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SAN FRANCISCO – Charles Haley knows exactly what it takes to win the Super Bowl – he should know, since he won it five times during his Hall of Fame career.
The San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys legend actually got the chance to hoist the Lombardi Trophy a sixth time on Tuesday, as the NFL invited him to unveil it during the Super Bowl LX fan experience as part of honoring a longtime FedEx employee.
“He’s on my team now, he’s an All-Pro for me,” Haley told PK Press Club Digital of Jesse Alvarado, a FedEx driver for 32 years.
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Charles Haley of the San Francisco 49ers watches from the field during the game against the Atlanta Falcons at 3 Comm Park in San Francisco. (Tom Hauck/Allsport)
Haley saw similarities between Alvarado and the five championship teams he was a part of.
“Hard work, dedication and maintaining that hunger,” Haley said. “It’s the players. When you talk about the team, you talk about the Cowboys, Jerry [Jones] I was selling the star, but the players are the stars. This is what we need to understand. It’s all about the players – the way they mix, the way they train, the way they sacrifice for each other, that’s going to determine who’s here next year. »
Charles Haley speaks to the crowd during halftime of the game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Minnesota Vikings at Levi Stadium on September 14, 2015, in Santa Clara, California. The 49ers beat the Vikings 20-3. (Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images)
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Haley’s five rings helped set him up for failure in Canton a decade ago, but he had to wait his turn. He didn’t enter the Hall of Fame until his sixth ballot.
One way or another, Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft will wait until at least next year. That led to calls for changes to the election system, but Haley urged Belichick, Kraft and everyone else to just be patient.
“I think it’s just now. They changed the way it was, you have to deserve it,” he said. “I was at number six before I got there. I’m not the one asking the question. If you deserve to be there, you’ll make it.”
Charles Haley of the San Francisco 49ers in action during an NFL football game circa 1988 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Haley played for the 49ers from 1986 to 1991 and 1998 to 1999. (Focus on sport/Getty Images)
Haley retired with 100.5 sacks and two first-team All-Pro nods. Belichick and Kraft each have six Super Bowl titles with the New England Patriots, while Belichick has two more from his time as defensive coordinator for the New York Giants.
