The Pro Football Hall of Fame and the NFL Network turned the reveal of the Hall’s Centennial Class into a two-hour television show Wednesday morning.
And while that might have helped their ratings, it didn’t sit well with at least one of the guys who wasn’t named.
Via video from Jonah Javad of WFAA, former Cowboys wide receiver Drew Pearson was visibly angry when the 13 names were read and his was not among them.
“They broke my heart. They broke my heart,” Pearson said, in what appears to be a house full of friends and supporters and at least one television camera. “And they did it like this. They strung it out like this.”
Pearson was a first-team All-Decade receiver for the 1970s, and the only first-team member of that list who has not been voted into the Hall already. Second-team 1970s All-Decade wideout Harold Carmichael was one of the 10 players named during Wednesday morning’s show.
Pearson’s personal unhappiness is to be expected. And as much as everyone enjoyed seeing the emotional moments when Hall president David Baker congratulates new members of the Hall, there is an inevitable flip side when these announcements are played as reality shows.
And we got a glimpse of that in real time Wednesday.