CANTON, Ohio | This is where the bust of Derrick Thomas will stand forever. Funny thing, it seems like every school field trip of my Cleveland childhood ended here in this room of faces in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I remember being oddly chilled whenever I would come in here. It always seemed like these busts featuring the greatest football players and coaches were staring at me.</p><p> They still stare. There is the bust of Dick Butkus, his eyes squinting, his face masked in rage. There&rsquo;s the bust of Frank Gifford, looking immaculate, every hair in place, a football star about to be an announcing star. Speaking of hair, there&rsquo;s the old Kansas City Chiefs coach Hank Stram, the hair on his bust lifting high off his head, as if blowing in the wind. The Chiefs players had a lot of laughs about that hair.</p><p> There&rsquo;s Kellen Winslow&rsquo;s bust, looking as if it is ready to be called into the game RIGHT NOW &mdash; who the heck needs a body? Let&rsquo;s just play some football.</p><p> There&rsquo;s Merlin Olsen&rsquo;s bust, and it is smiling &mdash; not many busts in here are smiling &mdash; and you get the sense that if the bust had arms, they would be outstretched to help up the quarterback he just sacked.</p><p> There&rsquo;s the bust of great Chiefs linebacker Willie Lanier, and it looks to the right, like he has just noticed a running back on the loose and he needs to go clean up that situation.</p><p> I never knew the educational value of coming to the Pro Football Hall of Fame on school field trips &mdash; seems like we would do that maybe two or three times every year. Maybe I do understand now. Here, in this room, you have the players and coaches who represented excellence. True, they represented that excellence on the football field. But that&rsquo;s OK. This is about football. This is the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Most of us believe there&rsquo;s a more enduring place for people who live good lives.</p><p> There&rsquo;s the bust of Vince Lombardi, the old Packers coach. He was all about doing one thing as close to perfect as humanly possible. Cleveland running back Jim Brown was about pummeling the defense again and again and again, never allowing pain or discouragement to slow him. Baltimore&rsquo;s Raymond Berry was about precision &mdash; he always took exactly the same number of steps, made exactly the same shoulder fake, turned exactly the same way. Paul Warfield was about stretching expectation; even the worst-thrown passes never felt out of his reach.</p><p> So, what does Derrick Thomas represent as a football player? What is his football legacy? After the long wait, he&rsquo;s a part of this place now. He&rsquo;s a part of football history in a whole new way. If you walk all the way around the room, past all the other busts, you will find an empty glass shelf where Thomas&rsquo; face will stare out. </p><p> They put Thomas&rsquo; bust right in the middle of the six who were inducted Saturday night. Directly above him will be Bruce Smith, the brilliant defensive lineman who at his best was like Schwarzenegger&rsquo;s Terminator &mdash; impossible to block and impossible to deter. Above left is Bullet Bob Hayes, the Olympic gold-medal sprinter who as a receiver for the Dallas Cowboys animated the imagination. Above right is Buffalo owner Ralph Wilson, an original member of The Foolish Club, that collection of dreamers who in 1960 put together the American Football League.</p><p> Below left is Randall McDaniel, the terrific offensive guard who never allowed himself to have a bad day &mdash; 202 consecutive starts, 12 straight Pro Bowls, brilliant every year. Below right is Rod Woodson, who could have played anywhere on the field and been a star; he was a Pro Bowler as a return man, as a safety and as a cornerback, and there&rsquo;s little doubt he would have been one as a receiver or running back, too.