Bottom: Bill Polian on the set of NFL Insiders during Super Bowl week 2015. (Phil Ellsworth/ESPN Images)
In anticipation of their enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame this weekend, (Saturday, 7 p.m. ET on ESPN), ESPN NFL analyst Jerome Bettis and NFL Front Office Insider Bill Polian spoke with Front Row about what it means to be part of the Class of 2015.
What are you most proud of from your time in the NFL?
Bettis: Winning a championship. And that’s the goal every year. Unfortunately it took me 13 years, but I was able to win one. And that’s a very, very elusive goal sometimes.
Polian: I think the record speaks for itself. More importantly, it speaks for who we did it with. The thing I am most proud of was how we did it. And that includes Tony Dungy and Dom Capers and Marv Levy and all of the other coaches that I’ve had the good fortune to work with. We won, but we won it our way too, which means a lot.
What do you want fans to know or remember about you?
Bettis: To know that I was a hard worker — and one of those players that tried to do it the right way. Loved the game, played with passion, excitement and really was a hard worker.
Polian: Just that I was a lucky guy to have worked in the NFL and did my best and was very fortunate to be surrounded by great players and great coaches and great scouts.
What is the best lesson football ever taught you?
Bettis: You can’t take shortcuts in life. I found out the key is hard work and if you’re willing to put the work in then success is possible. That is not just true in football, but in life.
Polian: Ultimately, the true test of a man is how committed he is to what the task at hand is, no matter what may happen. No matter what the fallout may be. (For full answer, see our Facebook account)
What’s been on your mind in the months and weeks leading up to the Enshrinement Ceremony?
Bettis: It’s going to be a huge moment in my life, but my thoughts always went to all the people that helped me get here and having a moment to honor them. . . to honor those who sacrificed so much for me to have the success that I was able to have.
Polian: Well, the speech. . . It’s not unlike the preparation you do for the draft. You do all the work. You have the outline. The board is up there and then you wake up at 4 a.m. and you say, ‘But what about this? Or, I forgot about that’. It’s not something that’s unfamiliar to me, but it’s a different arena so to speak.
Hall of Fame Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly visited ESPN this summer and spoke about Bill Polian, his former general manager and the architect of the Bills teams that advanced to four straight Super Bowls in the early 1990s. The video is below.
Editor’s Note: The day before the Enshrinement Ceremony, Polian will receive the 2015 Bud Selig Mentoring Award from the McLendon Scholarship Steering Committee for being “at the forefront in creating equal opportunities for minorities in the field of athletics.”
