Julius Peppers became the first home-grown Carolina Panther to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame when he was inducted as part of the Class of 2024 over the weekend.
While the term “home-grown” refers to the fact that he was drafted by the team and played 10 of his 17 NFL seasons with the team, Peppers’ North Carolina roots go much deeper.
“I grew up in Bailey, North Carolina,” Peppers said the day before his induction. “I was born in Wilson, right next door. That means everything. I think North Carolina is a special place, and I think North Carolinians are special people. I was fortunate to be born and raised there and to go to college there.”
Peppers had a dominant high school career at Southern Nash, being named the state’s male athlete of the year as a senior. He then went on to play at the University of North Carolina, where he was dominant for the Tar Heels, winning the Bednarik and Lombardi Awards in 2001. His number is honored by UNC, and he’s already been inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, as well as getting selected for the College Hall—he’ll go in later this year.
“How cool is it that Julius Peppers is being inducted into both the Pro and College Football Halls of Fame in the same year,” UNC coach Mack Brown said in a statement. “We’ve always believed that Julius is one of the greatest football players to ever put on the pads … It’s so rewarding to see him recognized for his significant accomplishments on the football field. He is now officially one of the greatest of all time.”
In his NFL career, Peppers tallied 159.5 sacks, and was named to NFL All-Decade Teams in back-to-back decades. He’s generally recognized as one of the best pass rushers of all time—by almost everyone.
“Everybody has a different lane,” he said. “Everyone is unique in his own way. We’re all special in our own way. I didn’t ever consider myself a pass rusher, to be honest. I could rush the passer, and I was good at it, but I thought of myself more as a run stopper. When it was time to rush the passer, I could. I could drop back (and defend the pass). Versatility was my strong point.”
Peppers is certainly accurate on that score. He played multiple positions at Southern Nash, rushing for more than 3,500 career yards and scoring 46 touchdowns while also playing the defensive line. He also starred in basketball and track.
At Carolina, he suited up for the Tar Heels basketball team, becoming the first member of a UNC Final Four team to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In his induction speech, Peppers thanked his UNC basketball coach Bill Gutheridge, in addition to Brown (who recruited him) and Carl Torbush (who coached him on the Tar Heels football team) and even had Michael Jordan in attendance as a guest of his.
There was talk that Peppers could have made a go of it in the NBA, but his success on the gridiron made his choice on which direction to go an easy one.
“Nobody had to tell me to choose football,” he said. “Football chose me. The projections came out for the (NFL) draft after my junior year, and I knew it was time to make a decision to take the football route. The game chose me.”
Two picks into draft night, the Panthers chose him as well. He won Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2002 and made five Pro Bowls and two All-Pro teams in his first eight years with the team.
He left Carolina to sign a free agent contract with the Bears prior to the 2010 season, choosing to uproot and make his home outside the state for the first time.
“The major thing was the notoriety aspect of it,” he said of the decision. “People knew I was a good player in Carolina, but people nationally didn’t know. When I went to Chicago, that changed a little bit—the recognition part of it. That was really the main difference—that and the financial piece of it (a $91.5 million contract with more than $40 million guaranteed). That was life changing.”
Peppers played four years with the Bears and three with the Packers before returning to Carolina for the final two seasons of his career.
“You can travel the world, but there’s no place like home,” he told the crowd during his induction speech.
The home-grown Panther, who bloomed into an all-time NFL great, returned to where he got his start.
“North Carolina is a special place to me,” Peppers said prior to his induction. “It always will be. I live in Miami now, but Carolina is home.”
