NFL
ESPN’s Berman to present Wilson for induction
Since the death of Buffalo ambassador Tim Russert, ESPN’s Chris Berman might be the most recognizable Buffalo Bills booster in the country.
Berman’s profile as a Bills enthusiast will reach a new level this summer when he introduces Bills owner Ralph C. Wilson Jr. at the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Click here to order tickets.
Wilson revealed Thursday he has picked Berman for the honor. Wilson and former Bills defensive end Bruce Smith are among the 2009 inductees to pro football’s shrine in Canton, Ohio.
“I’ve known him for a long, long time,” Wilson said. “His kids followed the Bills growing up. We’ve been friends for years and years.”
“Chris really embodies the Bills fans, who have played such an important role in my career in professional football,” Wilson said. “Professional football is all about the fans, and having Chris as my presenter follows that thought.”
Berman has been known as a Bills booster since the late 1980s. He picked the Bills to make the Super Bowl almost every year in the 1990s. And he popularized the phrase “nobody circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills.”
Berman, 54, has worked at ESPN since 1979, joining the network a month after its founding. He is a six-time winner of the national Sportscaster of the Year Award. He has been master of ceremonies for the Hall of Fame ceremony the past 10 years.
“Fifty years in sports, there’s only one constant —Ralph Wilson is the owner of the Buffalo Bills,” Berman said in a statement. “What Mr. Wilson has done for pro football and for the city of Buffalo and Western New York, it’s hard to put into words. He remains in it for the same reasons he got into it in 1959—he loves the game of football, and that’s apparent in everything he does. It will be an honor to have a bird’s-eye view to watch him be inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, especially this year, in the 50th year of the old American Football League.”
The ceremony will be held at 7 p. m. Aug. 8 at Canton’s Fawcett Stadium, adjacent to the Hall. Tickets are $28 and they still are available.
Here is a map to the Hall.
View Pro Football Hall of Fame Map in a larger map
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