CANTON, Ohio — For several moments during his induction speech on Saturday, one of the newest members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame was transported back to his childhood.
“Everything I thought as a kid to now is happening in this instant — in real time,” former 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis told the crowd at Hall of Fame Stadium that had to endure a lengthy delay due to lightning, thunder and rain.
During his 16-minute speech at the enshrinement for the Class of 2024, Willis did not speak of his football accomplishments. He said nothing of his hard hits, blanket pass coverage, seven Pro Bowls, five first-team All-Pro honors and All-Decade selection for the 2010s.
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Instead, he revealed the inner-Willis, the faith and spirituality that drove him to overcome life’s adversity en route to being a role model off the field, in addition to shining as one of the brightest stars in the history of his sport.
He recalled a time in the sixth grade in rural Tennessee when he watched a video, “NFL Classic Hits,” and the seed was planted that he wanted to play in the NFL.
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Several weeks later, he watched another VHS. This one gave him the blueprint to get there. It was a biography of Chicago Bears star running back Walter Payton.
“Walter Payton was a real-life superhero and my first football role model,” Willis said. “He came from a place like mine, and grew up like I did, surrounded by farm fields and woodlands.
“In the video, legendary players Jerry Rice, Roger Craig, Mike Singletary, all speak about this thing they called ‘work ethic.’ And I said, ‘Wait! If this is what it takes to get there, and I have had this ‘work ethic’ instilled in me since I was a little boy. I got that.' ”
Willis then recalled the time in the eighth grade when a guidance counselor asked him in front of the class what he planned to do with his life.
“I said I wanted to be a professional athlete and play in the NFL,” Willis said.
“Her response was, ‘Less than one percent of those who try to make it to the NFL succeed.’ And, at 13 years old, in front of my class, I confidently said, ‘I will be part of that one percent.’ ”
He eventually landed in a more exclusive class than just that top one percent. Of the many millions of youngsters who have played football at some level, Willis took his spot Saturday among just 378 to earn the recognition of a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
At 39, he becomes one of the youngest men to earn that honor.
The road was incredibly difficult, and Willis recognizes his story transcends the athletic world.
Willis and his three siblings were mostly raised in a single-parent setting. They had little relationship with their mother for most of their lives. They grew up believing she abandoned them. It was not until the years before her death in 2015 that they learned and respected her side of the story, according to Willis’ sister, Ernicka, who presented her brother at the Hall of Fame ceremony.
Their father became increasingly abusive as his alcohol and drug problems worsened. Patrick, the eldest of the siblings, was forced at a young age to become the father figure to his brothers and sister. After their father had a particularly violent outburst, Willis took charge and knew they could not go on living like that.
At the age of 17, he informed officials at Central High in Bruceton, Tennessee, of the abuse he and his siblings had endured. The Department of Children Services sent police to the home and removed them from their father’s custody.
The Willis children moved in with the high school basketball coach, Chris Finley, and his wife, Julie. Patrick and brother Orey remained with the Finleys while Ernicka and brother Detris were placed into new foster homes after four months.
Willis made sure his brothers and sister were always connected.
“He took on a responsibility that wasn’t his,” Ernicka told NBC Sports Bay Area. “He never laid down at night without making sure we were good. He saved all of us from plenty of consequences if we did something we weren’t supposed to do.”
Just when it seemed as if things might be stabilizing, tragedy struck the family. Detris drowned during an accident at a swimming hole in the summer before Willis’ final year of college at Ole Miss.
Willis was an All-American at Ole Miss and won the Butkus Award as the top linebacker in the college game. The 49ers selected him with the 11th overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft.
Singletary, the team’s linebackers coach, admits he was not on board with the idea of the 49ers using their first selection on Willis until then-general manager Scot McCloughan told him what Willis had endured throughout his young life.
“When he told me about his brother's passing, drowning, before his final year, I was like, ‘What?’ And then I started to take a clean look at him,” Singletary said. “I was so impressed. I lost a couple of brothers, and I know how psychologically tough that was for me. Oh, man, that’s really tough. For him to be able to play at the level he’s playing at after losing a brother right before the season, I knew I wanted this guy. This is something bigger than just football.”
And so it was, during his second NFL season in 2008, Willis experienced a moment before kickoff that took him back to a seminal moment of his childhood.
“When the 49ers team captains walked out on the field in Candlestick Park, I looked to my right, Jerry Rice, to my left, Roger Craig, and right behind me Mike Singletary,” Willis told the crowd. “All three were in the Payton (film) I’d watched in the sixth grade. And here I was on the field with them. It was a surreal moment.”
Willis said during his speech that he wanted to provide an example for others who experience seemingly unnavigable life situations filled with unavoidable obstacles and hardships. His life could have gone a lot of different directions — few of them in a good way.
Instead, it ended up here with Willis' powerful speech delivered and his bust unveiled for this and future generations to admire and become inspired all over again.
“When I played, I played to be a beacon of hope,” he said. “Through my game, my story, I wanted to give hope to those watching, and those in future generations who would come after me and be an example of ‘No excuses.’ ”
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