Which former Colts went to support Dwight Freeney?
CANTON, Ohio (WISH) — Dwight Freeney thanked his teammates during his Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement speech, listing plenty of his defensive teammates and individually thanking some of his offensive teammates that have already made the Hall of Fame.
Those teammates that he thanked repaid him by making the trip to Canton to support him on his special day.
Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison, Edgerrin James, Dallas Clark, Reggie Wayne, Pat McAfee, Bob Sanders, Adam Vinatieri, Jeff Saturday, Ryan Diem, David Thornton, Brandon Stokley, Mike Doss, and Justin Snow were among Freeney’s Colts teammates to go to the enshrinement to support.
“Freeney and I have been tight literally since day one,” McAfee said. “He was way too nice to a punter from West Virginia since day one. So, watching him go up is awesome.”
“He (Freeney) came to work prepared,” Snow said. “He’s always ready. He’s always perfecting his craft and that’s what you see in practice.”
McAfee and Snow both described the vibe as like a family reunion. There was a rain delay that pushed the ceremony back almost two hours. McAfee said it was great to “hang with the boys” during the delay.
They both also said that there are more to come. During his speech, Freeney said that Robert Mathis and Reggie Wayne will be joining him and his teammates with gold jackets in the near future. Snow agreed with Freeney, saying it’s exciting.
McAfee added Vinatieri as well, saying that hopefully with Vinatieri, Mathis, and Wayne, they’ll be doing this trip to Canton for the next five years.
Freeney individually mentioned and thanked Manning, Harrison, and James in his speech. For Peyton Manning, he thanked him for teaching him about preparation. He thanked Marvin Harrison for showing him how to take practice seriously and use it as a time to master his craft. For Edgerrin James, he thanked him for being his pregame roommate, even though he wouldn’t let Freeney change the thermostat to anything above 59 degrees.
Freeney’s former head coach Tony Dungy and general manager Bill Polian were also in attendance.
In addition to all of his former teammates and coaches, Freeney had his good golfing friend Michael Jordan in the crowd there to support him.