2024 Hall of Fame: Football and now Family for NFL Veteran Eric Fisher

Note: Fourth in a series of profiles on members of the 2024 Class of the Marcy Weston CMU Athletics Hall of Fame.

Football was a job and a career for Eric Fisher. But a decade in the NFL, a Super Bowl ring and two Pro Bowls add up to a lot of fun, a lot of memories.

Nowadays, it's real fun for the former Central Michigan great, who will be inducted into the CMU Marcy Weston Athletics Hall of Fame as part of the 2024 class in a ceremony in McGuirk Arena on Friday, Sept. 20 (6 p.m.) and then introduced at the CMU-Ball State football game at Kelly/Shorts Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 21.

"Just enjoying being a dad," Fisher said this week. "It is a blessing from God to be a father and I'm doing my best to be the best one I can be."

2024 MARCY WESTON CMU ATHLETICS HALL OF FAME CEREMONY
Date: Friday, Sept. 20, 2024
Time: 6 p.m. ET
Location: McGuirk Arena Main Floor
Admission: Free and open to the public

Fisher, who played at CMU from 2009-12, will be inducted into the hall of fame with wrestling coach Tom Borrelli, basketball/baseball player Chad Pleiness, gymnast Sarah Dame, track & field/cross country runner Ryan Watson, and volleyball player Kaitlyn (Schultz) Miller.

Fisher became the first Mid-American Conference player to be drafted No. 1 when the Kansas City Chiefs took him with the top pick in the 2013 NFL draft.

He spent the majority of his career with the Chiefs, winning Super Bowl LIV. He played in 132 NFL games, starting 128.

As a Chippewa, he was named in 2012 as a First Team All-American by Pro Football Weekly, a Second Team All-American by Sports Illustrated, and a third-teamer by the Associated Press. He was a two-time All-MAC honoree and helped CMU to a pair of bowl victories.

He retired after the 2022 season and he, his wife, and two children split time between Kansas City and northern Michigan.

Fisher was relatively unheralded coming out of Stoney Creek High School in suburban Detroit's Rochester. He had just two scholarship offers, and he chose Central Michigan over Eastern Michigan.

"Just having the opportunity to play college football was such a blessing in and of itself," he said. "When I was in high school, I didn't realize I'd have the opportunity to play college football and when I was in college I didn't realize I was going to have the opportunity to play pro ball.

"I just continued to work, and those opportunities presented themselves along the way."

Fisher said he holds dear the memories he made while in Mount Pleasant and, later, in the NFL.

"I think the relationships are such a big part of the game that you cherish and the good times at Central Michigan," he said. "A lot of memories from my time there.

"The friendships that I've made along the way, the coaches that I've crossed paths with … it's amazing the relationships that you make in college that show their face later on in life in the most random places."

Durability was a Fisher hallmark. Though like any professional athlete, particularly a football player, he dealt with a share of injuries.

"Ten years playing offensive line in the NFL will definitely take its toll on you," he said. "It's part of the game, unfortunately. Everyone knows that going into it, that the injury rate in the NFL is 100 percent.

"Right now, it's me doing everything I can do to give myself, my body, the best chance at a long life to live, God willing."

Fisher helped paved the way to a Super Bowl championship and for years protected future Hall of Famer Patrick Mahomes. As important and as rewarding as all of that was, he now faces a task of greater import.

And he loves it.

"I think being a good dad is so important in the world right now and it's the biggest responsibility, I think, that anybody can have in life – raising good human beings," he said. "I think that's my main purpose in life and it's a fortunate purpose to have."

Central Michigan University Athletics

2024 Hall of Fame: Football and now Family for NFL Veteran Eric Fisher

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