Waynesburg’s own Greg Hopkins inducted into Arena Football Hall of Fame
Greg Hopkins is pictured in first quarter action Friday, February 4, 2005 at Staples Center in Los Angeles,California. (Photo provided by Jon Soohoo)
Hopkins
After an illustrious 11-year career in the Arena Football League, in which he recorded 10,206 receiving yards, 213 touchdowns, 26 interceptions and was awarded titles such as Ironman of the Year, Top 20 Greatest Player and First Team All-Arena, Waynesburg’s own Greg Hopkins was awarded with the honor of recently being inducted into the league’s Hall of Fame.
He joined Chicago Bears linebacker Bill George as the only athletes from Waynesburg to be inducted into a professional sports league’s hall of fame.
“It’s obviously a humbling honor, but it’s nothing I ever dreamed about as a kid,” said Hopkins. “Dreaming about professional football or catching touchdown passes are all things you dream about. Being inducted into the (AFL’s) Hall of Fame is above and beyond any childhood hopes or wishes you dream about. It was a great honor with a great group of guys that were inducted this year. I’m honored to be a part of that group.”
After finishing his career at Slippery Rock University, where he was a three-time All-American, Academic All-American and where he set nine school records in addition to receiving two letters for wrestling, Hopkins joined the Albany Firebirds of the Arena Football League. According to his former coach Mike Dailey, who now is the defensive coordinator at McDaniel College in Westminster, Md., and is a Class of 2012 Arena Football League Hall of Famer, Hopkins almost missed out on his chance of being in the league.
“I distinctly remember him coming in his first year,” said Dailey. “I remember him working out at a tryout, we (Albany) found him and liked him. Coming into training camp, I wasn’t sure he was going to make it. He was playing behind a couple guys that were pretty good players, and, ironically, he had a hand injury. He broke his hand or wrist or something, and that kind of helped him a little bit because that was able to keep him around where he could develop, learn and grow. Then, quickly, you started to see that this guy’s going to be special.”
Dailey said Hopkins always displayed what he deemed as “football character,” which included not only athleticism, speed, strength and toughness, but he played through injuries, was intelligent and had football savvy that allowed him to play both ways and on special teams.
Hopkins was a part of Dailey’s 1999 Albany team that was voted as the greatest Arena Football team of all time. According to Dailey, if Hopkins were not a part of that team, Albany would not have won the championship that year. He also remembers Hopkins’ battles with Orlando defensive back Damon Mason, who was an All-Arena player and liked to disrupt teams’ offensive ability because of his high-risk decision to play bump-and-run coverage with players in motion.
“(Mason) usually got the best of most of the receivers in our league and (Hopkins) did a great job, and was instrumental in winning that game in the championship game and other games against Orlando,” said Dailey. “(Hopkins) was so physical, so strong, and willing to come in there off that motion and really slam into (Mason), push off on him and get separation that way. That’s a memory of him that I’ll always think about when I think about (Hopkins) and the things he did for us.”
Hopkins believes it was his work ethic that enabled him to become a standout athlete because of the hard-working community from which he was raised. Growing up on a farm became part of his work ethic, which translated both to the gym, field and even the mat.
“In wrestling, it’s kind of a one-man show that you get out what you put in,” said Hopkins. “I spent a lot of years — little league, junior high, varsity and even collegiately — wrestling, and that helped my work ethic as well and kept me grounded in what I needed to do in order to be successful. That also comes from the strong wrestling background we have here in Greene County. Growing up where I did was probably the biggest factor.”
Jeff Metheny, who is now at Bethel Park High School, coached Hopkins during his senior year at Waynesburg Central High School. Along with his dad, Hopkins mentioned Metheny as one of his mentors during his induction speech at the Hall of Fame ceremony in Des Moines, Iowa on Good Friday.
“I’m extremely excited for him and his family,” said Metheny. “He’s a young man that is quite deserving of that honor for sure. I coached him in ’89, and to this day, still, (he’s) the best athlete I’ve ever coached for sure, and even a better person. His family has done a great job. He’s been so invaluable to the community of Nineveh and Waynesburg, and all the places around there really. He’s a great example of what hard work can do, and doing things the right way.”
Metheny echoed Hopkins’ sentiments about work ethic, but he said it was Hopkins’ competitive fire that enabled him to become a great athlete.
“I just coached him the one year, but you could just tell he had a wealth of talent,” said Metheny. “I tried to get the most out of him like you do with everybody, but he was extremely competitive, and I’m that way too. If somehow a little bit of that rubbed off with that young man, then that could be.”
Metheny recalled the time he made Hopkins run the timed mile over for being one step short of the cutoff mark, and how mad Hopkins was for having to run that distance again. The two stay in touch to this day, and even have a chuckle over it.
“I watched him wrestle; I watched him throw the javelin; (he was) just a tremendous athlete,” said Metheny. “Just his will to win, and that will to prepare to win has carried over into everything he’s done in his life. He’s a great human being and a tremendous asset to Greene County for sure.”
After moving from the Albany Redbirds to the Los Angeles Avengers in 2002, Hopkins was paired up with quarterback Tony Graziani, who had a six-year career in both the NFL and AFL before becoming Hopkins’ teammate. Graziani said Hopkins was not only the best two-way player to ever play Arena football, but an even better person.
“He’s one of those guys that you trust with your family,” said Graziani. “I have two sons, and if they grow up to be anything like Greg Hopkins, I’ll be a happy guy because he was just phenomenal with what he did, how he acted and he really lived his life the right way on and off the field.”
Graziani said Hopkins was always the first guy to be there and the last guy to leave, which spoke to his work ethic. He said Hopkins put in the time studying film and working out, never missed a rep in practice and that he became the best player on the team because he outworked players, even when he was taking a beating on both sides of the ball.
This kind of perseverance was put on display March 30, 2003, when Graziani and Hopkins’ Avengers squad was losing to the Orlando Predators, then coached by Jay Gruden, who is now head coach of the Washington Redskins. The Avengers were able to score three consecutive touchdowns in the final two minutes to win the game.
After recovering an onside kick, Graziani decided to throw a Hail Mary to Hopkins in the back of the end zone. The ball ricocheted off the net, and Hopkins caught it with three receivers and three defensive backs in the vicinity as time expired. The play came in at No. 19 on the Arena Football League’s 20 Greatest Highlights Countdown.
“That was one of the most memorable plays I ever had in Arena Football,” said Graziani. “We actually worked on throwing the ball up as a Hail Mary play. It never really worked in practice, but I was able to elude the rush a little bit, throw a good ball off the net and (Hopkins) did a great job of bodying out the defender and made a great catch with no time left on the clock. That play very rarely happens and works out well, but that’s just Greg Hopkins in a nutshell right there. When you needed him most, he came through.”
On June 17, 2007, Hopkins’ No. 82 jersey was officially retired by the Los Angeles Avengers during a halftime ceremony while he was a member of the team’s coaching staff. He never anticipated having his number retired at the Staples Center with such household names.
“That one brought tears to my eyes,” said Hopkins. “To be on the field and see your jersey go into the rafters with the likes of Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Wayne Gretzky — guys that are more renowned athletes — to have my name up there with so many of those guys was something I never expected to see.”
Hopkins said when he looks back on his playing career, he compares it to a roller-coaster ride whose peaks and valleys mimicked each week of every season. He said his experiences from the battles on the gridiron have helped him to deal with problems with more of a level head since his playing career has ended.
“I’ve held the World Championship Cup over my head and celebrated as a world champion, and I’ve played with a guy by the name of Al Lucas,” said Hopkins. “I saw him take his last breath on the field. It was a tough one for me to swallow — me and the rest of my teammates. Those extreme emotions, from highs to lows and everything in between, it helps you later on in life deal with real-life situations that are outside of the huddle.”
Hopkins said he has a ton of stories from high school, collegiate and professional football and is thankfully able to share them with the many friends he’s made over the years. But he’s thankful for his blue collar, 12-hour workday kind of mentality, which was instilled in him because of his upbringing in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
After running for the Republican nominee for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives’ 50th Legislative District in 2006 and 2008, Hopkins met his wife, and since, they have had two children. He said his main goal today is to lay a solid foundation for his family, and politics are on the back burner right now, but he still keeps a close watch on it.
“If the stars align correctly one of these days,” said Hopkins, “I may get back into it.”