0:07
Now, long before I was a member of the
0:09
family, I was a huge fan of Disney
0:11
stories. And I'm so glad I get to share
0:14
those stories like Beauty and the Beast
0:16
and Hercules with my little niece,
0:18
Flora. We love bing Disney movies
0:21
together. Hi, Flora. Thanks for
0:23
watching. The legacy of great
0:25
storytelling is present in everything
0:28
that Disney does. And nowhere is that
0:30
more apparent than at ESPN thanks to our
0:34
next Disney legend. Here to honor him is
0:37
a Hall of Famer who has won three Super
0:40
Bowls and the hearts of millions of
0:42
football fans, especially those from San
0:45
Francisco. [cheering]
0:47
>> Please put your hands together for NFL
0:56
When it comes to sports comedy, this
0:58
next legend redefined the whole era. He
1:02
brought a unique brand of humor and joy
1:05
to the profession that had never been
1:07
seen before. And once the world was
1:10
introduced to his creative word play,
1:13
the game was changed forever.
1:23
at these moments around
1:26
Sunday. There is a Mount Rushmore for
1:35
>> Welcome to M. It's [music]
1:39
>> It was always fun and you had a good
1:41
game to see what Boomer was going to
1:43
say. And he [music] turned,
1:47
you know, saying your name and if he
1:49
were lucky enough to to give you one of
1:51
those nicknames, Ricky running.
1:55
And somehow he wasn't really It
2:00
and everybody knew exactly what he did.
2:04
[music] He became the most famous sports
2:07
cer in the country. There are few
2:09
instances where you witness history in
2:11
the ballpark. This is one of them.
2:16
>> and you've let us in your home and you
2:18
wanted to hear what we had to say.
2:20
That's actually [music] my day.
2:28
After 15 years of playing pro football
2:31
and being interviewed by Boomer, it was
2:33
my turn to get behind the mic. Making
2:36
the transition from player to sitting at
2:38
the desk at ESPN can be pretty
2:40
intimidating. I mean, I'd taken hits
2:43
from 6'5, 300lb lineman, but staring
2:46
down the barrel of that camera somehow
2:48
felt more menacing. It took everything I
2:51
said. So, I took everything I said so
2:53
seriously, and I felt a tremendous
2:55
pressure to live up to the standard that
2:57
had been set before me. Boomer in his
2:59
infinite wisdom saw me overthinking it,
3:02
trying to be perfect. He pulled me aside
3:04
and said, "Steve, don't worry about it.
3:06
Whatever you said, it's on its way to
3:08
Pluto." And that's when it clicked. It's
3:11
the authenticity that really counts. He
3:13
had already provided the playbook with
3:15
the stories, the genuine love for
3:17
sports, and those unforgettable
3:19
nicknames and catchphrases. I'm forever
3:22
grateful for your advice and most of
3:24
all, your signature boomerisms with my
3:28
all-time favorite being, you could go
3:38
It's been an honor of a lifetime to
3:40
share the death with you for 22 years at
3:43
ESPN. I'm so proud to welcome you as a
3:46
Disney legend. You've come all the
3:49
[screaming] way. Come up here.
4:14
>> That's a Hall of Fame quarterback. My
4:16
god. Thank you, Steve. I thought this
4:19
was a Ducks home game. I had no idea we
4:26
this is amazing. Hey, go ahead. Make all
4:28
the sounds that Steve didn't make. Just
4:35
I guess the first legend long ago was
4:38
Fred McMurray. All right, I know that's
4:41
predating a few of you. Um, I look down
4:44
the list. By the way, I look at our
4:47
class, our class of 2026.
4:51
Whoa. Um, but I I look at like I said
4:58
Elijah John, Barbara Walters, Angela
5:02
Lansberg, Dick Van Dyke, Harrison Ford,
5:04
Billy Crystal. I'm in the wrong room.
5:07
I'm sorry. I got to go.
5:16
it wouldn't be me if I didn't thank the
5:18
man that presented it, gave us the award
5:21
first, Bob Eye of the Ivory. I had to do
5:28
By the time it came for him to present
5:30
it, he's one of us. What happened to
5:35
and your successor, Josh. I'm going to
5:38
try it. We've had some great today's,
5:42
but here's the even better tomorrows.
5:50
I didn't even be here. I I I had it
5:52
anyway. Um, look, ESPN started in 1979.
5:57
I was 24 years old, like many of the
5:59
folks here that um that started so young
6:01
in what they were doing. By the way, we
6:02
didn't have prompters, so I'm going old
6:05
school. I'm sorry. I'm not going to sing
6:07
like, but but I'm going to do it anyway.
6:11
I mean, cable TV would make it. H maybe
6:16
I don't know. 79, 80, 81. We were Louis
6:19
and Clark. We knew there was a Pacific.
6:22
We just didn't know where the hell it
6:23
was. And we just tried to go that way
6:25
and occasionally that way and
6:27
occasionally that way. And all right,
6:28
Steve, we did go all the way. Who knew?
6:33
47 years later, ESPN is what it is. I'm
6:37
still with him. That'd be a lot of odds.
6:40
Um, it's an amazing story. Um, I stand
6:44
on the thousands of people there or long
6:52
share in this moniker of legend. I mean,
6:55
I believe me, we had some people whose
6:57
names you will never know, and I cannot
6:59
ever, ever, ever thank them enough.
7:01
They're here with me now. Um, I accept
7:04
this on behalf of all of them. I
7:07
remember in 1997, Michael Eisner, right
7:09
after Disney um purchased ABCs,
7:13
he made sure that he came to Bristol,
7:15
Connecticut, that's where we're located,
7:17
you call it, Bristol,
7:19
that he wanted to speak of all of us.
7:21
And he said, "You guys need to
7:24
understand the reason, one of the
7:27
biggest reasons we purchased ABC Tap
7:32
We were two/3 sold on it."
7:36
[snorts] And very quickly thereafter, we
7:39
realized Disney, who tells stories,
7:44
who tells it to people of all shapes and
7:48
sizes better than Disney? the whole
7:51
body. And so what Disney was able to
7:57
maybe actually showing us or sometimes
8:00
just kind of giving us a little clue.
8:03
Well, that's what we're in the business
8:04
for. We're sports. We're telling
8:06
stories. They're not necessarily
8:08
scripts. It's a blank canvas every day
8:10
when we go to work, but we're telling
8:13
stories. So, it took us very little time
8:16
to realize what he had said was a
8:18
perfect marriage. Um,
8:23
the beauty is in sports and I found as I
8:27
wrap up, we're supposed to go 2 minutes
8:29
and my producers are laughing because
8:30
they know I can't go younger than four
8:34
and I'm already at five and a half.
8:38
I saved two timeouts if that's okay.
8:51
I um the thing I've learned more than
8:54
anything else about being in the sports
8:56
arena is just what I try to say is that
9:03
male or female, old or young, rich or
9:06
poor, I don't care what the color of
9:08
your skin is, we can have the same
9:12
today on last night's game. I can't
9:16
believe they didn't go for it on fourth
9:19
down. All right. It's It's just sports
9:21
is a is a melting pot and it's real and
9:25
it's the best thing that this job has
9:29
I would like to thank my late wife Kathy
9:32
uh for allowing me to pursue my dreams.
9:42
and my kids 40 and 39. Um,
9:47
Meredith and Doug for allowing me the
9:49
same thing. And Doug's wife, Claire, and
9:53
my little grandson, Kit. Thanks for
9:55
letting me stay young. I appreciate it.
10:03
All right. two quotes. One, if you know
10:06
me, you know I'm going rock and roll.
10:10
Eddie Money. And I'm not going to say we
10:12
have the Jonas Brothers to do that.
10:17
I want to go back and do it all over. I
10:20
can't go back. I know. [clears throat]
10:23
That's called one. This one might bring
10:25
a little louder and resonate, a little
10:27
louder with everybody.
10:29
was said by a fellow named, you might
10:31
have heard of him, Walt Disney.
10:36
Still getting cheers. You see that?
10:39
That's a legend right there.
10:44
Growing old is mandatory,
10:54
not growing up is optional.
