Ronde Barber says doubters drove him to Pro Football Hall of Fame

CANTON, Ohio — Ronde Barber was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame with a speech that reflected his playing style: defensive, defiant and refusing to be defined by anyone else.

Barber provided an interesting glimpse into his mindset as a competitor. He spoke Saturday afternoon about how he feared he would be cut by the Bucs in his first two seasons but described how doubters drove him to football immortality.

“I’m not going to stand up here today and give you ordinary because I was not an ordinary cornerback,” Barber said. “I stand here amongst the legends of the game remembering a time when it was never imagined to be a Pro Football Hall of Famer. My rookie year, hell, my second year in the league I was literally just hoping (general manager) Rich McKay wasn’t going to cut me. I’ve come a long way in 26 years.

“I was not (fellow Class of 2023 inductee) Darrelle Revis. Trust me, I was not that guy. But not all of us are anointed, right? Or can’t-miss prospects waiting to be Future Hall of Famers on Day One of our careers. In fact, most guys are quietly fighting that little crisis of confidence, wondering if you’re good enough. And there was plenty of doubt about me. Now that I’m here, I think I owe a very small thing, to those of you who for whatever reasons questioned, either undervalued, underestimated and underappreciated me. Gave me the motivation to not only outwork my peers, but to be better than the expectations of me.

“I set out to become uncommon. Never set out to be one of the best 371 players of professional football. .. I wanted to do things that others either could not, or would not do, that defined my career and amongst my peers, I really felt like I had to do more to be equal. Do uncommon things to be legendary.”

Barber said it was hard to step out of the shadow of fellow Hall of Fame players such as Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks and John Lynch. But he found a way to define the position as a nickel cornerback who could do everything well, including blitzing the quarterback and stopping the run.

“Early in my career, I was simply overlooked, and again, it was the doubt that most bothered me,” Barber said. “But it also provided me that fuel and it sent me to work angry. I was never going to be satisfied just being a guy. I wanted to prove everyone wrong, and ordinary was not an option.”

Barber credited the competition and counsel of his twin, Giants running back Tiki Barber, and said they were inspired by their mother, Geraldine Barber-Hale, who worked several jobs as a single parent and survived a bout with breast cancer.

Tiki, who presented his brother for enshrinement Saturday and has a case for his own career to be Hall of Fame worthy, taught him how to strive for more.

“Without him, I wouldn’t have had daily reminder to chase greatness,” Barber said. “If you remember anything today, remember this: I am here because of my brother. The inherent competition, to match accomplishment and unwavering support only a twin knows.”

They shared a womb, were teammates in high school and at Virginia and wrote children’s books together. More than that, they shared highs and lows.

At 5-foot-10, 184 pounds, Barber didn’t have the prototypical size or speed for an NFL cornerback. He barely saw the playing field his rookie season with the Bucs.

But after winning the starting job in 1998, he never let it go. Barber started the next 215 games of his career, 224 including playoffs, and played a franchise-record 16 seasons.

Barber thanked his position coaches — Mike Tomlin, Raheem Morris, Jimmy Lake — and especially head coach Tony Dungy, who challenged him to make a difference in the Tampa Bay community. Tomlin, the Steelers head coach who presented Barber with his gold jacket Friday night, believed Barber could set an NFL milestone.

“He told me, ‘Ronde, you’re different,’ ” Barber said of Tomlin. “You’re doing what no one else is doing. You’re going to be a 20 (sacks), 20 (interceptions) guy. We set our sights on that … I think he imagined this for me, well before I could.”

Barber needled defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin for not being able to pronounce his name, always calling him “Randy” but lauded him for his playcalling ability and putting him in position to become the only player in NFL history to record at least 45 interceptions and 25 sacks.

“You took a good player who evolved the position around him and made me the best to ever play it,” Barber said of Kiffin.

One of the NFL’s most durable players, Barber thanked the training staff that kept him on the field and the film guys who helped him dissect opponents. When he returned an interception 92 yards for a touchdown in the NFC Championship Game at Philadelphia to send the Bucs to Super Bowl 37, he did so with a torn posterior cruciate ligament in his knee.

“I felt like I did my job by not letting anybody else do my job,” Barber said. “It takes a lot of compulsion to be unique and the will to work for it. I had that. But it certainly takes a football family and for me, I had the best one possible.”

And then he summed up his journey.

“The surrounding days, after Brooks came and knocked on my door … my football journey that I’ve been on for 40 years has reached it’s end,” Barber said.

“It’s been a pretty good reflection for me that there’s nowhere else to go. I can stop being an angry worker. I can actually stop trying to prove everyone wrong. I’ve come a long way in 26 years. After today, there will be 23 corners in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and I’m not like any one of them. I’m here because I just refused to be a guy, ordinary is not an option. And I learned something along the way in the NFL. This is a special place, man. It doesn’t matter where you come from. It doesn’t matter where your journey started. No one gets to define you but you. This league rewards you to dare to be uncommon and choose to be a little extraordinary.

“This is one of the most humbling moments in my life, standing in front of you now. I cannot wait to proudly represent professional football and the Pro Football Hall of Fame as I wear this gold jacket.”

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