Report says Junior Seau’s family not allowed to speak at HOF enshrinement

Junior Seau’s Hall of Fame enshrinement went from awkward and sad to really messy with the release of a New York Times story on Friday afternoon.

According to the Times, Seau’s family will not be allowed to speak at his Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony. Only a video will be played for Seau, who committed suicide in 2012. The Pro Football Hall of Fame told the Times that’s the policy for deceased inductees, that there will be no speech for someone on their behalf.

Is there any precedent for this? Well, in 2011 nobody spoke for Les Richter, who was a linebacker with the Los Angeles Rams, the Times points out. But that wasn’t always the case. Sara White gave a memorable speech for her husband, the late Reggie White, in 2006. Apparently the policy changed.

And apparently nobody thought how bad that might look in a situation like Seau’s family faces now. 

“There was an acceptance speech for deceased players but it got redundant,” Pro Football Hall of Fame spokesman Joe Horrigan said. “The honor is supposed to be for the individual.”

Despite the protests to the contrary by the Hall of Fame, it’s hard to not wonder if Seau’s suicide and his family’s lawsuit against the NFL in regards to brain injuries have anything to do with this. The Seaus told the Times they weren’t aware of the Hall of Fame’s policy until July 9. Seau was voted into the Hall of Fame the day before last season’s Super Bowl.

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The Times said Seau had told the family he wanted his daughter Sydney to introduce him if he ever made it to the Hall. Sydney had been planning to give the speech at the enshrinement ceremony in Canton, Ohio, on Aug. 8.

“It’s frustrating because the induction is for my father and for the other players, but then to not be able to speak, it’s painful,” Sydney told the Times. “I just want to give the speech he would have given. It wasn’t going to be about this mess. My speech was solely about him.”

The NFL has made some missteps, but this needs to be rectified and fast. Not just for Seau’s family, which has been through a lot obviously, but for the fans as well. I’m positive nobody was going to complain about hearing a speech from the family on the great Junior Seau.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame, a couple hours after the Times published its story, reiterated that it didn’t plan to have Seau’s family speak at the ceremony: 

“The policy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame since 2010 regarding individuals enshrined posthumously provides for an expanded presenting video (longer than the videos of living inductees) followed by the traditional unveiling of the bronzed bust and no additional comments made from the podium.

“This policy is not precedent setting and was implemented for the first time in 2011 when former Los Angeles Rams great Les Richter was inducted posthumously.

“The Pro Football Hall of Fame looks forward to honoring the careers of Junior Seau and the seven other members of the Class of 2015 during the upcoming Enshrinement Ceremony.”

There were passages in the Times story that pointed out the NFL and the Hall of Fame are separate entities, but the NFL works closely with the Hall of Fame on all parts of enshrinement weekend. The league can and should push its weight around in this situation, if it has been kept out of this poor decision. The reason given by Horrigan that the speech by a family member of a dead player often repeats what is on the video, and the ceremony is already very long, is flimsy. Seau was one of the most popular players in NFL history, an icon at linebacker for many years with the San Diego Chargers. Last year’s ceremony went for many hours with many long speeches. Seau’s family’s speech was set to be one of the highlights of the entire event, remembering a great player who tragically took his life before he made the Hall of Fame. Seau’s lawsuit, or some fairly new policy, shouldn’t get in the way of that.

Now that the Times has put some attention on the issue, expect someone in charge to correct this in a hurry. If not, the Pro Football Hall of Fame will be making an unimaginable mistake for its biggest weekend.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab