Troy gave DeMarcus Ware the opportunity to go to college and play football. Twenty-two years later, Ware took the Trojans with him into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“I’m proud to be a Troy Trojan,” Ware said during his enshrinement speech on Saturday in Canton, Ohio. “I had an amazing college family in Chancellor Jack Hawkins, Larry Blakeney, Miss Judy, Richard Shaughnessy, my Troy teammates and many others. I learned the value of building relationships.”

At Troy, Ware blossomed into a top pro prospect. But when he came to the Trojans from Auburn High School, Ware was considered hardly a college prospect.

“I want to thank Osi Umenyiora, Brandon Holmes and all my high school teammates for using your voices to help me get my scholarship to Troy University,” Ware said, “the only college scholarship that was offered to me. I really thank y’all for bringing me into the fold. …

“All my hard work at Troy brought me to this: Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys organization calling me on my Nokia flip phone.”

The Cowboys selected Ware with the 11th choice in the 2005 NFL Draft, the first first-rounder to come from Troy. He played 12 seasons in the NFL – nine with Dallas and three with the Denver Broncos. Ware ranks ninth in NFL history with 138.5 sacks.

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Cowboys owner Jerry Jones presented Ware for enshrinement, calling him “one of the rarest football players that has ever played this game.”

Ware reached the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his second year of eligibility for the honor. Joining Ware in the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2023 are cornerback Ronde Barber, coach Don Coryell, linebacker Chuck Howley, defensive lineman Joe Klecko, cornerback Darrelle Revis, cornerback Ken Riley, offensive tackle Joe Thomas and linebacker Zach Thomas.

The enshrinement ceremony at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium had Ware’s induction third on Saturday, after Zach Thomas and Riley. During his speech, Ware shared an incident from his college years that he said helped fuel his football career.

“Often there is something in our life that pushes us to make a real change,” Ware said. “For me, that one, single, frightening moment was when I was in college. I was at a parking-lot party when I was visiting home. My uncle was in his car, and without warning, was knocked across the head with a gun. And a knife dropped to the ground, and I picked it up. And when I looked up, all I could see was the potential shooter’s eyes and a gun barrel pressed against my head. All I heard was my family say, ‘Don’t kill him.’ There was an eerie silence, after which I simply said, ‘This isn’t me,’ and I dropped the knife.

“At that moment, I knew God gave me a second chance, and I had to do something with it. That was turning point. The memory of those parking-lot lights and the sounds of those screams ‘Don’t kill him’ became the fire that empowered me. You can’t imagine how many years that night echoed in my head.”

Ware went on to become a nine-time Pro Bowler and four-time first-team All-Pro as an outside linebacker. And in his 11th season an NFL champion, too, as the Broncos won Super Bowl 50.

Ware’s speech had several places where the emotions accompanying the words swelled in his voice, such as when he spoke of teammates who had died in the intervening years. And also when he spoke of his father.

“The NFL taught me how to forgive,” Ware said. “First, I forgave myself, and then I forgave my dad. Dad, all the times I didn’t understand why you weren’t there, it doesn’t matter. You’re here now. I’ve learned that guilt rots in a person and forgiveness heals. How can I expect God to forgive me if I don’t forgive you. You once said two simple words to me: I’m sorry. I’m not sure if I responded, but I’m telling you now on the biggest platform of my life: I forgive you.”

Ware said statistics show that children in single-family homes can have bad outcomes, then he added, “But not my community.”

Ware said he was happy to have his Alabama family with him in Canton on Saturday because they had been with him so constantly as a child. He recounted how he would see his mother daily working in his school cafeteria, then get on the bus driven by an aunt to go the community center when his grandfather was the janitor.

“From the moment I was born, God put me on a path to this (gold) jacket, on a path to Canton,” Ware said. “People say that you’re a product of your environment. But that doesn’t have to be true. I used mine to put me here, just like all the other guys behind me. No matter what our circumstances, we made a choice and worked to be great. I was blinded by my environment as a child – domestic violence, drugs, gangs – but my surroundings taught me how to be relentless, limitless, resilient. The reality is you’re a product of your own thinking, your own mind that you must learn how to persevere.”

Ware started his speech with that, and he touched on the theme again with his ending: “The light that shines on my village reflects all the people that have watched over me. My story is one of gratitude, forgiveness, brotherhood and humility. It could have ended in a different way, but I made a choice to work hard and accept God’s will. Enshrinement is by definition to cherish the sacred. I cherish every trial and tribulation that has gotten me here. I am his sacred work. This is and has been God’s work through me.”

Ware becomes the 16th player from an Alabama high school or college to be chosen for enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

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The state’s other Hall of Famers are Robert Brazile (Vigor), Buck Buchanan (Parker), Frank Gatski (Auburn), Kevin Greene (Auburn), John Hannah (Albertville, Alabama), Don Hutson (Alabama), Walter Jones (Aliceville), Joe Namath (Alabama), Ozzie Newsome (Colbert County, Alabama), Terrell Owens (Benjamin Russell), Ken Stabler (Foley, Alabama), John Stallworth (Tuscaloosa, Alabama A&M), Bart Starr (Sidney Lanier, Alabama), Dwight Stephenson (Alabama) and Derrick Thomas (Alabama).

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.