A Super Bowl moment frozen in time on a den wall on Hilton Head | Opinion

What do Smokin’ Joe Frazier, Jim Brown, Spike Lee and Hank Aaron have in common?

They’re frozen in time together, along with NFL Hall of Famer Ray Lewis, in a photograph hanging in the family room of a Hilton Head Islander named Kevin Byrne.

It’s one of Byrne’s favorite Super Bowl moments.

It’s also a reflection of how deeply something my grandmother would dismiss as “that old ball” has plunged into American society — a spectacle more than 100 million people will watch Sunday as Super Bowl LVIII.

The family room of Kevin and Sally Byrne in Indigo Run is “a fer piece” from the pizazz of Las Vegas, where Taylor Swift, I mean the Kansas City Chiefs, will play the San Francisco 49ers.

But nobody knows the Super Bowl better than Byrne, who retired in 2020 as executive vice president for public and community relations for the Baltimore Ravens.

For his 41-year career with his hometown Cleveland Browns and then the Ravens after “The Move,” Byrne was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in public relations, and won enough other awards to fill all the den walls.

Byrne worked 25 Super Bowls for the NFL, “largely involved with the literally thousands of reporters from around the world who would come in and all try to talk to Tom Brady at the same time.” And he was on the job at two other Super Bowls won by the Ravens.

The photo was taken after the pivotal Friday practice (game rehearsal) by the Ravens before Super Bowl XXXV.

Cleveland Browns great Jim Brown had addressed the team on the first night of training camp in 2000, stressing that you win with talent, hard work and embracing teammates, Byrne said. So, then-Ravens head coach Brian Billick asked Byrne if he could get Jim Brown back to address the team at the final practice.

Byrne did, and then Brown asked if Spike Lee could come along because he was filming him for an HBO documentary. “And then Jim Brown calls back and says, ‘Hey, I was with Joe Frazier, the former world heavyweight champion, last night. Do you mind if he comes?”

Then baseball legend Hank Aaron called to see if he could come to a practice. Aaron was a Browns, and then Ravens, fan like many other southern Blacks, because the Browns had integrated pro football under coach Paul Brown in 1946.

Aaron loved going to Browns games, sitting in disguise in the Dawg Pound, Byrne said.

Things unraveled quickly for Byrne when they all showed up separately, and with each arrival, practice halted. But Jim Brown got off a good pep talk. Then owner Art Modell told Byrne that Hank Aaron should speak.

“Well, it turned out that all of them spoke,” Byrne said.

“And Spike Lee tries a field goal.”

On the bus ride back, Byrne pours out his apologies to coach Billick, thinking he’d caused the team to lose the Super Bowl.

The coach wasn’t worried, and declared the Ravens were going to beat the New York Giants, which they did, 34-7, behind MVP Ray Lewis.

So what did this hall-of-fame cast say to help the Ravens, and perhaps help us today when we face big challenges?

Jim Brown took up where he left off, saying, “Now go compete and complete your quest for your championship.”

Hank Aaron, in his quiet and direct way, said, “You get moments in your life. And you don’t get those moments back, so just be aware, this is a moment for you. And just do what you’ve done to get here and you’ll not only enjoy the moment but you’ll enjoy winning, because you will win.”

And what did our own Beaufort County native Smokin’ Joe Frazier, looking flamboyant in his large hat, have to say?

“He was loud, he was enthusiastic, and I remember I was standing next to Rod Woodson, our Hall of Fame cornerback/safety,” Byrne recalled. “He says to me after Joe Frazier’s speech, he said, ‘Kevin, I’m not sure what he said, but I’m ready to knock somebody out.’ ”

David Lauderdale may be reached at LauderdaleColumn@gmail.com.