TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – The knock on the door came while Rondé Barber watched a soccer game on television with friends. It’s not unusual for the Barber family to receive guests at different times of the day, only this time, the guest was sporting a gold jacket from the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
At his door stood Tampa Bay Buccaneers legend and Hall of Famer Derrick Brooks – he was there to tell his friend, Rondé, that he’d been elected to the Hall of Fame Class of 2023.
Years of waiting and wondering ended with a show of emotion and appreciation.
“The initial emotion I had was relief,” Barber said. “I saw three of my teammates go through it. I wasn’t with them, but I felt what they were going through.”
Rondé Barber was on the Hall of Fame ballot six times. This year was his third year as a finalist.
The person with the most influence in Barber’s Hall of Fame case is Ira Kaufman, a Buccaneers writer who covered Barber’s entire playing career while writing for the Tampa Tribune.
However, Kaufman is also a Hall of Fame voter, with the ability to present protentional candidates from past Bucs teams. Barber knew the difficulty involved in getting the votes he needed to reach Canton.
“My peer group was two first-ballot hall of famers, Charles Woodson and Champ Bailey,” Barber said. “His challenge was to differentiate me from what the current group of Hall of Fame voters sees is a Hall of Fame corner.”
Don’t miss the story of Barber’s life and career in “Rondé’s Road to Canon” Friday evening on WFLA News Channel 8 at 7:00 p.m.
