In 1990, while eating dinner at Scholz's Beergarten, a popular Austin restaurant, Earl experienced a chance meeting with two businessmen who proposed a business idea.

They had heard that Earl was a wonderful cook, especially over the open grill. Earl loved sausage and knew a lot about making barbecue, ribs and sausage. The three men decided to cook up some of Earl's tasty sausage and try it out on some of Austin's toughest food critics: Longhorn tailgaters! They set up their grill at various Texas home football games and watched as the masses devoured Earl's spicy sausage. They also served the food through Scholz's. While dining at the local restaurant,a young man tasted Earl's barbecue and sauce. He would eventually give Earl and his partners one of their biggest breaks in the sausage business. His father-in-law was the senior buyer for Appletree Food Stores. After Earl cooked up some of his famous spicy sausage for the buyer and his wife, Appletree Foods began distributing Earl's meats and sauces. Earl Campbell Foods went from packaging 600 pounds of meat per month to over 600,000 pounds. The barbecue items became so successful that Earl and his partners even opened up their very own restaurant located in downtown Austin, Earl Campbell's on Sixth.

But with all Earl's accomplishments, one of the greatest days in his life was yet to come. While visiting the Flamingo Hilton in Las Vegas during Super Bowl weekend, a reporter called Earl to request an interview. The young man said, "Earl, you've been voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame!"

On July 27, 1991, all five of the inductees, including Earl, Jan Stenerud, John Hannah, Stan Jones and "Tex" Schramm, stood proudly on stage in Canton, Ohio, the home of the Hall of Fame. Earl asked one of his mentors and favorite coaches, Bum Phillips, to introduce him at the ceremony. Bum praised the people that raised him, especially his mother Ann, for raising a man who "knew how to live on the field and off the field."

When the time came for Earl to give his acceptance speech, he was very emotional. He thanked his mother who raised him and mentored him, he praised his father who was in heaven that day looking over him and he honored his wife and children who had been his companions along the way. After the speech, he raised his hand to the sky and gave the infamous sign of the "Hook 'em Horns."

The little black boy from a poor family in East Texas had come so far. From the rosefields in Tyler, Texas, to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. And a lot of exciting and memorable places in between. He touched the lives of so many people, even before he started breaking records and beating defenders on the football field. Long before the game of football began to change, Earl Campbell was already a hero. Truly, a rose among a bed of thorns.

Page 1 | 2