'Never say never': Bartow's Ken Riley is finally enshrined in Pro Football Hall of Fame

Never say never.

That will go down as part of the legacy of Bartow's Ken Riley, who was named as a member of the Pro Football of Fame on Thursday night, at long, long last.

The honor comes almost three years after Riley's death at the age of 72, and 40 years after his retirement from the Cincinnati Bengals.

For several years before he died, Riley understood that the long process of getting him inducted was underway and had considerable support, both locally and nationally.

What he could not have understood is what his survivors finally get to understand today — he won. The game is over. All the debating is done and Riley is in the Hall of Fame, along with Ray Lewis and Jim Brown and Vince Lombardi and Jerry Rice. Oh, and also Paul Krause, Emlen Tunnell, Rod Woodson and Dick "Night Train" Lane, the only players in NFL history to intercept more passes than Riley.

Riley never said never, and those 65 interceptions will always be there, high on the all-time list, long after we're all gone. Indeed, it may be a long time (we won't say never!) before someone else comes along and intercepts 65 NFL passes.

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Interceptions are simply much harder to come by these days. Six were good enough to lead the NFL this season; Riley had six or more picks three times, including a league-leading nine in 1976. Only four active NFL players have as many as 30, and all are well into their thirties. New England's Devin McCourty, who has played 13 seasons and is recovering from shoulder surgery, is the active leader with 35.

Riley played 15 seasons after being drafted in the sixth round in 1969. Playing high school ball before integration, he was a quarterback at the all-Black Union Academy in Bartow and at Florida A&M. But he went straight to cornerback in the NFL. Two reasons for that: First, Cincinnati needed a DB more than a QB; and second, Riley was Black. The NFL "wasn't ready" for a Black quarterback quite yet. It's the kind of thing some don't want kids learning about in school today.

"We were stereotyped then," Riley told me in 2008. "Everything down the middle — the quarterback, the center, the middle linebacker — those positions required thinking, so they didn't put us there."

Things change, but slowly. Fifty-four years later, we have two Black quarterbacks starting in the Super Bowl.

Riley played in Super Bowl XVI, the one the Bengals lost 26-21 to the San Francisco 49ers. He played in 207 NFL games, all for the Bengals, and I have to think that's another small factor working in his favor in eventually getting into the Hall of Fame.

For a long time, being a Bengal probably worked against him, as did Riley's understated nature. A nickname like "Night Train" might have helped, or a special little end-zone dance.

"I was very low-key," he said in a signature quote. "I always felt actions spoke louder than words."

Until very recently, the Bengals have been considered something of a forlorn franchise. As an organization, they have done a poor job of promoting their Hall of Fame-worthy candidates. They didn't even have a Ring of Honor until 2021.

Today the Bengals are up there with the Eagles and Chiefs as Super Bowl candidates, and it is no longer detrimental to be labeled as a Bengal. Moreover, I believe playing with the same franchise for an entire career increases the reverence we have for players, especially when their careers are over.

I try to understand the professional circumstances that prompted Rice, Joe Montana, Emmitt Smith, Brett Favre and even Tom Brady to prolong their careers with teams other than the ones with whom they earned their Hall of Fame stature. But come on! Emmitt Smith of the Arizona Cardinals? Brady as a Buccaneer? It just never smelled right to me.

Jim Brown retired as a Cleveland Brown. Dick Butkus was a Chicago Bear. Lewis was a Baltimore Raven and always will be, just as Dan Marino is a Miami Dolphin and Lawrence Taylor a New York Giant. Now and forever. No footnotes or asterisks.

Ken Riley was a Cincinnati Bengal before they had the tiger stripes on their helmets, and he will be forever.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Football Hall of Fame honor is long overdue for Bartow's Ken Riley