Morten Andersen was ready to take a shower and put on a suit. He wanted to look the part before he headed to the Canton Civic Center to receive his gold jacket from the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Friday night.
“It’s going to be an amazing couple of days,” Andersen told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a hallway of Canton McKinley High School after a pre-ceremony news conference.
Upon getting the coveted jacket, Andersen will become the first kicker in 25 years to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. The ceremony will take place Saturday.
“I never thought I’d be here, honestly,” Andersen said. “That was not on my radar screen. My most important thing was how can I get better because next year there is going to be a guy younger then me and cheaper than me coming in here. They want my job. There were just 32 jobs in the world. There is no back up.”
Andersen will be the first traditional kicker to go into the Hall of Fame since Jan Stenerud was inducted in 1991. Lou Groza, who was enshrined in 1974, was a kicker and a tackle and George Blanda, who was enshrined in 1981, was a quarterback and a kicker.
Andersen and his powerful right leg ended his storied career as the NFL all-time leading scorer and member of the all-decades teams in the 1980s and 1990s.
Andersen, who will be presented by his son Sebastian, has been working on his speech since June. He has it down to 13 minutes, but expects it run about 15 minutes. He’s leaving room for some applause and perhaps some tears.
Andersen is set to speak fourth in the 2017 class which includes former University of Georgia running back Terrell Davis, safety Kenny Easley, owner Jerry Jones, defensive end Jason Taylor, running back LaDainian Tomlinson and quarterback Kurt Warner.
Jones, who’s business savvy contributions to the league are being recognized, had a 44-minute speak earlier in the week, but he’s since cut it down to 38 minutes.
Andersen (1995-2000, 2006-07) will join Claude Humphrey (1968-74, ’76-78) and Deion Sanders (1989-93) as long-time Falcons to be enshrined. Tommy McDonald (1967), Brett Favre (1991), Eric Dickerson (1993) and Chris Doleman (1994-95) played for the Falcons, but earned their gold jackets while playing for other teams.
The Hall of Fame, so far, has passed on former Falcons greats Tommy Nobis, Mike Kenn, George Curry, Jeff Van Note and Chris Hinton.
Andersen said be prepared to hear about his will to succeed when asked to preview his speech.
"It's always hard to put one word on it, but it won't be long," Andersen said. "It's been a career of will and will winning over all of the characteristics that sometimes come forth. The one, single most important thing that I've had throughout the years, throughout when it didn't look good, was will. Will to excel and will to do it as long as I could."
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