Detroit Lions exec Chris Spielman tells hall of fame crowd why his dad Sonny was his hero

CANTON — The vast expanse of high school football in the USA boiled down to a small world on a stage in Umstattd Hall.

There, some of the National High School Football Hall of Fame's charter inductees acknowledged almost eerie associations.

From the podium, with a crowd of 500 looking on, Coach Don Nehlen spotted Jim Tressel in the crowd and said, "I used to play poker with your dad."

Thom McDaniels, who became McKinley's head coach 17 years after Nehlen left, gave his acceptance speech a while later.

Mike Doss, who played for McDaniels, sat right behind him, waiting − along with Archie Griffin, Bernie Kosar and other notables − to give his own acceptance speech.

Cardboard cutouts of deceased inductees Paul Brown and Jim Brown stood sentry on a corner of the stage. If another deceased inductee, Marion Motley, didn't get a cutout, he does have a statue a quarter mile from Sunday's event.

Umstattd Hall practically breathes on the ground where Motley played for McKinley against Paul Brown's Massillon Tigers.

Motley and Jim Brown both were brought to the Cleveland Browns by Paul Brown.

Sunday's program was driven by the living.

Doss took the podium making eye contact with inductee Chris Spielman.

"Chris was the first high school player to have his picture on a Wheaties box," Doss said.

Spielman and Massillon lost to McKinley in 1981, when the Bulldogs won a state championship with McDaniels as an assistant. McDaniels became head coach in 1982 and lost to Massillon when Spielman was a junior and senior.

In 1983, McDaniels gave Spielman what the latter calls the best compliment he ever received: "He's not the best football player I've seen, but not a lot of guys play better."

Looking sideways from his speech to McDaniels, Spielman said, "You were coaching me even though you weren't coaching me. Maybe that's why we beat you twice."

At 57, Spielman is a special assistant to Detroit Lions ownership. Lions head coach Dan Campbell went out of his way last week to express Spielman's importance to the coming year of great expectations.

"He helps keep me straight and tells me what I need to hear, not what I want to hear," Campbell told reporters.

The Lions should know whether they are a real team by the time they face the Las Vegas Raiders in October. The Raiders' head coach is Thom McDaniels' son Josh.

Theatrical elements went into choosing the 23-man class class for the new hall's inaugural induction.

It was decided to tap not only Peyton Manning but also his dad and two brothers. Six charter inductees are from Canton or Massillon.

All six accomplished things whose scope stretched beyond Stark County. Their stories contributed to an interesting program.

Nehlen, 87, is in the College Football Hall of Fame based on his work at Bowling Green and West Virginia. His early path went through Canton Lincoln High School, where he was named top athlete of the Class of 1954.

"I coached high school football for six years and loved every minute of it," Nehlen said. "I was at Mansfield and then Canton South.

"When I was named coach at Canton McKinley, my four sisters said, 'Don, are you out of your mind? We're Canton Lincoln, not Canton McKinley."

Nehlen applied his famous sense of humor to another charter inductee, Greg Kampe of Defiance.

"I played for Don in college," Kampe said. "I came here already feeling like I didn't belong. Then in the back room we were all talking.

"One of these hall of famers said something great about Don. Then I said, you know, I played for him in college. Coach looked at me and said, 'I guess I really do belong here if I could win with players like you.'"

Current McKinley head coach Antonio Hall, who is involved with the new hall, paid McDaniels an on-stage compliment.

"He taught me one of my most valuable lessons," said Hall, a teammate of Doss on McDaniels' 1997 national title team. "He taught me to do what you can when you can. Not when it's convenient. Not when it's easy. Not when everyone is looking,"

McDaniels piloted the Bulldogs a school-record 18 years.

"I talked to the kids and convinced them that how we behave is as important as how we play," he said. "They bought into that concept. We didn't just win football games. We represented this school and this community the right way, and I'm very proud of that."

Doss, 42, followed McDaniels to the microphone.

Kenny Peterson, who won national titles with Doss at McKinley and Ohio State, was in the crowd. So was John Lucius, a McKinley teammate who was best man is Doss's wedding.

In high school, Lucius thought he was as good a player as Doss or any other Bulldog.

"One time when I was down playing in Columbus, John said, 'Hey, brother, you're better than me.'" Doss said. "That moment made me understand some things.

"When you're playing, you don't think about being in a Hall of Fame. 'This play is going to get me to Ohio State.' … 'This play is going to take me to the NFL.' You're just playing the game."

Doss looked into the crowd where the 2023 McKinley team occupied four rows.

"It goes fast," he said. "Enjoy the game. Enjoy your friends."

Old memories washed over Spielman.

His father, Sonny, was head coach at Canton Timken in the 1970. Chris was 5 when he attended his first scheme meeting with assistant coach Bernie Hull.

"I was 8 when Timken went 8-0-1," Spielman said. "That was the greatest football year of my life.

"High school football means everything to me, because it's pure.

"Any success I ever had was directly related to other people."

No. 1 was Sonny Spielman, who died in 2008. Chris Spielman reverently recalls his dad's care for players, including those with no parents to go home to.

"Before practices, we would go down to the old downtown Canton YMCA," he said. "We would pick up three of his players, because that's where they were living.

"Christmas Eves, we'd have five players over to our house.

"He wasn't a coach. He was a father and a mentor to many, many people."

Reach Steve at steve.doerschuk@cantonrep.com

On Twitter: @sdoerschukREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Chris Spielman talks hero dad at High School Football Hall of Fame