[THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF THE “WHO IS THIS SPECIAL PERSON?” (TRIBUTES) EXPERIENCE]
Hello everyone! It is truly unbelievable to me that I am the one making this speech for my favorite basketball player of all time: Derrick Rose. It is an honor to be the one to induct him into the NBA Hall of Fame. I get to make this speech today not because I am a close friend or family member to D-Rose, but because I might just be his biggest fan in the world! It was so cool (and just like D-Rose) to say that he wanted a young person from Chicago to make the speech, so when the contest to write the speech that would induct D-Rose was announced at my school, I was all in.
I am from Chicago — just like him — and I’ve always been a huge Bulls fan. I wasn’t old enough to be part of following the 90’s Bulls teams of Michael, Scottie, Dennis Rodman, Phil Jackson and all the rest of that legendary team, but I do remember when D-Rose showed up with the Bulls and shocked the world with a style of game that no one had ever seen before. Could anyone do what he did? The explosiveness, the ball handling, the determination — he was a thrill to watch. He was the youngest NBA player to ever win an MVP. The Bulls were on the rise again with a bunch a great players and a hard-nosed coach. This team was going places for sure. Until….the injury.
It was a first round playoff game against the 76er’s when you blew your knee out. And of course it wasn’t the last time you would be hurt. But I won’t dwell on the injuries and the years of frustration we all felt while watching you try to fight back to your previous form, because the reason we are all sitting in this beautiful hall tonight and enshrining you into this legendary place is not for what you did in your healthy years, but what you did after.
You never quit. You never made excuses. You just kept on fighting back. You are my inspiration. Not for your incredible dunking ability when you were younger, but for how you dealt with all the setbacks and kept on going.
To think that you would play for 20 years, and that some of your best years would come in your late 30’s, goes to show the determination you always had in your heart. Derrick Rose. Yep, that’s right. Derrick rose up. Rose up out of poverty, rose up from a tough neighborhood, rose up….[End Example]