Tom Brady: Now he has his place in the Hall of Fame

He has been retired from football for two years – now he has been honored as one of the greatest: football legend Tom Brady (46) was inducted into the New England Patriots Hall of Fame on Wednesday. At the ceremony in front of 60,000 spectators at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, his former club awarded him the honorary red jacket of the best. The Patriots combined the honor with a promise not to give away his former jersey number 12 again. The superstar will also receive a statue in front of the stadium. He had to promise his children not to plan another comeback.

“My name is Tom Brady. And I am a patriot.”

It was the expected big show for the prodigal son and former guarantor of victory. Amid the cheers of 60,000 fans, Brady took off his blue jacket and accepted the red jacket of a Hall of Famer from the hands of Patriots owner Robert Kraft (83). Brady then addressed emotional words to his former audience: “I am incredibly grateful. My name is Tom Brady. And I am a Patriot,” said the 46-year-old with a broken voice.

Brady also received applause from the Patriots’ previous Hall of Famers and more than 100 former teammates and coaches from his exhilarating career. Brady’s embrace with former Patriots coach Bill Belichick (72) was particularly heartfelt. Under his leadership, he won six Super Bowls between 2000 and 2020. The two share a kind of father-son relationship, which Brady expressed as follows: “I thank you for always tirelessly making sure that I played to my limit. It wasn’t you, it wasn’t me, it was us,” he said. “There is no coach I would rather have played for.”

Statue for Brady is twelve feet high

The Patriots have been holding back the famous jersey number since Brady’s departure in 2020, and now it’s official: Patriots owner Kraft has promised not to give away Brady’s jersey with the number 12 in the future. Brady is the eighth player in Patriots history to receive this honor. Kraft also announced plans to build a Tom Brady statue in front of the Patriots’ huge arena. The statue will be twelve feet tall, or a good three and a half meters, to match Brady’s jersey number.

“Don’t get any stupid ideas”

After leaving the Patriots, Brady continued his career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020 – originally for two seasons. The first season with the new club was extremely successful, with the seventh Super Bowl win in the first year. In the second season in Florida, he lost his winning streak. This initially prompted Brady to announce his retirement on February 1, 2022. Just a month later, he relapsed and announced that he would extend his contract for one season. 2022 was finally over – or was it? During the ceremony on Wednesday, Brady played the audience a song that his children had recorded for him. In it, they not only show their pride in their father, they also jokingly warn him against another comeback attempt: “Don’t get any stupid ideas if you happen to walk through a locker room tonight.” The message is: No resignation from retirement, Dad!

Jon Bon Jovi celebrates Tom Brady

Singer Jon Bon Jovi (62) also paid Brady the honor on Wednesday and came to the ceremony. The singer-songwriter has been friends with Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Tom Brady for decades. Bon Jovi walked the red, white and blue carpet in Massachusetts with his wife Dorothea Rose Hurley (61) tightly embraced.