For Ken Rileys family, Hall of Fame induction a celebration through the pain

June 07, 2024

Barbara Riley remembers the moment her husband of 51 years and high school sweetheart gave up on the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Ken Riley, after retiring in 1983 with an astonishing 65 interceptions, now fifth-most in league history and second-most by a cornerback, approached the annual reveal of the Hall of Fame voting results the only way he knew how. He featured the same traits that drew Barbara to him when her neighbor Dixie Rose set them up on a lunch date decades ago while at Union Academy in Bartow, Fla.

“He was quiet and a gentleman,” she recalled.

Riley never hired an agent to state his case. He never begged for his resume to receive more attention. He never complained aloud or approached voters despite the absurdity of 65 interceptions apparently not being enough.

“Everyone around him would say, ‘Why are you not in? Why are you not in?'” Barbara said. “He couldn’t figure it out either. All these many years he thought his time would come and the stats would speak for themselves. He always was quiet, he never was boastful, he never did brag about what he had done.”

All-time NFL interceptions

Player	Interceptions	Years active	HOF year
Paul Krause	81	1964-1979	1998
Emlen Tunnell	79	1948-1961	1967
Rod Woodson	71	1987-2003	2009
Night Train Lane	68	1952-1965	1974
Ken Riley	65	1969-1983	2023
Charles Woodson	65	1998-2015	2021
Ed Reed	64	2002-2013	2019
Ronnie Lott	63	1981-1994	2000
Darren Sharper	63	1997-2010	not inducted
Dave Brown	62	1975-1989	not inducted
Dick LeBeau	62	1959-1972	2010

Yet, after the expanded Centennial class of 15 legends in 2020 didn’t include him, the man known as “The Rattler” relinquished hope of living his dream moment on the stage in Canton, a gold jacket draped over his shoulders.

“We were driving and he said, ‘You know what, I’m done with this,'” Barbara said. “Because every year it was the wait and then all of a sudden, hear the list. He said this will not happen in my lifetime. That’s the last thing he told me about it.”

Riley passed away six months later at age 72.

On Saturday, Barbara and their son Ken Riley II will stand on the stage as Riley’s 15-year career in Cincinnati receives enshrinement in Canton. He’ll become the second member of the Bengals and the second player from an HBCU (Florida A&M) to make the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Many Hall of Fame classes over the years feature players enshrined posthumously. Their football stories deserve to be told and immortalized. They also leave behind families coping with loss and pride, revisiting feelings of grief baked inside joy.

Whether at the gold jacket ceremony, parade, enshrinement or the party hosted by the Bengals for the Riley family on Saturday night, the goal remains to emphasize what this legendary cornerback, father and husband would have wanted.

“I’m going in from the perspective it is a celebration,” Riley II said. “I don’t want it to be sad. He wouldn’t want us to be sad.”

Ken II will be tasked with setting the tone by making the speech he thought he’d one day hear his father give. Nobody worked harder for the wrong of his father’s exclusion to be righted.

“My son,” Barbara said, “when (Ken Sr.) passed said, ‘Mama, I’m not going to stop. I need to get dad’s name back out there. I can’t let his name just fall to the wayside.'”

He made calls. He did interviews. He forged relationships. Through induction into the new Bengals Ring of Honor, he helped grow momentum through the organization. His quest became labor fueled by love.

Ken Riley waves to the crowd during the Bengals’ 50th-anniversary ceremony in 2017. (Gary Landers / Associated Press)

With the deserved moment of recognition finally here, coming up with the words, tone and inspiration for this speech is the easy part.

“He was my hero,” Riley II said. “He inspired me my whole life.”

He says the emotion enters for him most looking over at his mother. She will be the presenter on Saturday and won’t be speaking. She will be pulling back the sheet to reveal the bust of her husband and view it in person for the first time.

“It will be tearful,” she said, also admitting it’s the moment she’s looking forward to the most over the days of activities. “People say you better bring a lot of tissues. I said, ‘No, I have hankies. Tissues won’t work. There won’t be enough.'”

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For 32 consecutive years from 1988 until Riley passed, Barbara stood behind her husband hoping this would be the year only to be disappointed. Her husband worked as an educator, coach and athletic director, they raised beautiful children. He was honored in the Black College Hall of Fame and the FAMU Hall of Fame. Life was unquestionably fulfilling.

But, as only a spouse of five decades can know, for the quiet, humble gentleman who even kept his hopes of overcoming the odds to make the NFL at all to himself, Canton always mattered.

“He’s in every hall of fame you could imagine,” she said, “but this was the one.”

So, when her son called to say he finally got in, she says her reaction “wasn’t Hallelujah all of a sudden.”

Couldn’t be. The pool of emotions runs too deep.

“For so many years, it encumbered him,” Barbara said. “I know it has happened, but I still feel the pain and the hurt because he’s not here.”

Seven other enshrinees will look out at their friends and family with the pride of reaching the pinnacle. Along with the family of late coach Don Coryell, the Riley family won’t carry the same definitive feelings.

This weekend will serve as a celebration, the gathering of so many who cared about Riley and this family make it impossible not to.

However, for Barbara and those who loved Ken Riley most, even the greatest honor can’t intercept the greatest loss.

“He’s not here to accept all the accolades, receive that gold jacket and be proud to wear that jacket,” Barbara said. “He left all the blood and the sweat out on the field, I didn’t do anything but stood behind him. I wasn’t out there. He did it all himself, those 65 interceptions. He did it himself. That is the part. It hurts me to see it come full circle.”

(Top photo: Associated Press)

The Football 100, the definitive ranking of the NFL’s best 100 players of all time, goes on sale this fall. Pre-order it here.

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