CANTON, Ohio — When it comes to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, it's not how you get here- but that you get here.
From bone disease as a kid growing up in New Jersey, to experiencing racism in the South in the 1960s, few have had a journey to Canton, Ohio quite like Drew Pearson.
Perhaps no adversity was worse, though, than waiting.
Pearson has been eligible for the Hall of Fame for nearly 40 years- longer than I've been alive. He's handled the years of rejection with grace and class, and at times, with raw emotion.
He was an underdog -- an undrafted free agent -- and made himself into a Cowboys icon: the original 88, the receiver of the Hail Mary, a Super Bowl champ.
And now, he has a bronze bust in Canton.
"I'm satisfied," Pearson said when WFAA asked him how he was feeling Sunday night. "I've reached my mountaintop. I've reached the peak...and it feels good, it feels good.
"I always thought I was that kind of caliber player. I didn't think that until I made the all-decade team. I wasn't thinking about the Hall of Fame until then, but once I made that, I wanted to finish my career strong so there wouldn't be no question about being in the Hall of Fame."
Pearson told WFAA in a one-on-one interview that for all the adversity he's faced in his lifetime, he wouldn't change a thing. He said all the adversity he's had to overcome is what made this moment so special.
And what's made this weekend so sweet is all the "No"s that finally turned into a "Yes."
When it comes to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, it's not how you get here- but that you get here.
And Drew Pearson will be here forever.