belongings, nothing was going to keep me from realizing 13 my dreams. When people told me I wasn't going to make it, 14 I listened to the one person who told me I was: me. 15 You may not know this, but I was never supposed to be a 16 Hall of Fame tight end or any kind of tight end, or even a 17 Hall of Fame player. I'm here today for a lot of reasons. 18 Some have everything to do with me. Some have absolutely 19 nothing to do with me and everything to do with the 20 kindness and patience of all the people that guided me 21 through my life. I want to take a moment to personally 22 thank some of these people who made this possible. 23 Ms. Elaine Keels, my high school remedial reading and 24 Spanish teacher. And I know what you're saying, "remedial 25 reading and Spanish?" I was saying the exact same thing. 26 She said it would help my reading, I said it would help me 27 repeat my sophomore year. I think she just wanted me to 28 take the class so she could have extra hands-on time to 29 Notes: help a young Shannon Sharpe. Thank you, Ms. Keels… 30 My big brother, Sterling. I'm the only player, of 267 men 31 that's walked through this building to my left, that can 32 honestly say this, ‘I'm the only pro football player that's in 33
13 belongings, nothing was going to keep me from realizing 14 my dreams. When people told me I wasn't going to make it, 15 I listened to the one person who told me I was: me. 16 You may not know this, but I was never supposed to be a 17 Hall of Fame tight end or any kind of tight end, or even a 18 Hall of Fame player. I'm here today for a lot of reasons. 19 Some have everything to do with me. Some have absolutely 20 nothing to do with me and everything to do with the 21 kindness and patience of all the people that guided me 22 through my life. I want to take a moment to personally 23 thank some of these people who made this possible. 24 Ms. Elaine Keels, my high school remedial reading and 25 Spanish teacher. And I know what you're saying, "remedial 26 reading and Spanish?" I was saying the exact same thing. 27 She said it would help my reading, I said it would help me 28 repeat my sophomore year. I think she just wanted me to 29 take the class so she could have extra hands-on time to Notes: 30 help a young Shannon Sharpe. Thank you, Ms. Keels… 31 My big brother, Sterling. I'm the only player, of 267 men 32 that's walked through this building to my left, that can 33 honestly say this, ‘I'm the only pro football player that's in