him and his teammates is going to be a great tribute for him and the Redskins.”

Hanburger, who turns 70 on Aug. 13, will be inducted Saturday night along with the much more flamboyant and attention-seeking Deion Sanders plus Marshall Faulk, Richard Dent, Shannon Sharpe, Les Richter and Ed Sabol.

Hanburger played professionally for 187 games over 14 seasons, all with the Redskins. He was elected to the Pro Bowl nine times and was an All-NFL selection four times. He had a career-high four interceptions during the 1972 season when the Redskins went to their first Super Bowl. When he left the game after the 1978 season, he held the NFL record for returning three fumbles for touchdowns.