Tom Brady was honored at Gillette Stadium in front of a sold out crowd and 100 of his former teammates. Here’s what you missed. - The Boston Globe (2024)

Nine months ago, Kraft announced that he was waiving the four-year wait period so Brady could be inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame right away.

“A halftime ceremony just wasn’t enough time to honor the greatest of all time,” Kraft said. “Patriots fans wanted more. Tom Brady deserved more.”

Throughout the three-hour ceremony, Brady’s former teammates, opponents, and coaches traded stories about the quarterback’s greatest moments. But the crowd’s cheers were never louder than when former Patriots coach Bill Belichick stepped up to the podium.

“As we’ve heard from so many of his teammates, his pursuit of excellence, his work ethic, that drive, that competitiveness, non-selfishness, everything he brought to the team, it was really an honor for me to be involved with that and to be able to work with him every day and learn from him,” Belichick said.

Read on to see how the night unfolded.

‘I am Tom Brady, and I am a Patriot’ — 10:05 p.m.

Tears welled in Brady’s eyes throughout Brady’s impassioned, 20-minute speech.

Brady thanked his family, the fans, his teammates and coaches, and the entire Kraft family as he addressed a crowd of over 60,000 people at Gillette Stadium.

Before he exited the stage, Brady made a declaration: “I am Tom Brady, and I am a Patriot.”

The newest member of the Patriots Hall of Fame addresses the crowd — 9:50 p.m.

Brady donned his new red jacket for the first time. Here are some of the highlights of his speech.

• “I’m overwhelmed with gratitude and a deep sense of honor. So let me say thank you for all that you’ve done to help me — to help us — achieve our lifelong dreams. You guys are amazing. What other fans in the world would spend hours on Route 1 every Sunday to get to a stadium in the middle of the woods?”
• To the fans: “I miss this place, and I miss you.”
• “This night is a celebration of everyone who’s ever cared about this organization. Everyone who has cheered, sacrificed for it, past, present, and future.”
• “We’re blessed because we learned so many things that most people never have the opportunity to learn: That nothing of significance in life is accomplished as an individual. Nobody individually hangs those six banners up there. The team does.”
• “Here in New England, it’s always about we and us, not me or my. Relationships are built on shared experiences and the most meaningful thing in my life.”
• “I truly wish I had more time. I wish I had more time to give you all.”
• “To Coach Belichick: Thank you. Thank you for your tireless commitment to develop and push me to be my very best. It wasn’t me. It wasn’t you. It was us. Our hard work, our love of the game, and the way we work for one another. That’s what it was all about.”
• “Let me make this crystal clear: There is no coach in the world I would rather play for than Bill Belichick.”
• “We were the best in the world, and no one will ever forget that.”

The Patriots are retiring Brady’s No. 12 — 9:40 p.m.

In a video narrated by Neil Degrasse Tyson, the Patriots announced they would retire Brady’s jersey. The announcement was met with fireworks and a “Brady!” chant throughout the stadium, and Brady was visibly emotional.

“While we consider this Patriots Hall of Fame the highest individual honor for this franchise, we wanted the greatest to be the first to receive an even greater honor,” Kraft said, adding that a 12-foot-tall statue of Brady will be unveiled during the regular season.

“It will stand alone in the plaza outside of the Hall of Fame to symbolize his position, not as the greatest in franchise history, but as the greatest in all of NFL history,” Kraft said.

Highlights of Robert Kraft’s speech — 9:35 p.m.

Here’s a snapshot of the Patriots owner’s remarks.

• “Tonight, it gives Patriots fans everywhere tremendous pride to celebrate the career of the greatest of all time.”
• “A halftime ceremony just wasn’t enough time to honor the greatest of all time. Patriots fans wanted more. Tom Brady deserved more. So I took executive privilege and for the first time, waved the four-year wait for induction into the Patriots Hall of Fame.”
• “Unbelievably, for 20 years, you instilled a level of confidence that simply didn’t exist before your arrival, not only in your coaches and teammates, but also in Patriots fans everywhere.”
• “We always felt like we had a chance to win, as long as you were the man under center. What you gave Patriots fans went beyond pride. You gave us all swagger.”

Next up: Robert Kraft — 9:30 p.m.

Following Belichick’s speech, Matthew Slater took the stage to introduce Patriots owner Robert Kraft.

Belichick recalls Brady’s worst decision — 9:15 p.m.

Belichick lauded Brady’s ability to avoid bad decisions during his playing career, but he recalled the one time Brady made a bad decision ... on the golf course.

Playing in a Pro-Am at Pebble Beach, Brady hit a ball over a 200-foot cliff facing the Pacific Ocean, and it landed on a ledge a few feet down. Brady, the determined player he is, insisted on leaning over the cliff to retrieve the ball.

“I could see our whole season, just in my eyes, at that moment,” Belichick said.

Brady’s longtime coach thanks Brady for two decades of service — 9:10 p.m.

Here are some of the highlights from Belichick’s speech.

• “It was a tremendous honor and privilege for me to draft Tom and to coach him for 20 years.”
• “As we’ve heard from so many of his teammates, his pursuit of excellence, his work ethic, that drive, that competitiveness, non-selfishness, everything he brought to the team, it was really an honor for me to be involved with that and to be able to work with him every day and learn from him.”
• “We can talk about a lot of his great plays, and we’d be here all night. I mean, this thing, we could go until the middle of next week.”
• “The thing about Tom that I think is so unbelievable impressive, and what he did for us for 20 years, 19 years that he played for us: He avoided the bad plays.”
• “Tom, through his decision making, his preparation, the numbers are just historical.”
• “Of all Tom’s great qualities, that’s one of the greatest. He always protected the team, did the best thing for the team, and kept the team out of bad situations. And that really helps everybody else.”

Bill Belichick takes the stage — 9:05 p.m.

The Gillette Stadium crowd roared for nearly two full minutes as the former Patriots coach took the stage.

“Love you, New England,” he said. “Love you, Patriot fans. And love you, Tom Brady.”

Fans began chanting “Belichick!” as he tried to speak.

Kenny Chesney takes the stage to perform — 8:55 p.m.

David Andrews introduced the country artist, who donned a Patriots baseball cap as he played his ode to football, “The Boys of Fall,” for the Gillette Stadium crowd.

Julian Edelman thanks Brady for his sincerity — 8:45 p.m.

Edelman looked back on his rookie season with the Patriots, when he introduced himself to the already-legendary quarterback and Brady treated him as an equal.

“The simple fact that I was a seventh-rounder, that I was a nobody, and he knew my name ... he did that with everyone around the facility,” Edelman said. “It didn’t matter what was going on in his life. Tom was the same dude every time.”

Brady elevated everyone he played with, Edelman said.

“You had no choice but to follow orders because your best player was your hardest-working player,” Edelman said.

Randy Moss gets emotional — 8:40 p.m.

The former Patriots receiver began to tear up when recalling his time with Brady. He remembered requesting a locker next to Brady, whose film he had studied for years before arriving in New England.

“When I came in in 2007, I had no idea what it was going to look like. All I know was I just wanted to be part of a team,” Moss said.

Bill Burr dabbles in a roast of Brady — 8:30 p.m.

The comedian returned to mock some of Brady’s famous friends through a slideshow.

Some highlights included photos of Brady with Jon Bon Jovi, Steven Tyler, Jimmy Fallon, Peyton Manning, Guy Fieri, Alex Rodriguez, and Snoop Dogg.

“This photo is proof that God does not love everybody,” Burr said referencing a photo of a young Brady and Manning. “Some people he takes his time on, other people he just kind of slaps them together.”

What was it like inside the quarterback room? — 8:20 p.m.

Drew Bledsoe, Brian Hoyer, Matt Cassel, and Josh McDaniels joined Brady on the stage to reflect on the experience in the quarterback room.

“The guy I met was this inquisitive, curious, hardworking guy that was in my ear all the time,” Bledsoe said. “The thing that has allowed you to overcome your obvious physical deficiencies has been that incessant desire to improve at all times. And I know you’re still doing that now.”

Cassel recalled introducing himself to “Mr. Brady,” who then took the young quarterback under his wing. Hoyer echoed Cassel’s sentiment.

“He turned into the greatest mentor, the greatest friend,” Hoyer said.

A pair of quarterbacks recall an offseason friendship — 8:10 p.m.

Brady’s on-field rivalry with Peyton Manning is well documented, but they’ve also developed a strong friendship over the years.

Manning recalled one offseason in 2009, when he and Brady met up in a small town in Tennessee for a weekend, when they played golf, lifted weights, and traded tricks of the trade. They even threw passes to a group of high schoolers, who they made promise not to tell anyone.

“It was fascinating to see his work ethic, and we really picked each other’s brains,” Manning said. “It was a fascinating two days for me.”

Peyton Manning makes a surprise appearance — 8:00 p.m.

Even Brady didn’t expect to see Manning come out of the wings.

Manning recalled Brady’s first NFL start, one in which Brady and the Patriots whupped Manning’s Colts, 44-13.

“I don’t think anyone could have predicted what was coming, but to see the composure and just how calm and cool he was in the pocket that day, that was very impressive to me for a guy making his first NFL start,” Manning said.

The jumbotron showed pre-recorded video messages from some of Brady’s former opponents, including Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Charles Woodson, Jason Taylor, Michael Strahan, and Eli Manning.

“It was an honor to have competed against you and to have watched you play,” Manning said.

Patrick Mahomes also appeared. You could barely hear what Mahomes and Manning said because the booing was so loud. — Nicole Yang

Brady takes the time to thank Drew Bledsoe — 7:45 p.m.

When he began as a fourth-string quarterback, Brady got to learn from some of the top players in the game at the time; namely, Drew Bledsoe.

“I had Drew Bledsoe sitting in that quarterback room with me — damn right I was going to be developed,” Brady said. “He taught me things that I couldn’t learn had I not had a chance to watch for a year.”

He also thanked former teammates Vince Wilfork, Willie McGinest, Devin McCourty, and Ty Law, who were with him on the stage.

“Leadership to me means a lot of different things,” Brady said. “You watch and you learn and you sit back and all you have to do is what Bill always said: do your job.”

Rob Ninkovich and Patrick Chung talk about Brady’s competitiveness — 7:40 p.m.

Brady’s former teammates took the stage to talk about competing against Brady in practice.

“All great teams love to compete. We’re built on competition. And Tom Brady is the ultimate competitor,” Ninkovich said. “That competition is what was infectious to all the great teams that played here, and I embraced being around such greatness with a guy who was so competitive.”

Brady’s competitiveness wasn’t limited to games, though. Chung said Brady was just as competitive in practice as he was in Super Bowls.

Chung recalled that any time Brady threw an interception in practice, he would respond by throwing “80 touchdowns.”

“To see someone that has everything — MVPs, Super Bowls, everything — and practices like he has nothing, ... you can’t coach that,” Chung said.

Brady takes the stage — 7:30 p.m.

Brady took the stage with tears in his eyes following the video of his family and joined Mike Tirico for a Q&A.

He recalled all the places he lived in Boston and thanked the community he formed in New England, which he called a “family.”

Brady grew teary-eyed again as he spoke about Robert Kraft.

“We’ve been through so much, and when you’re in one place for 20 years, there are so many ups and there was a few little bumps in the road, but I don’t think anything could ever detract or distract from what our love and our commitment to each other always was,” Brady said.

Tom Brady’s parents, sisters reflect on his career — 7:20 p.m.

The Patriots showed a commemorative video featuring Brady’s father, Tom Brady Sr., his mother, Galynn, and two of his sisters. The Brady family sat around their kitchen table and reflected on Brady’s legendary career.

“Those memories will never, ever fade from our minds and our hearts,” Galynn said about the family’s time in Boston.

“It’s an honor to be his father, and it’s an honor to have him as a son,” Brady Sr. said.

Bill Burr kicked things off, followed by Mike Tirico — 7:15 p.m.

Comedian Bill Burr, who grew up in Canton and has been a longtime Patriots fan, opened with a monologue. He then introduced Mike Tirico.

“Tonight is a toast to the greatness that has been the Brady era here in Foxborough,” Tirico said.

Jay-Z makes a surprise appearance — 7:12 p.m.

Rapper Jay-Z kicked things off with a live performance of “Public Service Announcement,” the song that used to blast through the speakers when Brady would take the field at Gillette Stadium.

See photos from the red carpet — 7:10 p.m.

From Patriots greats to a rock legend to Tom Brady himself, dozens of major names made their way to Gillette Stadium’s red carpet for the former quarterback’s Patriots Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

Wednesday night’s festivities come four years after Brady left New England with six championships and three MVPs.

See photos of the star-studded affair.

READ MORE

The ceremony is about to begin — 7:05 p.m.

The Patriots opened the ceremony with a celebratory video honoring Brady, beginning from his earliest days as an undersized, late-round draft pick and running through the highlights of his Hall of Fame-worthy career. — Emma Healy

Jerod Mayo is in the house — 6:40 p.m.

The new Patriots head coach arrived wearing all black with a blue lapel pin.

No sign yet of his predecessor, Bill Belichick. — Emma Healy

Gronk makes an appearance — 6:35 p.m.

Big cheers from inside Gillette Stadium when the jumbotron showed Rob Gronkowski and his girlfriend Camille Kostek arriving. — Nicole Yang

‘The best decision this organization has ever made:’ Robert Kraft’s take on Brady — 6:20 p.m.

Robert Kraft joined Brady for an interview on the red carpet and reminisced about the early days of the quarterback’s career.

“He introduced himself to me, and I said ‘I know who you are. A sixth-round draft choice out of Michigan,’” Kraft said. “I looked straight up at him, and he said ‘And I’m the best decision this organization has ever made.’ And he came in as our fourth quarterback, so he’s prescient and correct.”

Kraft said that having Brady around made things much easier.

“We’re were so lucky that he was the foundation and the heart and soul,” Kraft said.

He also noted that Brady took a pay cut to help the organization, which many fans may not have known. At one point, Brady’s agents were angling for the star quarterback to get a raise of nearly 50 percent, but Kraft noted that if Brady accepted less, Kraft would be able to better equip the rest of the team to help him.

“He had the vision to understand that and did it,” Kraft said. “And that’s a big reason that we had an opportunity. He was not greedy. He put a really put the team first. We all say ‘Check your ego at the door.’ This is a man who really did it.” — Emma Healy

‘It’s almost inconceivable:’ What Tom Brady Sr. said about his son’s career — 6:07 p.m.

Tom Brady Sr. said it was “a solemn drive” to Gillette this afternoon.

“He’s had an amazing career,” Brady Sr. said. “It’s almost inconceivable.”

Tom Brady is in the house — 6:00 p.m.

Brady arrived to the red carpet and went straight for a hug from Patriots owner Robert Kraft. The quarterback donned a navy sport coat, khaki pants, a white dress shirt, and a blue-and-white striped tie. He sported a Super Bowl ring on one hand.

He was received by a rousing round of applause from the fans in the Gillette Stadium parking lot.

“I walked into this facility and saw [Robert Kraft] and saw the vision he had for this club, and he’s the architect of it all,” Brady said. “We embraced the role that we had, the opportunity we had to create and do something special, along with great coaching and amazing players that motivated me and drove me every day to be the best I could be.”

Deion Branch has high praise for Brady — 5:55 p.m.

Deion Branch said he considers Brady a better person than a player, and “since he’s the best, that should say a lot.”

Branch emphasized that this group is more than friends; they’re brothers. — Sarah Barber

Hear what Jon Bon Jovi said about Brady — 5:53 p.m.

Bon Jovi is a regular at Patriots games, to the point that he and “Tommy” are on a first-name basis.

“It is special to be here for Tommy,” the musician said. “End of an era. But all the years of he and Coach Belichick and all the years of my rooting for him, being able to celebrate today is a big deal. It’s been circled on my calendar for a long time.” — Emma Healy

Drew Bledsoe has arrived — 5:46 p.m.

Drew Bledsoe arrived wearing his Hall of Fame jacket, as did many of his former teammates.

Bledsoe said it’ll be nice to celebrate Brady but also to have a reunion of sorts — but a different kind of reunion than he had at Brady’s recent Netflix roast.

“Well, tonight we have to be nice to him,” Bledsoe said. — Sarah Barber

Marcus Cannon’s message to Tom Brady — 5:45 p.m.

The former Patriots offensive lineman joined Tamara Brown on the red carpet to talk about Brady. Here’s his message to the former Patriots QB.

“I appreciate you,” Cannon said.” Thank you for all you did. Thank you for [being] a great teammate, mentor, and leader you were.” — Emma Healy

Some famous faces are showing out — 5:35 p.m.

Barstool Sports owner Dave Portnoy walked the carpet in a vintage Patriots vest and Brady jersey. Portnoy completed the look with “12″ painted under his eyes in black.

Jon Bon Jovi arrived and hugged Robert Kraft.

“To celebrate the goat,” Bon Jovi said when asked why it was important to him to be here. — Sarah Barber

Gov. Healey declares June 12, 2024, ‘Tom Brady Day’ — 5:15 p.m.

By Ava Berger

Governor Maura Healey has proclaimed June 12, 2024, “Tom Brady Day” on the same day the G.O.A.T. will be inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame.

“Now, Therefore, I, Maura T. Healey, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, do hereby proclaim June 12th, 2024, to be, TOM BRADY DAY and urge all residents of the Commonwealth to take cognizance of this event and participate fittingly in its observance,” Healey said in her official proclamation posted on X.

The proclamation recognizes the legendary quarterback’s six Super Bowls with the New England Patriots and 135 wins and 304 touchdowns at Gillette Stadium, the most made by any player at a single stadium in NFL history, according to the proclamation.

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The players have begun arriving — 5:05 p.m.

Former offensive lineman Marcus Cannon was first on the carpet, sporting a betta fish button down as he returned to Foxborough to celebrate his former teammate. Cannon recalled one of his favorite memories with Brady: performing in the Patriots’ talent show.

“I totally bombed my part,” Cannon laughed.

They didn’t win that year, and Brady wasn’t thrilled. — Sarah Barber

Who’s on the guest list? — 5:00 p.m.

By Andrew Mahoney

More than 100 of Brady’s former teammates will be on hand, including: Julian Edelman, Randy Moss, Rob Gronkowski, Willie McGinest, Devin McCourty, Vince Wilfork, Ty Law, James White, Wes Welker, Kevin Faulk, Matthew Slater, Dan Koppen, Logan Mankins, Matt Cassel, Brian Hoyer, Drew Bledsoe, Rob Ninkovich, and Patrick Chung.

Jason McCourty, Deatrich Wise Jr., and Patriots reporter/host Tamara Brown will be live on the red carpet interviewing guests as they arrive. The Red Carpet Arrival show will begin at 5:15 p.m. and will be live-streamed on Gillette Stadium’s video board and on Patriots.com

Stadium gates will open at 5 p.m. Fans are encouraged to be in their seats by 6:30 p.m. NBC’s Mike Tirico will serve as host for the ceremony, which will be opened by comedian Bill Burr. There also will be surprise musical performances.

Attendees will receive a commemorative souvenir.

Emma can be reached at emma.healy@globe.com or on X @_EmmaHealy_. Nicole Yang can be reached at nicole.yang@globe.com.Follow her @nicolecyang. Sarah Barber can be reached at sarah.barber@globe.com.