Sapp smiling all the way to the Hall

• First in a series on 2013 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees

By FRED GOODALL

Associated Press

TAMPA, Fla. -- Now headed into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Warren Sapp smiles as he remembers accepting the challenge to turn around one of the worst franchises in pro sports history.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost 10 or more games for 11 consecutive seasons before selecting a mouthy, fun-loving and sometimes downright irreverent defensive tackle in the opening round of the 1995 NFL draft. He struggled during a 7-9 rookie season that ended the double-digit losses streak -- but hardly lifted the team out of a funk.

Enter Tony Dungy with a plan that a young, supremely confident, 23-year-old Sapp found irresistible.

"When he walked into the job, it was kind of funny. We were walking through old One Buc Place going to see each other. I was coming through the back door and he was coming from his office. We met about halfway. We looked at each other and he said: 'I was looking for you,' and I said: 'I was looking for you."'

They returned to Dungy's tiny working quarters, sat down and the coach explained how he planned to install a defensive system that would allow Sapp to flourish the way the 6-foot-2, 300-pound tackle with exceptional quickness and speed for his size did in college at the University of Miami.

"I said, 'Wait. Let's define that.' I said, 'We used to trample the run on our way to the quarterback and build a camp in the backfield that was three yards deep.' He said, 'I like that.' I said, 'If that's what you're asking me to do, then I can do that for you.' He said, 'But it's going to require a lot of work.' I said, 'I don't mind work, I've been working since I was 13 years old, so I'll be right here with you."'

At age 40, Sapp still gets excited talking about Dungy replacing his first NFL coach, Sam Wyche, and setting a lofty goal of chasing down Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers in the old NFC Central. He and linebacker Derrick Brooks, also drafted in 1995, bought into the plan right away.

Working within Dungy's version of Cover 2 that Sapp, Brooks, safety John Lynch and cornerback Ronde Barber helped evolve into what's known today as Tampa 2, the self-described "small-town country boy" from Plymouth, Fla., developed into one of the most dominating defensive tackles in league history.

Sapp was a four-time All-Pro selection and made the Pro Bowl the final seven years of a nine-season run with the Buccaneers, who ended a 15-year hiatus from the playoffs in 1997; made it to the NFC championship game in 1999, when Sapp was NFL defensive player of the year; and, won their only Super Bowl title in 2002.

Sapp joins Lee Roy Selmon, the first-ever draft pick of the expansion Bucs in 1976, as the only Hall of Famers who spent the majority of their careers in Tampa Bay.

Sapp was elected in his first year of eligibility in February and will be enshrined in Canton on Saturday as a part of a class that also includes Larry Allen, Cris Carter, Curley Culp, Jonathan Ogden, Bill Parcells and Dave Robinson.

"I played the game for the love and respect of the people I played with and against. And if you are picking a team, and you've got a defensive tackle position, I'm taking 99. And twice on Sunday," Sapp said. "That's all I've ever wanted. If you had a defense, and you set a defensive tackle position, if I'm not that one, I'm definitely the other one. If you're not taking me, I want to see the two you are taking."

Lots of family, friends and former teammates will help him celebrate in Canton, though Sapp will miss one person who will not -- the late Hall of Famer Deacon Jones, who died in June.

Like Sapp, Jones grew up in a small town on the outskirts of Orlando. The two grew close in recent years.

"He invented talking trash and backing it up. He invented coming from a little small town, making it to the Johnny Carson show, movies, all the stuff he did," Sapp said.

"The man was everything you wanted that signified a Hall of Famer. Everything that it was. And they said he was gatekeeper," Sapp added. "And for me, in the 50th year of the Hall of Fame to be going in and the gatekeeper not be standing there, who else? That's the only question I have. Who else is going to sit there and talk trash to me?"