Adam Vinatieri enters Colts Ring of Honor, Chuck Pagano reflects on what made him special
The Colts are putting Adam Vinatieri into their Ring of Honor on Sunday, and former head coach Chuck Pagano says the Hall of Fame kicker was as humble as he was good.
Why Adam Vinatieri is trending
Adam Vinatieri is trending because the Colts are inducting him into their Ring of Honor on Sunday, and former Indianapolis head coach Chuck Pagano has been talking publicly about what made the kicker special. The timing lines up with Vinatieri's induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August. There is nothing uncertain here, it is a scheduled honor tied to Sunday's Colts-Titans game at Lucas Oil Stadium, and the record that earned him the honor is already final.
Vinatieri spent 14 seasons with the Colts and helped the team win Super Bowl XLI. He was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August, the finish line on a 24-year NFL career. Over that career he made three Pro Bowls and earned three All-Pro selections, and he still stands as the NFL's all-time leader in field goals made.
Chuck Pagano on what made him special
Pagano coached Vinatieri for six seasons in Indianapolis, long enough to see both sides of him. He said people got a glimpse of the funny side at the Hall of Fame speech, but inside the building the kicker was, in Pagano's words, 'so humble.' Pagano described him as the quiet go-between in the locker room, carrying messages from the players to the coaching staff and carrying the staff's requests back the other way.
Pagano said Vinatieri would come to him about the practice schedule or day-to-day operations, speaking for the players, then turn around and deliver the coaching staff's plan to the room without friction. Pagano's summary of him was simple: 'What a great human and a great teammate.'
Two decades, two teams, one résumé
Vinatieri's career started before Indianapolis. He was part of the Patriots' 2001 championship season, the one New England marked this year with a 25th-anniversary flag football gathering for alumni. Vinatieri, Lawyer Milloy and Willie McGinest sat down with Patriots owner Robert Kraft for a conversation about that season, posted on the team's website alongside other alumni content.
The Patriots also posted footage of Vinatieri receiving his Pro Football Hall of Fame ring during a halftime ceremony, part of the team's archive of Vinatieri material that now spans both ends of his career, from the 2001 Patriots locker room to Sunday's Colts tribute.
What happens Sunday
The Ring of Honor ceremony is set for Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium, where the Colts are scheduled to kick off against the Titans at 1 p.m. The induction stands apart from whatever happens in that game. Vinatieri's numbers, the 14 seasons, the Super Bowl XLI ring, the Hall of Fame plaque and the all-time field goal record, are already locked in. Sunday just makes the Ring of Honor part of it official in Indianapolis.
Facts per WISH-TV, New England Patriots. Opinion is the taproom's.