The Gold Jacket Dinner is always one of the highlights of Enshrinement Weekend. After a busy Friday of meet-and-greets and other programs, the tone shifts completely for the Gold Jacket Dinner.
Emceed again by Rich Eisen, there were the obligatory cheap shots at Ohio State as Rich celebrated Michigan’s title. Editors Note: This was before Harbaugh was given a 4-game Show Cause Order and before the Notice of Allegations was released. It will be interesting to see the results of the investigation.
Dan Fouts does an incredible job each year introducing nearly 100 Gold Jacket players with snippets from their careers. The audience has favorites and you can easily see which players have earned the respect of their fellow gold jackets. One item that jumps out us every single year, is the pride and passion these players have. They are in town to celebrate the new enshrinees and they make the effort to focus the attention on them. However, another less positive item is on full display as we see the mobility struggles that many, many of the players have. They struggle to get up just a few stairs to the stage and then back down the 3 or 4 steps to their colleagues that are lining up for the Gauntlet.
The introductions take some time, but it is worth seeing these legends take their place in line to greet the new enshrinees. You can see some of the photos below but these represent only a fraction of the stars!
After the Gold Jacket dinner, the after party back at the headquarters hotel features an extensive buffet, but most of the legends are sitting in lounge drinking with friends or sitting out on the patio smoking some cigars. This is an amazing opportunity as we get to hear first-hand stories about their careers, their passions and how they intend to give back to the community.
