Junior Seau's Daughter Will Be Allowed to Speak at NFL Hall of Fame Induction

The Pro Football Hall of Fame has amended its rules to allow Junior Seau's daughter Sydney to speak about her father during next week's enshrinement ceremony.

Fox Sports' Alex Marvez first reported the news Saturday, clarifying the exact role Sydney Seau will have:

"

Sydney will be given the chance to participate in an on-stage interview conducted after the unveiling of Seau's bust. The Hall also has invited Sydney and Seau's three sons to unveil his bust on stage. Normally, the unveiling is only done by the presenter and enshrinee.

The Hall will continue to uphold its rule calling for only a video presentation of a posthumous inductee that includes the presenter's speech. However, the Hall has taped a 6-1/2-minute highlight video of Seau's 20-year NFL career that includes comments from Sydney. The normal highlight video lasts three minutes.

"

Marty Caswell of 1090 Sports Radio provided the Hall of Fame's statement:

The news comes after the New York Times' Ken Belson reported on July 24 that no members of the Seau family would be allowed to speak during the ceremony. The Hall of Fame has separate guidelines for posthumous inductees, which are outlined in this press release, via Sports Illustrated's Chris Burke:

Bleacher Report's Mike Tanier was one of many who questioned the Hall of Fame's initial decision:

"

So Sydney Seau is the valedictorian reduced to holding a flag at graduation, lest she embarrass the principal by exercising a little freedom of thought. It’s cowardly, even by football’s lofty standards, to allow all the legends to chest-bump and bro-hug and tell the old by the light of the jukebox yarns but refuse a 21-year-old woman the chance to say, on her own terms, just what her father’s sacrifice really means to her. This is the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s call, not the NFL's, but that makes it worse. There’s no reason for league higher-ups to whitewash the shield when independent operators are so eager to do it for them.

"

The public backlash seems to have worked, and B/R's Mike Freeman is satisfied with the final result:

Seau played 20 years in the NFL, spending the bulk of his career with the San Diego Chargers. He was one of the most decorated linebackers in the sport's history, making 12 Pro Bowls and earning first-team All-Pro honors on six occasions.

In May 2012, Seau took his own life at his home in Oceanside, California. The National Institutes of Health later revealed that his brain showed signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

"I saw a man that right before my eyes [was] changing," said Tyler Seau, Junior Seau's son, about his father in a 60 Minutes interview in January 2015 (via Yahoo Sports' Dan Wetzel). "He wasn't that happy-go-lucky guy anymore."

In September 2014, the Seau family decided to pull out of the proposed settlement the NFL was attempting to reach with former players over concussion protocols and subsequent health problems that players claimed to have suffered after their careers ended.

Ultimately, the Hall of Fame reached a compromise regarding Junior Seau's induction that benefits all parties involved. The Hall maintains its policy on posthumous inductees; however, the Seau family will have an active role in the legendary linebacker's induction.