When the Hall of Fame inductees are officially placed into the Hall of Fame Saturday, the new members will likely have several former players, coaches and colleagues around them to honor their special moment.
One of Tony Dungy's closest friends won't be in Canton, but rather here in Oxnard in the middle of Cowboys training camp.
Make no mistake, Rod Marinelli has the highest respect for Dungy, being on his staff in Tampa Bay for six years.
"To me, he's the ultimate teacher. The ultimate simplest," Marinelli said of Dungy. "He makes the complexed simple. He could make the irregular regular. You add to your package by deletion and how fast you can get your players to play. I was around him for six years. We built with patience. We didn't panic. If things were going wrong, we just stayed the course. And that's him. I was fortunate to be around a guy like that and stay in touch with him."
Dungy is one of seven new inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this weekend in Canton. The other new members are Brett Favre, Marvin Harrison, Kevin Greene, Orlando Pace, Ken Stabler, Dick Stanfel and Eddie DeBartolo Jr.
- Nick Eatman
