It’s Official!! The NY Sharks are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. The Mecca of tackle (and working on flag) football!!
🖤💙🏈This past weekend, Andra Douglas (the Great White) made the trip to Canton. She was there to attend the Women’s Football Alliance National Championship games which were played in Tom Benson Memorial Stadium on the HOF campus. Congrats to the WFA and the all of the teams who played and to ultimate Champions of the All-American game, D3, D2, and Pro Divisions!!
Andra walks the hallowed halls of the Hall of Fame museum each year during WFA championship weekend, but this time was special. This year, a heartwarming honor was bestowed upon the New York Sharks in an every evolving exhibit dedicated to Women in Football.
This place is like a candy shop to Andra. She marveled at Larry Csonka’s jersey from the 1972 undefeated Miami Dolphins! Oh!…and Jim Brown’s cleats—no way! THE helmet from David Tyree’s “helmet catch” in the Super Bowl against the Patriots!
And then…. just around a corner she came upon a sign that read, ‘WOMEN IN FOOTBALL.’ There it was, in a big display case—the NY Sharks represented with photos, the WPFL All-Star jersey she wore in the Orange Bowl, a game-worn jersey from 2000, signed by players, staff and coaches throughout the years, a pair of Shark logo-ed pants, and the helmet she wore when she played long ago.
Andra would never have imagined the moment in which she found herself. (Pause. Deep Breath.)
“All of the items on display are representative of the staff members and volunteers throughout our 20 seasons. Especially Crystal Turpin and Dana Sparling, along with Steve Mark and Merle Exit (we miss you Merlie Whirlie!) Without you, I would be writing this from a padded cell,” she says. 😂
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All in Andra’s own words from here on out…
🔊”Thank you Fabian Alesandro and your unparalleled coaching staff who were at the helm for over a decade. WE couldn’t have done it without you.
And, alas, to every player who swam into our ocean, YOU own a piece of this acknowledgment.
We collectively – staff, coaches and players – accumulated many firsts in women’s tackle football and it is these firsts along with the dedication, fun and laughs, hard work, heartbreaks and joyous celebrations that merit this display.
NY Sharks, every last one, YOU are so deservedly in the NFL Hall of Fame!
P.S. Thank you to the Hall of Fame staff for this meaningful display: Ben Ankrum, Jon Kendle, Jason Aiken and Brad Collins.
P.P.S. For every team that has suited up in Women’s Tackle Football; your countless stories, your determination, your endless heroics of suiting up and doing what we love—every bit of it is worthy of a HOF display! Don’t ever stop!” – A.D.💙🖤🦈