There’s a chuckle when Bobby Beathard imagines the scene. Someone walks down a street in Franklin, Tenn., a city nestled in the quiet shadow of Nashville’s singers and songwriters.
When they look up, there’s an unassuming, 81-year-old man sipping on a coffee or thumbing through the newspaper … in an NFL Hall of Fame jacket.
“I joked with my wife, I’m just going to wear it on the front porch when people come by,” Beathard said Friday.
Beathard officially will become gold-jacket-wearer No. 311 when the eight-member class is enshrined next month in Canton, Ohio.