Then, Smith knocked on the door wearing his gold jacket, leaving Peppers in a pair of shorts and a casual blue T-shirt, standing there in a state of shock.
“I think he was frozen,” Smith said. “He was speechless. It made me a little bit uncomfortable because when we see one of our own, we embrace them. And I say more than a few words. I mean, it’s just that love for your fellow Hall of Famer-slash-teammate. And I was given instructions to knock, and stand back, and wait for him to come to the door.
“After I made my statement about ‘Welcome to the Hall of Fame,’ I had to stay multiple feet away from him. Because they just want him to have that moment and for all of us to feel what he was or see what he was experiencing at that moment.
“Now, I see why they do it because it is, it’s probably going to be one of the more memorable moments of a lifetime for someone that was just given the news about going into the Hall of Fame.”
The look on Peppers’ face said it all. That’s Bruce Smith standing there. He’s wearing a gold jacket. There are lights and cameras. Something’s up.
None of this was what he was expecting when his son faked his way out of soccer practice.
“Exactly,” Peppers said of the realization of what was happening at that moment.
Asked what was going through his mind in that instant after he said, “Bruce, what’s up?” Peppers just shook his head.
“So, I don’t even know. I think I just blacked out,” he said. “I was just like, what? Again, my first thought was, what’s going on? Is this even real? This is unbelievable. I didn’t believe it. I didn’t believe it.
“When I opened up the door, he was like, ‘I want to welcome you to the 2024 class of the Hall of Fame. Welcome to Canton.’
“I was in shock; I was speechless, you know.”
Of course, Peppers knew he was a finalist, and he knew his case to become just the 90th first-ballot Hall of Famer was a strong one. His 159.5 sacks trail just Smith (200), the late Reggie White (198) and the late Kevin Greene (160). He was also a two-time All-Decade player, the elite of the elite. Still, he couldn’t take it for granted until there was a large man in a gold jacket standing in his driveway. One he didn’t realize was going to be there that night.
“Knowing that it was a possibility was one thing,” Peppers said. “And again, everybody around me was always saying, oh yeah, you’re going to be first-ballot, that’s a…
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