Ron Wolf Pro Football Hall of Fame speech: Legendary executive calls football the 'ultimate team sport'

Former Oakland Raiders and Green Bay Packers scout and executive Ron Wolf was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as part of its 2015 class, and on Saturday he gave a speech at the enshrinement ceremony.

Wolf's speech actually began with a quote from "This Is Our Moment," a song by country music musician Kenny Chesney, saying "Ladies and gentlemen, as my friend Kenny Chesney so aptly sings, 'This is our moment, this is our time, this is our destiny, it is our night to shine.'"

Naturally, Wolf thanked the Hall of Fame committee but said that he also wanted to thank his classmates, and focused heavily on the players. He said that there are rare moments where victory can be won in games, and that at the end of the day, it's up to the players to take advantage of those moments.

"It is truly an honor to be included in their company," Wolf said.

He then thanked his wife, kids, and brother, and then went on to talk about former Raiders owner Al Davis.

"I had the fortune of beginning my career working for the legendary Al Davis," Wolf said, "I appreciate deeply all I was able to learn. He was a remarkable teacher and I am forever in his debt for providing me an opportunity to work in this extraordinary game."

Wolf acknowledged that he has a lot of people who were successful as a result of his presence, be it players he drafted or scouts who worked under him, and he wished them all the best and said that he was very proud of all they've been able to accomplish.

From there, he quoted someone else -- this time it was legendary basketball player Michael Jordan, saying, "To succeed in this game, you have to love it, respect its history, and understand you have a responsibility to make it better." He said that football is the ultimate team game, and said that no matter how much the rules might change, it is still at the end of the day about running, blocking, kicking and the basic elements of football, and said that's why he loves the game.

He said he wanted to keep his speech short with all the other enshrinees giving speeches on the night, thanked the Packers organization and Bill Parcells, and called it a speech.

Wolf is the first of two executives to be inducted with the Class of 2015 into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and he's someone who changed the NFL about as dramatically as anybody. Wolf is most widely known for his time as the general manager of the Green Bay Packers from 1991-2001, and he was with three teams that won Super Bowls with him in town: the Raiders in Super Bowls XI and XVIII, and the Packers in XXXI.

Wolf was part of organizations that drafted players such as Art Shell, Gene Upshaw, Ken Stabler and Jack Tatum, and with the Packers was responsible for acquiring both Brett Favre and Reggie White, and hiring Mike Holmgren as head coach. There's a lot of talk about successful coaching trees in the NFL, but when it comes to Wolf, you need to look at his incredible scouting tree.

★★★

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