Astonishing Fall From Grace: Jon Gruden’s Name Already Removed From Buccaneers Ring Of Honor
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By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
While Raiders owner Mark Davis has not chosen to discuss former coach Jon Gruden’s prejudiced emails in detail except to say talk to the NFL, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — Gruden’s former team — have moved quickly to remove their former coach’s legacy in Tampa.
Gruden’s name has already been removed from the Bucs’ Ring of Honor at Raymond James Stadium.
“Wow that was quick!!” Tampa sports broadcaster JP Peterson said in a Tweet Thursday morning.
Take a look at the space between Ronde Barber and John Lynch:
Gruden’s emails that included a racist trope against players union executive director DeMaurice Smith, anti-gay comments and anti-women remarks were among 650,000 emails gathered by the NFL in the league’s investigation of the Washington Football Team workplace issues. Gruden’s emails to the Washington team GM Bruce Allen were from 2011-2018. Gruden and Allen were friends during their tenure at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
There’s also a statue of Gruden at the Buccaneers’ headquarters in Tampa.
There’s talk in Tampa of removing the Gruden statue from the Bucs team headquarters.
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“The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have advocated for purposeful change in the areas of race relations, gender equality, diversity and inclusion for many years,” the Bucs statement said this week. “While we acknowledge Jon Gruden’s contributions on the field, his actions go against our core values as an organization. Therefore, he will no longer continue to be a member of the Buccaneers Ring of Honor.”
The Bucs’ statement came a day after Gruden resigned Monday.
The Raiders in Las Vegas posted a video of new interim coach Rich Bisaccia on their website.
And quarterback Derek Carr suggested the NFL open up all correspondence after Gruden’s emails caused a firestorm this past week.
