Patrick Willis: It’s not necessarily how long you play, but how impactful you are

Patrick Willis was one of the best linebackers in football when he played, but the former 49ers linebacker played only eight seasons. He didn't know if that would be long enough to earn him a place into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.But in his fifth year of eligibility, it was.Willis took his rightful place in Canton on Saturday, along with six others."The Night - Oct. 13, 2014. I still remember the last play of my NFL career, and what I heard inside me," Willis said in beginning his speech. "I heard, 'Job well done my son, my faithful and loyal servant.' In that moment, I realized I had completed what I had come to do, with the time the Lord had allotted me to play in the National Football League. It's not necessarily how long you play, but how impactful you are."This was the last day I played in the NFL."Willis recounted growing up in a trailer at the end of a dirt road with no running water until he was 8. "We lived at the bottom of a hill, and my grandparents lived at the top," Willis said. "Every day my siblings and I would carry empty 5-gallon plastic buckets up the hill to get water from my grandparents' house, then carry them back down. I remember when I was carrying those...