Junior Seau’s Daughter’s Tribute Brings The Audience To Tears [Video]

Junior Seau’s daughter delivered a heartfelt video tribute when she presented her late father for induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and the emotional moment brought audience members to tears.

As reported by the New York Times, Junior Seau told his daughter, Sydney Seau, that he wanted her to speak on his behalf if he was ever inducted it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. However, a 5-year-old policy doesn’t allow others to give full speeches for deceased inductees, which resulted in Sydney not being able to deliver her speech. Players inducted posthumously were to be presented only with a video tribute, the Washington Post reports.

Sydney Seau’s video tribute on Saturday moved the crowd, and the touching video featured several family photos and numerous highlights of Seau’s incredible football career.

“You are a light, and I want nothing more than to see you come on stage and give the speech you were meant to give, give me a hug and tell me you love me one last time,” Sydney Seau said. “But that isn’t a reality.”

Linebacker Junior Seau entered the Hall of Fame on Saturday in his first year of eligibility. Seau played 13 years with the Chargers, three years with the Miami Dolphins, and spent his last four seasons with the New England Patriots. He was an eight-time member of the All-Pro team, he won the Defensive Player of the Year in 1992 and totaled 64 games with 10 tackles or more.

Unfortunately, Seau committed suicide in 2012, and it was later learned that he had a chronic brain disease. Seau was the player who received the most applause during the presentation prior to the induction ceremony.

The following passage is an excerpt from Sydney Seau’s video tribute.

“What keeps coming to mind when I think of him is the fact that he was basically superhuman. On the field he was relentless, hard-hitting, passionate and unstoppable. Off the field he was caring, gentle, hilarious and generous. On top of that he played within the league for 20 years, and that in itself is pretty exceptional.

“May 2, 2012, we all endured a loss. Thousands lost their all-time favorite linebacker, hundreds lost their favorite Charger, tens lost their buddy, and four lost their father. The reason why this honor is so hard to accept is because we had always envisioned him still being here to accept it.

“But something that we all cannot deny is that we are all still here. We can keep working today, we can keep building our tomorrows, and we can keep praying for the rest. This superhumanlike man truly blessed us with one of the most precious gifts he could have given. He gave us his time. With that time, I know he made one hell of an imprint on my life, and from the amount of emotion and love in this room, I think we all could say the same.”

[Image via Joe Robbins/Getty Images Sport]