Tennessee football great Eric Berry going into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame
Former Tennessee football defensive back Eric Berry, who went on to become an NFL All-Pro, was named the 12th and final member of the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame class of 2023 on Thursday.
Berry's NFL career was marked by an incredible comeback when he overcame Hodgkin’s lymphoma after undergoing chemotherapy in 2015 and returned to play four more years.
Berry, 34, is a Fairburn, Georgia, native, who was a two-time consensus All-American and All-SEC player. He also was the SEC defensive player of the year, won the Jim Thorpe Award (nation's best defensive back), Jack Tatum Award and Vince Dooley Award (top defensive back in the Southeast by Touchdown Club of Atlanta) in 2009.
After the Vols played in the 2009 Chick-fil-A Bowl, Berry announced he would forgo his final year of eligibility and entered the NFL Draft. He was selected in the first round by the Kanas City Chiefs with the fifth overall pick. He went on to become a three-time All-Pro safety and five-time Pro Bowler.
“Eric Berry was a heralded football player at every level of competition, and he is an incredibly worthy inductee,” Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame executive director Brad Willis said. "Eric’s play, however, is only part of his story, and he inspired millions with his fight with Hodgkin’s lymphoma and his return to football just one year later.”
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Berry started at safety in his first game at UT against California and went on to be named SEC defensive freshman of the year by Sporting News. After his college career Sports Illustrated named Berry to its All-Decade Team and the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame named him male athlete of the year.
He led all Vols defensive backs and was second the team with 87 tackles in 2009. He had double-figure tackles against UCLA, Florida and Auburn − three of UT's first five games.
Berry finished his UT career with 14 interceptions, which was fifth in school history, and 30 defended passes, which was tied for sixth.
He played in the Chiefs' first game as a rookie and went on to register a career-high 92 tackles that season along with four interceptions.
After being diagnosed with lymphoma on Dec. 8, 2014, Berry began treatment. He was cleared to resume football activities on July 28, 2015, and returned to the starting lineup on Sept. 17 against the Denver Broncos.
Berry received the NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award in 2015.
He went on to play through the 2018 season when his career was ended after he suffered an Achilles tendon injury.
Berry recorded 427 career tackles in the NFL, had 14 interceptions and 50 defended passes.
He joins former Tennessee Titans linebacker Keith Bulluck,former Memphis Grizzlies power forward Zach Randolph, former Pearl-Cohn, UT and NFL lineman John Henderson, former Nashville Predators captain Mike Fisher, Memphis linebacker Tim Harris, Vanderbilt basketball star and former Tennessee state athletics director Teresa Phillips, Middle Tennessee State baseball legend Steve Smith, golfer Loren Roberts, Bristol Motor Speedway co-founder Carl R. Moore, East Tennessee State basketball coach and AD Les Robinson, and Lady Vol rrack star and Olympic gold medalist Tianna Madisonas 2023 inductees.
The 2023 Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony, presented by the Tennessee Titans, will be July 22 at the Omni Nashville Downtown. Ticket information will be announced in the coming days.
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on Twitter @MikeOrganWriter.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee football: Eric Berry in Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame class
