Chief Strategy Officer Bill Biggs Helped Write Larry Fitzgerald’s Hall of Fame Induction Speech

On August 8, former Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald walked onto the stage at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio. At this year’s edition of the annual celebration of football and the figures who define it, Fitzgerald was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall-of-Fame, and marked the occasion with a speech reflecting on his past, his career, and those who were a part of getting him to where he stood in that moment.

It was a touching speech, but personally notable for our firm in another way. Bill Biggs, Chief Strategy Officer at Angel Reyes & Associates, helped him write it.

Fitzgerald entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame on the first ballot after 17 seasons and 11 Pro Bowls. He went in alongside Drew Brees, Roger Craig, Luke Kuechly, and Adam Vinatieri. His son Devin presented him.

An Experienced Speechwriter for Football Players

Fitzgerald’s speech was not Bill’s first turn at a career-defining moment for an athlete. He also wrote Johnny Manziel’s Heisman Trophy acceptance speech. Bill is a Texas A&M graduate, and Manziel won the Heisman as an Aggie.

Athletes standing at the peak of their careers have twice now trusted Bill with the words.

Fourteen Minutes to Sum Up a Career

You get one shot at a Hall-of-Fame speech. There is no revising it afterward, and it becomes a part of how a career is remembered.

The speech Fitzgerald delivered ran about fourteen minutes, and he spent nearly all of it on other people. He thanked Dennis Green, the coach who gave him a job as a teenage ball boy and later drafted him. He thanked the mentors who took time on a 20-year-old rookie. He spoke about his late mother and his father, who had been chosen to present him before he passed away in June. To his three sons, he offered advice about surrounding yourself with people who tell you what you need to hear, and about bringing others along with you.

Helping someone find those words is harder than it looks. It takes listening closely enough to understand what a moment means to the person living it, then getting out of the way so their voice comes through instead of yours.

The Rest of the Resume

We were ecstatic to add Bill to our firm’s leadership group not because of his ability to write a speech, but because of his achievements, experience, and character qualities that allow him to write speeches like this. He spent a decade as Chief Operating Officer of Daniel Stark Injury Lawyers. He served as Chief Team & Culture Officer at Pond Lehocky Giordano. He founded The Master Plan and co-founded Fireproof Performance Masterminds, a group of more than 80 personal injury firms across the country.

Bill has built a career on helping people and organizations figure out what they stand for and then say it clearly. That is why he keeps ending up in rooms where significant things happen, including Hall-of-Fame and major award speeches. We are proud that through Bill’s work, Angel Reyes & Associates was able to play a part in honoring one of professional football’s most accomplished and revered figures, and we are thrilled to have him helping shape where we go next.