FOXBOROUGH — When Rob Gronkowski went in for his fitting for his red jacket, the iconic piece of clothing for those inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame, he asked the tailor to also take the measurements for his legs.
“He was like, ‘Oh no, it’s just the jacket,’” Gronkowski recalled. “I was like, ‘No, no, no, no, no. I’m getting pants, too.’ I’m going to have holes in my pants if it’s up to me to find pants.”
Gronkowski, decked out in his hard-to-miss, all-red ensemble, was the man of the hour Saturday afternoon. A little rain didn’t deter more than a thousand fans from flooding Patriot Place Plaza to watch Gronkowski’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony. A crowd even filled the stairs leading up to the shops and restaurants, with more folks lining up along the fence outside of the Harp to overlook the stage.
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A star-studded cast of former Patriots players showed up to support Gronkowski, who spent nine seasons in New England and won three Super Bowls. Tom Brady, in town as part of Fox’s broadcast crew for Sunday’s Patriots-Packers game, made an appearance in his own red jacket. As did Patriots coach Mike Vrabel.
Others in the crowd included Danny Amendola, David Andrews, Malcolm Butler, Patrick Chung, Stephen Gostkowski, Chris Hogan, Brian Hoyer, Matt Light, Rob Ninkovich, and Matthew Slater. Julian Edelman, who hosts a podcast with Gronkowski, sent in a video message because he couldn’t make it. So did owner Robert Kraft because he’s recovering from back surgery.
The afternoon featured plenty of laughs and memories, as the group celebrated Gronkowski’s illustrious and equally entertaining career.
Gronkowski told several stories that elicited roars from the crowd. He talked about falling asleep during his pre-draft visit with the Patriots, revealing that he was hungover. He recalled getting a call from Berj Najarian, Bill Belichick’s long-time right-hand man, telling him to stop celebrating with his brothers on the stage after the Patriots drafted him in the second round in 2010. He joked about dancing at college pool parties during the NFL lockout following his rookie year.
Light gifted Gronkowski a T-shirt that read, “Yo soy Hall of Famer” — a reference to Gronkowski’s famous “Yo soy fiesta” answer during his postgame interview with ESPN Deportes after the 2011 AFC Championship.
Throughout the 90-minute program, Gronkowski’s personality was on full display.
He spiked a Packers helmet. He had trouble pronouncing the word, “resiliency,” during his speech, saying his girlfriend, former Patriots cheerleader Camille Kostek, told him in advance he should’ve taken it out.
“He is who he is,” Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said. “For a while, I think sometimes people thought that was a schtick. And it’s not. We got to see that daily.”
Brady didn’t take the microphone, but received a warm welcome from the crowd and plenty of praise, and a little ribbing, from Gronkowski.
“I saw how Tom worked, I saw what it took to be great, and I wanted to be at that level,” Gronkowski said. “Sometimes I hated staying after practice, like, ‘Oh Rob, run an extra route.’ Why do I got to run an extra route? Finally, it all clicked.”
Gronkowski finished his career with several NFL records, including most receiving touchdowns by a tight end in a season (17 in 2011), most career postseason receiving yards by a tight end (1,163), most career postseason receptions by a tight end (81), and most career receiving touchdowns by a tight end (12).
“When you have certain people on your teams that come out before the games, there’s just some people that are different,” McDaniels said. “Everybody would refer to Tom. Certainly, when Tom is on your team, you have a chance to win. There’s other players I feel that way about. [Gronk] was one of the rare guys, that when he came out there for pre-game on game day, you just knew, like, we have somebody that they don’t match up well with.”
Saturday’s impressive turnout underscores just how much the community embraced Gronkowski. The Dunkin’ on Route 1 even rebranded their signage to Gronkin’ for the weekend.
“That’s when you know you’ve made it in New England,” he said. “That’s one of one. I’m at the top. No one else ever got Dunkin’ Donuts named after them like that.”
After the ceremony concluded, Gronkowski had to fly to West Point for Fox’s Veteran’s Day pre-game show. He’ll then travel back to Foxborough for the rest of the festivities.
“I’m flying right back for the game and tomorrow night will be a celebration with all of my teammates and family,” he said.
As he said at the conclusion of his speech, “Now let’s fiesta!”