Boston sports fans, Patriots team legends, and celebrities from across New England and beyond all descended on Foxborough, Massachusetts for Tom Brady’s induction into the New England Patriots Hall of Fame.
Brady got into the Hall-of-Fame earlier than the four years that are typically required in order for entry to be acknowledged as one of the franchise’s all-time greats.
It got announced by team owner Robert Kraft at a game back in September that the grace period would be waived in order to induct Brady on “6/12”.
That date is special as it honors the quarterback’s number, 12, and the number of Super Bowl championships he won with New England, six.
Brady arrived about an hour before his ceremony officially began at Gillette Stadium and took pictures alongside Kraft and his wife Dr. Dana Blumberg.
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Prior to the ceremony beginning, Brady’s three children – Jack, Ben, and Vivian – sent him a congratulatory video while joking with him to stay retired.
On the red carpet, Brady joked about spending more time with his family – especially when it came to playing sports like basketball with his sons: ‘As a father, sometimes you have to let your son win… actually he’s right, I did try. He beats me up too much and I’m worried about getting hurt at this point.’
He then went on to take in the entire experience, as the greatest quarterback of all time prepared to be thanked by over 100 former teammates and throngs of raucous fans that made the trek up Route 1 to the tiny Massachusetts town.
‘It’s been nothing short of humbling and I can only express my love and gratitude for you guys [former teammates]. I don’t take it lightly,’ Brady said on the red carpet.
‘It all started with him [Robert Kraft]. I walked in and saw his vision, and he’s the architect of it all. Along with great coaching, amazing players that drove me every day. That’s what we showed the world… when you believe in yourselves, you can achieve a lot.
‘We had to learn, and regroup, and rebuild, and we did it. Everyone that’s been a part of it has been really proud of what this organization has achieved on and off the field.’
Kraft reflected on all the years that he spent watching Brady and the rest of the franchise march on to experience success that came rare – even in a sports-mad city like Boston.
‘There’s nothing like sport to bring community together,’ Kraft reflected. ‘What he did is create an organization for us over 20 years that’s been like nothing else.
‘Players like you [McCourty] wanted to come because of players like him. There’s no other players like him. We were so lucky that he was the foundation and the heart and sole.
‘I want to say one other thing – we have a salary cap, so every team spends the most. He had a situation where his agents were pushing for him to get paid 30 to 50 percent more than what we were paying him. We said we’d do it, but it’s going to hurt the other players, and he had the vision to understand that and [didn’t take it]. He really put team first, check your ego at the door… this is a man that really did it.’
WARNING: TWEET CONTAINS EXPLICIT LANGUAGE
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Brady also reflected on having his family with him for the ceremony: ‘Being here with my family means everything to me. Not just my parents, but now my kids. The conversations I have now with my kids are the best experiences I’m having.
‘There’s a lot of things they’re going through, I had a lot of those same experiences. I came into this organization as a 23-year-old kid, a long way from home, I had [Robert] saying these are some things you need to look out for, he was a great father figure to me.’
Among the celebrities who were present at the ceremony included Boston comedian Bill Burr – who delivered an opening monologue that began the proceedings.
Priot to Burr, American rapper Jay-Z performed his song ‘Public Service Announcement’ – the song Brady used as his intro anthem throughout his time in New England.
NBC Sports commentator Mike Tirico also came out and promised those in the crowd that this was ‘not a roast, this is a toast’ to Brady.
A big part of that included a roundtable with a number of Patriots legends like Ty Law, Devin McCourty, Willie McGinest, and Vince Wilfork.
A number of former players also offered their congratulations including Ed Reed, Ray Lewis, Michael Strahan, Jason Taylor, Eli Manning, Charles Woodson, Richard Sherman, and Patrick Mahomes.
At one point, Brady’s longtime rival Peyton Manning made an appearance on stage where the pair recapped key moments in their contentious on-field duels.
Also present was New Jersey native Jon Bon Jovi – who is a close friend of Kraft’s and whose music sound tracked Patriots touchdowns for years at Gillette Stadium.
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy was also there with three of his employees – a reunion of the group known as the ‘Brady Four’ that were arrested during a sit-in at NFL headquarters in 2015 as a protest of the investigation into ‘Deflategate’.
Brady’s career with the Patriots is one that any player across sports would hope to have. Across 20 seasons in New England, he reached the AFC Championship game 13 times and the Super Bowl nine times, with New England and taking home six titles.
Just some of Brady’s records include the most passing touchdowns, passing completions, passing yards, and wins for a quarterback.
He was named MVP of the NFL three times and the MVP of the Super Bowl five times – the most of any player.
Brady’s also the greatest playoff quarterback in the sport – with the record for most games started, games won, passing touchdowns, passing yards (in both a playoffs and in a single game).
Brady entered the league after four years with the University of Michigan where he helped the Wolverines win the 1997 national championship.
He was drafted by the Patriots in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL draft with the 199th overall pick – earning the reputation as the greatest steal in the history of the draft.
Brady began his career with the Patriots on the bench, seeing little action in his first season in the league behind starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe.
In the 2001 season, Brady stepped into the starting role after Bledsoe went down with a serious injury against the New York Jets.
Brady rode his hot hand all the way to Super Bowl XXXVI, leading the underdog Patriots to a win over the St. Louis Rams to capture the first title in franchise history and the first title for Boston sports since 1986.
Brady and the Patriots regressed in 2002, before coming back and winning Super Bowl XXXVIII over the Carolina Panthers.
The Patriots returned the following year and won Super Bowl XXXIX over the Philadelphia Eagles. To date, they’re the most recent NFL team to win consecutive titles.
Brady then suffered his first ever Super Bowl heartbreak just three seasons later when an undefeated Patriots team fell to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII. They’d fall to them again five years later in Super Bowl XLVI.
The two seasons after that second loss to the Giants proved to be tough for the Patriots – with the team reaching two AFC Championship games, but losing both.
It wasn’t until later in his career with New England that Brady would return to the top of the sport – when the Patriots played in two of the greatest Super Bowls in history.
In Super Bowl XLIX, Brady had an amazing game – putting up four touchdowns as a late Malcom Butler interception stole a win from the Seattle Seahawks.
Then, just two seasons later – after a season where Brady served a four game suspension for allegedly tampering with the air pressure in footballs in the 2014 AFC Championship game – came arguably his greatest achievement.
After falling behind in Super Bowl LI to the Atlanta Falcons by a 28-3 scoreline, Brady took over the game – passing for multiple touchdowns and bringing the team to overtime.
There, he completed the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history – winning 34-28 and earning his fifth title.
The Patriots went back to the Super Bowl the following season and despite Brady putting up the most passing yards in the game’s history, they fell to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Brady’s last title with New England came in the lackluster Super Bowl LIII, where the Patriots defeated the Rams – making the Patriots tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers as the teams with the most Super Bowl titles.
After falling in the playoffs in the 2019 season, Brady announced he would leave the Patriots in free agency – pursuing a new challenge with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
In his first season with Tampa Bay, Brady took the Buccaneers to Super Bowl LV – winning over the Kansas City Chiefs to further extend his record of the most Super Bowls won by a single player.
Brady announced his first retirement back in 2022, but quickly reneged on that to return to the Buccaneers. After a poor season with Tampa Bay, he retired a second and presumably final time in 2023.