Pro football shrine gets a new class
News' Jerry Green, quarterbacks Marino, Young will receive their due: royal treatment.

CANTON, Ohio -- Here in the cradle of football, the sport that rocks America reaches out each year to enshrine its brightest stars and personalities in its pantheon of immortality.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is reserved for an ultra-elite group of groundbreakers, game-breakers and standard-setters.
The honored class of 2005 represents another group of football royalty.
It includes retired Detroit News sportswriter Jerry Green, the 37th recipient of the Dick McCann Memorial Award. The McCann Award, voted on by the Pro Football Writers of America, honors America's top football writers.
Four players, representing a cross section of pro football, are being inducted in the three-day weekend of tributes and ceremonies.
Two are modern-era quarterbacks -- Dan Marino of the Miami Dolphins and Steve Young, best known for his tenure with the San Francisco 49ers.
Two others are being inducted posthumously -- Fritz Pollard, a running back who is recognized as pro football's first African-American head coach, and quarterback Benny Friedman. Friedman played at the University of Michigan and his eight pro seasons included one year (1928) with the Detroit Wolverines.
Before departing for Canton, Green admitted to feeling somewhat daunted by being in the company of great players who performed in the sport he covered most frequently during his distinguished career.
Green, 77, joined The News in 1963 and retired in 2004, but continues to work for The News on a free-lance basis. He also writes for the paper's Web site.
Green reflected on his beginnings as a sportswriter and chided himself on his inability as an athlete.
"We all want to be athletes," he said. "I became a sportswriter."
He spoke fondly of his passion for his job and his love of storytelling.
"It's just an honor, a humbling honor to have my name included in the Hall of Fame with these football players."
His name will go on a plaque that will be on display at the Hall of Fame."You reflect on a career over 49 years and say, 'Gee whiz -- this is happening to me,'" Green said. "Why was I fortunate enough to be chosen? There are so many other guys who deserve this more or just as much as I do."
Green is one of five writers who have covered all 39 Super Bowls. He forged lasting relationships with many of the players he covered without compromising his perspective or journalistic integrity.
Lem Barney, a Hall of Fame cornerback who played 11 seasons for the Lions, has a longstanding friendship with Green and looked forward to welcoming him to Canton.
"Jerry's been compassionate in telling it like it is, both sides of the story," Barney said. "There's the way he views it, and the way the players tell it.
"He's a great literary person, but he had a passion for doing what he does best, and that's telling the story.
"He's still a great guy. A polished artist, I call him."
For the love of the game
Green felt no less humble about receiving the McCann Award than Marino and Young did about entering the Hall. The two quarterbacks expressed their feelings in separate national conference calls conducted before they arrived at Canton.
Young and Marino played for the love of the game. As young players, they strove to compete, play and win. Making the Hall of Fame was not a primary thought.
"People always ask me, 'When did you know this was going to happen?'" Young said earlier this week. "And I always joke, 'My tail was on fire the whole time.' I didn't know I was supposed to look up and figure stuff out like that. It's welcome. It's a capstone for my career, and something that you can put the whole thing and wrap it up in a bow now, and it's a nice feeling."
Young struggled to establish his career early. He signed with the Los Angeles franchise of the U.S. Football League in 1984 out of Brigham Young. His NFL career began with the woeful Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After being traded to the 49ers, he played behind Joe Montana, another Hall of Fame quarterback, before moving into the starting job.
Marino's success came much quicker. He became Miami's starter early in his rookie season of 1983. In 1984, Marino set the NFL's season record with 48 touchdown passes. It was bettered last year by Colts quarterback Peyton Manning.
As it was with Young, Marino's focus was on beating defenses, not making the Hall of Fame.
"I don't think that anybody, when they start in the NFL, sets out to be in the Hall of Fame," Marino said. "When I first got here, I wanted to be the starting quarterback for the Dolphins. I wanted to be successful. I wanted to win a Super Bowl. To think about the Hall of Fame would be stretching it a little bit. But as your career goes on and I had the success, then you know there is a possibility, you definitely know that."
A special weekend
Their emotions and feelings are what makes the Hall of Fame weekend so special, and why the events of the three days are so compelling.
Highlights for the players include receiving their Hall of Fame jackets Saturday night at the Enshrinees Dinner at Canton Memorial Civic Center and another round of honors Monday night, when the Bears play the Dolphins in the annual Hall of Fame game.
Even a casual fan would find it hard not to get caught up in the emotions.
Lions fans got firsthand exposure last year when running back Barry Sanders was enshrined. With more than 20,000 fans on hand, Fawcett Stadium had the rollicking atmosphere of game day as Sanders, John Elway, Bob Brown and Carl Eller made speeches.
In the heartland of football's birthplace, heartstrings were tugged and plucked.
Green has covered many such events, but he has also had his share of recognition. He has won numerous writing awards and has been nominated by The News for a Pulitzer Prize for commentary. In 2003, he was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame.
Green's streak of 39 Super Bowls is a remarkable achievement. He plans to cover Super Bowl XL on Feb. 5, 2006, at Ford Field.
"I can understand why Cal Ripken wanted to keep playing," Green said. "It's a rarity. I think it defined my career."
Memorable moments
Green is revered by his contemporaries. Rick Gosselin, pro football writer for the Dallas Morning News, is a native of Grosse Pointe Park and a Michigan State graduate. He grew up reading Green's work.
Gosselin, the 2004 McCann winner, said he feels honored to be in Green's class.
"Some of the nation's greatest sportswriters have been honored: Arthur Daley, Will McDonough, Dave Anderson, John Steadman and now Jerry Green," Gosselin said. "It is humbling to be in their company."
Green took over the Lions beat for The News on a full-time basis in 1966. It was a time when the NFL was fighting the fledgling American Football League, and pro football's popularity was soaring.
Green's reporting instincts and diligence were rewarded . In 1966, he hung around Tiger Stadium after practice and noticed that the Lions were giving a tryout to a slightly built, balding man whose only experience was kicking a soccer ball.
The man was Garo Yepremian, and Green had a national scoop that the Lions were about to sign a soccer-style kicker.
Green's persistence paid dividends again in the week leading up to Super Bowl III -- the famed game in which New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath guaranteed a victory over the mighty Baltimore Colts.
Namath shooed away most writers from NFL cities. He considered them the enemy of the AFL. But Green would not be put off, and he was one of the few writers present for a poolside interview with him.
A picture, with Green in the group, ran in many national publications and has been an NFL classic.
Through all the years and games, travel and deadlines, Green hasn't lost his enthusiasm to search for angles and report and write compelling stories for his readers.
Peter King of Sports Illustrated marveled at Green's energy level during a visit to Lions training camp last week.
"I have a great amount of respect for a guy who's still enthusiastic after 20, 30 or 40 years of what they do," King said. "When I saw Jerry at the Super Bowl in Jacksonville this year, I saw that here's a guy who, after so many years of doing this, is still involved in the game and in writing a story."

Mike O'Hara / The Detroit News