Grateful former Cowboys great Charles Haley enters Hall of Fame with grace

Charles Haley’s bust shows him with his signature scowl, but the former Dallas Cowboys defensive end hasn’t stopped smiling.

Haley entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday night, giving a rousing, funny and inspiring 11-minute, 42-second speech that won praise as one of the most memorable in history.

Haley earned induction in his 11th year of eligibility, his sixth as a finalist, despite being the only player with five Super Bowl rings. Appropriately, he punctuated his speech talking about team and winning.

He thanked 13 teammates, including seven ex Cowboys.

“I’ve played with some of the greatest players ever in the history of football, and I’ve learned a lot,” Haley said. “The one thing I learned from all these guys is unselfish play. Team matters. We need to go back to that. It’s not about individuals; it’s about team.

“…When I step[ped] out on that field, guys, I was determined to be the best every play, not some plays, but every play.”

The live television broadcast had to censor Haley only once. He dropped a curse word in an opening story about driving a golf cart onto the Pebble Beach greens while golfing with presenter Eddie DeBartolo, leaving the crowd laughing along with him.

“Some guy’s flying behind us going like, ‘Get off the green,’” Haley recounted. “I’m going, ‘What is he talking about?’ So I go to the next hole, and I drive up on the green. So then I said, ‘If this guy comes and opens his mouth again, I’m going to knock him out.’ Hey, so I started to turn around, and Eddie [said], ‘Hey, you can’t drive up on the green.’ I said, ‘All this [stuff] is green.’”

Haley stumped for DeBartolo, a contributors candidate, for the Hall of Fame, saying “if the standard is winning, why is he not here?” Haley made the former 49ers owner a five-time presenter, picking DeBartolo over Cowboys owner Jerry Jones despite San Francisco trading him to Dallas in 1992 for second- and third-round picks.

After two Super Bowl titles with the 49ers, Haley helped the Cowboys to three.

“He was an integral part of the success of two dynasties,” DeBartolo said in his presentation. “He goes down in history as one of the great speed pass rushers of all time.”

But Haley also saved a big part of his speech to thank Jones, who missed the ceremony because of recent hip replacement surgery. Haley imitated Jones’ Arkansas drawl while talking about meeting the Cowboys owner the day he was traded.

“I got off the plane with eight cameras looking,” Haley said. “I couldn’t see nothing. And a hand stuck out. ‘Hi, I’m Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys. Welcome to Dallas.’

“It was a five-minute ride to the hotel. It took an hour and a half. I know everything he’s done in his whole life.”

Haley praised his coaches, including Bill Walsh, Jimmy Johnson, Barry Switzer and even George Seifert, with whom he didn’t get along. He thanked his family, especially his mother, Virginia, who Haley said “is smiling over there, but she’s mean.”

After his career, Haley was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He since has apologized publicly to teammates and to his ex-wife Karen, which he did again Saturday after calling himself “hell on wheels.”

“In 1988, [Karen] diagnosed me with manic depression, and I thought she was just like the group of guys that wanted to always put me in this box,” Haley said. “So we had problems after that, and I never really listened. Nor did I step to the plate and do something about it. My life spiraled out of control for years — for YEARS — but today I am getting back into the locker room, to my teammates, and tell them the mistakes that I’ve made, and that the only way that you can grow is that you’ve got to ask for help.

“I walked into the league a 22-year-old man, with a 16-year-old inside of me screaming for help, and I would not ask for it. I would not ask for that help. But today I take my medicine every day, and I try to inspire others to do the same, and that’s because I finally listened.”

This story was originally published August 8, 2015 at 7:42 PM with the headline "Grateful former Cowboys great Charles Haley enters Hall of Fame with grace."