DeMarcus Ware stood at midfield on Thursday before the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio, and sang National Anthem.
While this itself would be a notable feat for a former NFLer, it had even more meaning for the soon-to-be Pro Football Hall of Famer.
The moment was a tribute to his late Denver Broncos teammate Demaryius Thomas, who died at 33 in 2021 from complications related to a seizure disorder.
While playing in Denver, Ware and Thomas usually stood on the sidelines together and sang the anthem before games.
“That’s actually the reason why I ended up [singing the anthem],” Ware said during the NBC broadcast. “It was because me and Demaryius, we would be on the sidelines singing the National Anthem. He’s not here right now and I knew he was going to be there with me out there when I was singing.
“It meant so much, not just singing the national anthem, but that moment I felt like I needed, especially before the speech.”
Ware will be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame this weekend after an illustrious career where he was named a Pro Bowler nine times while he was a four-time first-team All-Pro selection.
He won a Super Bowl with the Thomas and the Broncos in 2015.
Over the course of his career, he had 138.5 sacks and 657 tackles and returned two fumbles for touchdowns.
Despite playing on some of the biggest stages in the NFL, Ware told the Dallas Morning News on Thursday that he was more nervous about singing than he had been during his playing time.
“You can never be ready for that,” Ware said. “There’s ways you can prepare for it and have ample amount of vocal lessons.
“But when you get up there and when the crowd goes silent, it’s your turn to get up there and sing to the whole United States of America on what it stands for. And that is huge.”
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