{"id":427746,"date":"2018-02-19T12:59:57","date_gmt":"2018-02-19T18:59:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/?p=427746"},"modified":"2018-02-19T13:32:23","modified_gmt":"2018-02-19T19:32:23","slug":"terrell-owens-on-induction-into-pro-football-hall-of-fame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/terrell-owens-on-induction-into-pro-football-hall-of-fame\/","title":{"rendered":"Terrell Owens on Induction into Pro Football Hall of Fame"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Scott McInnerney
\nWNSP Reporter<\/p>\n

MOBILE, AL \u2013 The newest inductee into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame and one of this year\u2019s inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Terrell Owens, spoke about the accomplishments with WNSP\u2019s Randy Kennedy.<\/p>\n

\u201cNumber one, it\u2019s definitely an honor to be spoken of and mentioned with some of the greatest to ever play the game,\u201d said Owens. \u201cI think me just being from Alabama and I\u2019m going to get inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame soon, that too is a tremendous honor. I can\u2019t speak more highly of what you guys have done. Just being a small kid out of a small town to have gone on to do some great things and represent Alabama, I couldn\u2019t be more proud.\u201d<\/p>\n

Owens grew up in Alexander City, Alabama and played multiple sports for Benjamin Russell High School.<\/p>\n

\u201cI played a number of sports,\u201d Owens said. \u201cEverybody probably knows that football is one of the biggest sports in the South, so I\u2019m no stranger to that.<\/p>\n

“I played basketball, ran track, and I played baseball when I didn\u2019t run track. I think the story for me throughout my career was just me taking advantage of opportunities, and I wasn\u2019t a high school standout star by any means. But I made the most of my opportunities when they came about.<\/p>\n

“I was a late bloomer. I didn\u2019t really start to bloom until my junior or senior year in high school. I got an opportunity to play at UT Chattanooga and that\u2019s when things started to take notice and unfold for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout his NFL career, Owens has been on six Pro Bowl teams, five First Team All Pro rosters, and is a three-time leader in receiving touchdowns for a season. Owens is second all-time in receiving touchdowns in the NFL and holds the title as the only player to score a touchdown on all 32 NFL teams.<\/p>\n

His first year of eligibility for the Pro Football Hall of Fame was in 2016, but he wasn\u2019t inducted until this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt hasn\u2019t really sunk in,\u201d said Owens. \u201cI\u2019m very proud.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m very honored. With the process of the Hall of Fame, it\u2019s still a flawed process. Even if I didn\u2019t get in this year, my approach would be the same, and my thoughts would be the same as far as the criteria goes and the guys who are nominated and inducted. I think something needs to be done.<\/p>\n

“I still feel the same way even though I am now a Hall of Famer. It doesn\u2019t change because I\u2019m in because I should have been in two years ago. And I say that not to be selfish or to put all eyes on me, but there are guys that had to wait before me that shouldn\u2019t have.<\/p>\n

“And there are going to be guys who come up behind me that shouldn\u2019t have to wait. I think it\u2019s unfair, but what I\u2019m going to be doing now is really trying to bring some awareness to what\u2019s going on and the injustice for some of these guys that are very deserving to be in the Hall of Fame.\u201d<\/p>\n

Owens was also announced as a 2018 inductee into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony will be April 28 in Birmingham and includes names like Dabo Swinney and Chan Gailey.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very prideful of where I\u2019m from,\u201d Owens said. \u201cIt\u2019s a state that has produced a lot of great athletes.<\/p>\n

“You think about Charles Barkley. You think about Bo Jackson. These are some of the names I can remember.<\/p>\n

“A lot of people have gone on to play professional sports that have gone to these schools. I\u2019m just so proud to be a part of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, and if I didn\u2019t get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year, I\u2019ve gone on record to say that I\u2019m more proud of being inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame and the UT Chattanooga Hall of Fame. If it didn\u2019t happen this year, I still would have been just as excited about this honor as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more, you can listen to the full interview with Terrell Owens below and listen to Sports Drive weekdays on WNSP from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.<\/p>\n\nhttp:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/TerrellOwens2-16-18.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Scott McInnerney WNSP Reporter MOBILE, AL \u2013 The newest inductee into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame and one of this year\u2019s inductees into […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":4489,"featured_media":427750,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[147,150,153,117,176],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-427746","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured-news","8":"category-local-sports","9":"category-national-sports","10":"category-news","11":"category-top"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/TO.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4489"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427746"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":427752,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427746\/revisions\/427752"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}