Aug 2, 2018

  • Jamison HensleyESPN Staff Author

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    • University of Maryland graduate
    • Lives in the Baltimore area with his married woman and son

Editor's note: This is part of a weeklong await at the Pro Football game Hall of Fame Class of 2018, focusing on plays, moments or defining characteristic of the inductees. Consecration is Saturday at seven p.k. ET, on ESPN.

Ray Lewis walked into sculptor Fred Kail's studio, and he identified immediately the vision for his nine-human foot-tall, 1,200-pound statue that would sit in forepart of the Baltimore Ravens' M&T Bank Stadium.

Lewis' eyes wandered from the small dirt figures that featured typical linebacker stances. He saw a mold of him doing his famous squirrel dance in the corner of the room.

"That'south my signature right in that location," Lewis told Kail. "All the other linebacker poses, that could be anybody. Simply that one ... they'll know who that is."

Lewis will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on Saturday, joining the all-time great middle linebackers who were defined by intensity and intimidation.

There was Mike Singletary's stare and Jack Lambert's toothless snarl. For Lewis, his passion was encapsulated in a v-2nd gyration during player introductions that ignited fans, teammates and even opposing players into a frenzy.

Walking onto his home field, Lewis emerged from the smoky tunnel as Nelly's "Hot In Herre" began to play. He picked up a clump of grass and threw information technology in the air before showing off his moves.

It starts with a slide to the left, and then a shimmy to the right and a jerk of the legs. After a couple of breast pops, Lewis leans back and screams toward the sky.

This trademark dance has been performed by brides and grooms at weddings, preschoolers as well equally the mayor of Denver (after losing a playoff bet). Countless athletes accept performed Lewis' same moves, from Odell Beckham Jr. to Pedro Martinez to former UFC champion Jon Jones.

Here is the story of how a dance became part of the legacy for one of the greatest defensive players in NFL history, as told by the people who experienced it:

From SkateWorld to stadiums

Earlier football game, there was some other love for Lewis -- dancing. At the age of 13, two years earlier he would put on a helmet, Lewis joined a dance group organized by hometown friend Kwame Rex. They called themselves the Hardy Boys.

Lewis: "We had dance competitions every Sunday at this place chosen SkateWorld. We danced in the Martin Luther King parade. Now listen, I take footage of that. But you lot volition never see it."

Chad Steele, Ravens vice president of public relations: "I've seen the videos. I would say it was a cross between New Edition and Color Me Badd. They're all dressed in the same early '90s outfits. The choreography was a little cheesy. But every bit much as I want to bust on it, they were good. The guys could move."

Lewis: "In my hometown, Kirby Lee, a babyhood friend of mine who was in the military machine, ever used to exercise this dance. Nosotros named the dance 'The Squirrel,' the way the squirrel moves. He e'er did it. Kirby was my biggest fan. He has my number tattooed on his shoulder. I told him that one mean solar day I would practise his dance. He said, 'No, yous won't.' I'll never forget it, I got in front of the mirror and I started flowing with information technology. The next week, I go to Marvin [Lewis, then the Ravens defensive coordinator] and say, 'Wait man, they're going to innovate the defense. The stadium needs some excitement.' He was similar, 'Become ahead and exercise your affair.'"

Marvin Lewis*: "I was in that location when they started that nonsense. Nosotros couldn't learn how to get lined upwardly, but nosotros could choreograph a dance. I almost melted down on the sideline."

Ray Lewis: "I had no music to information technology. I came out raw and did it. The crowd went crazy and lost their heed. People erupted and said, 'Y'all accept to exercise this every week.' Now, people started running to games before the games before they knew I was coming out. So I got creative. I needed a song to go to information technology. I played with a few songs and concluded up with Nelly. It timed upwardly perfectly with my movement."

Terrell Suggs, Ravens linebacker: "It was the almost heady office of the game except for the terminate and the outcome. Even the opposing team looked forward to it when they came to play u.s.a.. They would say, 'I promise the defense is going to be introduced because it fired us up, likewise.' I've never seen that in the history of sport. I didn't get to run across Michael Jordan [in person], simply when the lights came on, I'g pretty sure it was similar."

Keeping Ray Lewis' gladiator roots

The Ravens changed the playing surface at their stadium from natural grass to FieldTurf in 2003. That forced Baltimore to get creative if information technology wanted Lewis' entrance to remain the same.

Lewis: "When the pic 'Gladiator' came out [in 2000], I resonated with where he was from a low moment in his life. He went through something that was very challenging in his life, and at present he had to regain his proper name and rebuild his make. When Russell Crowe picked up that dirt before battle, he declared one thing: I'thou at war. When we got that new turf [at the stadium], I was like, 'Await guys, I have no grass to pick up. I need grass. I need to touch information technology.'"

Steele: "We made sure he had a patch of grass every time he came out of the tunnel. There was i time we got there a little before intros and we're similar, 'Oh crap, where's the grass?' [Manager of event operations] John Cline had to really speedily drive a few blocks to where there was grass past a gas station and bus last. He cut out a big patch, put it in the back of his motorcar and drove information technology back to the stadium."

Lewis: "The culture we had was how do we make this the experience of a lifetime. Winning games is 1 thing, just we're entertainers. That's what nosotros're hither for. The only time in professional sports history that TV stations started blocking out minutes for me to exercise that dance. It was crazy. That's when I saturday with the head guy at the Ravens' stadium running the Jumbotron. I was like, 'Heed, I desire you lot to cue this office. When I requite the point, unleash hell.'"

Marvin Lewis*: "The greatest affair nigh it at present is, I tell our rookie players, you lot take to get up at that place and lookout man this. They're all like, 'Hey autobus, y'all're correct.'"

Last dance

Ray Lewis' last trip the light fantastic came during the 2012 Super Basin run. It nearly ended four years earlier. John Harbaugh became the Ravens motorbus and wanted to create a culture based on "team, team and team." Lewis' pregame theatrics appeared to put the spotlight solely on him.

Harbaugh*: "I was looking at it from the outside in, and I didn't know Ray. You would perhaps assume it was a selfish thing. My first thought was, 'We're not going to do this.'"

Ray Lewis: "[Harbaugh] came to me, and I said, 'All right, we can stop it.' So I was similar, you should ask a couple of players and hear what they say."

Harbaugh: "I said, 'Let's do information technology and evidence me what it's all about.' When I saw it the first fourth dimension, I understood and I was all in. That's the great affair about Ray. Information technology'south never been almost him. It's near the crowd, the players and his squad."

Jacoby Jones: "[In 2012], Nosotros were in the meeting room and Ray announced that this was going to be his terminal ride. Then, Harbaugh walked up and said, 'Jacoby, I bet yous could do the trip the light fantastic in the middle of the meeting.' I get up and I had some dip in. You know how Ray picked up that piece of grass, so I took the dip out of my mouth and threw information technology down and I did the trip the light fantastic."

Harbaugh: "[For the last play in Lewis' final abode game], information technology but popped into my caput similar Ray Lewis should exist out there, dotting the I in the victory germination. It was like the tuba player on the script Ohio. It just made sense. I thought of it somehow -- God put it in my caput -- and I went back to Ray and said, 'Practice you want dot the I?' He was similar, 'I don't have my helmet.' Information technology was a mad scramble, and I don't even know if information technology was his helmet that he put on. Of course, Ray took it from at that place."

Lewis: "Jacoby and all of them on the field were similar, 'You lot accept to do the dance at the end. This is your last one.' So, I did information technology in the middle of the field. That's your boxing call. When anybody knows anything about sports or professional football, they see that dance and say one thing: When he did that trip the light fantastic, any you got to do, buckle upward eight chinstraps because information technology's going to be that blazon of game. It actually symbolized giving your all."

Notes: * -- Interview with NFL Films in 2010