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A Class Reunion in Canton
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Never mind Monk held the NFL's career record for receptions for two years, had five seasons with more than 1,000 receiving yards and that he caught seven passes for 113 yards in Super Bowl XXVI. For seven years, it didn't matter.
"I think the first year was probably the worst, because there was so much anticipation from my community, all the fans, just saying, 'Oh, you've got it made, you're a shoo-in,' " Monk said Friday during an interview session. "And when you start hearing that and you start believing it and when it didn't happen, it was a disappointment."
"It's taken eight years," Monk added. "But regardless of how long it's taken, it's good to be here."
Green's induction came almost as quickly as the blinding speed of the player four times named the NFL's fastest man. He was enshrined the first year he was eligible.
Before every split time was news at an NFL combine and every team had an army of strength and speed coaches, Green once ran a 40-yard dash in an unheard-of time of 4.17 seconds.
He played 20 years with the Redskins, an NFL record for years spent with one team equaled only by former Rams offensive lineman Jackie Slater. Monk's 295 games with Washington remains a milestone for a player with one team in one city. His seven Pro Bowl selections were buttressed by 54 career interceptions.
The fans who invaded Canton this weekend all had their favorite Green and Monk moments, ranging from Green's spectacular punt return against the Chicago Bears in a 1988 playoff game -- he winced in pain from a rib injury as he crossed the goal line -- to Monk's record-setting reception against the Denver Broncos at RFK Stadium on "Monday Night Football" in 1992, after which Monk's teammates interrupted the game to carry him on their shoulders.
"So I guess that would be the most memorable for me," Monk said.
A Los Angeles Rams fan, standing near Redskins fans, volunteered he had never imagined Eric Dickerson being caught from behind by any player in his prime, but that he remembered Green tracking down the tailback and dragging him to the ground.
Dan Bee, who came from Orange County, Calif., with his wife, Stephanie, said the play that sticks in his mind is Green knocking away a pass against the Minnesota Vikings on fourth down near the goal line at the end of a playoff game, sending the Redskins to Super Bowl XXII in 1988.
Keith McCoy and David Sutherland, both 24 and best friends growing up in Northern Virginia, simply remember attending Monk's camp four straight summers, how gracious the three-time Pro Bowl wide receiver was to impressionable youths like themselves. "He signed autographs, took pictures, talked to us, everything," McCoy said.
Monk was presented by his son, James Arthur Monk Jr. Green's presenter was also his son, Jared, whom he and his wife were going to name Darrell Green Jr. before changing their minds a month before he was born.
"I'm so grateful because he's his own man," Green said. "I'm more proud of my son being my son than I am being in the Hall of Fame."
Inside the Hall of Fame, through the maze of exhibits and grainy NFL Films, thousands more burgundy-and-gold-clad people made their way to the bronzed-bust room, where they snapped photos of Joe Gibbs's likeness. This, too, was part of the journey to pro football's Mecca. For this day, they wouldn't be anywhere else.
