Sterling Sharpe inducted into Professional Soccer HOF: Induction lengthy overdue for Packers star WR

When the Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame enshrined its 2025 class in Canton, Ohio on Saturday, maybe the NFL’s best extensive receiver that the typical soccer fan is not accustomed to lastly acquired his due: Sterling Sharpe.

No, this is not a typo referring to Corridor of Fame tight finish Shannon Sharpe. This story and this weekend is about Sterling, Shannon’s older brother. There was really a time when Shannon was known as Sterling’s youthful brother. The Green Bay Packers drafted the elder Sharpe seventh general within the 1988 NFL Draft out of South Carolina at a time during which Inexperienced Bay, the smallest skilled sports activities metropolis in america, was considered as a soccer wasteland. 

Twenty years had handed for the reason that Packers received the second of the NFL’s first two Tremendous Bowls in 1967, and Inexperienced Bay had returned to the playoffs simply twice in that span (1972 and 1982) with one postseason win to indicate throughout these two journeys. After an unremarkable rookie yr in 1988 (791 yards receiving and a landing on 55 catches), Sharpe ascended to stardom in 12 months 2 in 1989. He erupted for an NFL-leading 90 catches for 1,423 yards and 12 receiving touchdowns, which earned him his first of 5 Professional Bowl picks in addition to his first of three first workforce All-Professional picks. 

Sharpe and quarterback Don “Magic Man” Majkowski developed a robust connection that yr with the Packers quarterback main the NFL in passing yards (4,318), completions (353), move makes an attempt (599), fourth quarter comebacks (5) and game-winning drives (7). The workforce’s 10-6 document wasn’t sufficient to succeed in the postseason that yr, however it’s clear the Packers had a famous person creating in Sharpe. He earned one other Professional Bowl nod in 1990, however he started flashing Corridor of Fame manufacturing in his mid and late twenties following a franchise-altering change on the quarterback place.

Shannon Sharpe breaks silence: Why Hall of Famer offered an emotional apology to his brother, Sterling Sharpe

John Breech

Inexperienced Bay traded a first-round decide for Atlanta Falcons backup quarterback Brett Favre in February of 1992, and fireworks flew deep downfield between Favre and Sharpe nearly immediately. In his first season as Favre’s go-to man in 1992 on the age of 27, Sharpe grew to become the NFL’s second receiving triple crown winner for the reason that 1970 AFL/NFL merger by main the league in catches (108), receiving yards (1,461) and receiving touchdowns (13). He’s now considered one of simply 5 gamers to win the receiving triple crown since 1970. On the time, Sharpe’s 108 catches in 1992 served because the NFL’s single-season document. His encore in 1993 on the age of 28 was rewriting the NFL’s single-season catches document as soon as once more with a league-leading 112 receptions for 1,274 yards receiving and 11 receiving touchdowns. 

The second yr of Favre and Sharpe teaming up resulted within the Packers’ first playoff victory since 1982 in a 28-24 highway win on the divisional rival Detroit Lions within the NFC wild card spherical. Sharpe starred with 5 catches for 101 yards receiving and three touchdowns, together with the game-winner from 40 yards out within the again proper nook of the top zone with 40 seconds left to play. Sharpe balled out once more the next week on the Dallas Cowboys within the NFC divisional spherical with six catches for 128 yards receiving and a landing, however it wasn’t sufficient to beat the eventual Super Bowl champions in a 27-17 defeat. 

How Sharpe’s profession ended earlier than the age of 30

Mockingly, Sharpe performed all 112 common season video games he may have suited up for in his seven NFL seasons, and he nonetheless performed like one of many league’s greatest in 1994 on the age of 29, what can be his final yr {of professional} soccer. He racked up a career-high and NFL-most 18 receiving touchdowns along with 94 catches for 1,119 yards receiving, however catastrophe struck within the penultimate common season sport of the yr towards the Atlanta Falcons. On the time, the Packers break up their house video games between Lambeau Discipline in Inexperienced Bay and Milwaukee County Stadium, additionally the then-home of the Milwaukee Brewers. 

Enjoying at Milwaukee County Stadium towards the Falcons, Sharpe was blocking on a routine run up the center for 4 yards, however his head was flipped backwards by Falcons defensive again Brad Edwards. He laid on the bottom immobile for near 4 minutes earlier than finally strolling to the sideline by himself. 

Per week later within the common season finale on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Sharpe helped drag the Packers again to the postseason with a 9-7 document due to his 9 catches for 132 yards receiving and three touchdowns in what can be the final sport of his profession. That is as a result of he reaggravated his damage towards the Buccaneers. It ended up being a neck situation that required fusion surgical procedure on his C1 and C2 vertebrae, and for the reason that process left him with minimal vary of movement and susceptible to re-injury, Sharpe referred to as it a profession. He completed with 595 profession catches, a Packers profession document on the time, 8,312 receiving yards and 65 receiving touchdowns in seven seasons. Within the span of Sharpe’s profession, solely San Francisco 49ers extensive receiver Jerry Rice, the receiving GOAT, racked up extra catches (620) and receiving touchdowns (91) than the Packers No. 1 choice. 

* Behind solely Jerry Rice

The Corridor of Fame wait

As arguably the second-best extensive receiver in your entire NFL all through his seven-year profession and a receiving triple crown winner, Sharpe’s spot within the Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame appeared like a formality, although his profession ended prematurely. Nonetheless, he needed to endure one of many longest waits ever to obtain his spot. Maybe a few of that needed to do together with his icy relationship with the media, the individuals who cowl the league and vote on who receives the distinction of soccer immortality. 

“As a soccer participant, I used to be unapproachable,” Sterling Sharpe said, via WIS News. “I did not need to be approached. I did not need to be well-known. I did not need to make associates. I’ve bought a job to do and I am going to do that job higher than anybody else does anything.”  

Security LeRoy Butler, Sharpe’s Corridor of Fame Packers teammate, revealed Inexperienced Bay teammates famous Sharpe’s isolationist strategy and referred to as him “The Hermit.”

“Sterling did not need no one to know what he did,” Butler informed The Related Press, via WIS News. “He did not need different receivers mimicking him. His edge was his physicality and his mind.”  

Sharpe ended up ready on the poll for 26 years earlier than reaching the finalist ranks for the primary time in 2025 via a range by the Seniors Blue-Ribbon Committee, and he grew to become a Corridor of Famer after crossing the 80% threshold for enshrinement. It is ironic Sharpe needed to wait so lengthy as a result of one other extensive receiver with an analogous profession profile, the Detroit Lions’ Calvin Johnson, entered the Corridor of Fame on his first poll look. Like Sharpe, Johnson’s physique broke down across the similar age: after “Megatron” accomplished his age-30 season in 2015. He cited knee, ankle and finger surgeries engulfing his body as the explanation for his early retirement. 

Sharpe and Johnson completed with the identical variety of first workforce All-Professional picks (three), and Johnson completed with only one extra Professional Bowl choice than Sharpe (six) regardless of enjoying two extra seasons. Their profession accolades like instances main the league in numerous receiving metrics and their season averages for catches, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns throughout the span of their total careers are additionally very shut. 

Come Saturday evening, Sharpe’s soccer profession will relaxation in its rightful house in Canton, Ohio, on the Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame. He’ll lastly be part of Johnson, his brother Shannon — turning into the primary pair of brothers to affix the Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame — and the remainder of the NFL’s all-timers as a peer within the Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame. That is precisely the place Sterling Sharpe belongs.