"She sacrificed and put her dreams and ambitions on hold" - When Deion Sanders paid emotional tribute to ex-wife Pilar in his Hall of Fame speech

Colorado Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders made huge headlines on Monday when he announced his cancer battle. Sanders underwent successful bladder removal surgery and is resuming his full coaching duties. However, before he became "Coach Prime," he was "Prime Time" on the football field. This earned him a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

In August 2011, Sanders was inducted into the Hall of Fame alongside Marshall Faulk, Shannon Sharpe, Richard Dent, Chris Hanburger, Les Richter and Ed Sabol. At the ceremony, Sanders gave a heartfelt speech and credited his then-wife, Pilar Sanders, for putting her dreams on hold.

"Throughout this game I've gained five wonderful, beautiful kids. Deiondra, Deion Junior, Shilo, Sheduer, Shelomi, with all my teams jerseys on, I love you. Thank you, babies," Sanders said. "My beautiful wife, Pilar, who has sacrificed and put her dreams and ambitions on hold to make sure I achieve mine.

"Thank you, baby, for all you do and for all you've put up with me because I know I'm not easy to deal with."

After the emotional statement about his then-wife, Sanders spoke about playing the game for free, joking that he would only do it if that is what everyone else was doing:

"This game, I appreciate this game so much because I thought about it as a child. I wanted to do it, and they told me we'd get compensated and paid for a game that I always loved and I hear so many people say I would do this for free. I would too, as long as you're doing it for free."

Deion Sanders and Pilar Sanders filed for divorce in 2013

While Deion Sanders thanked his then-wife, Pilar Sanders, for supporting him in his Hall of Fame speech in 2011, their relationship did not last much longer. The couple filed for divorce in 2013.

The divorce was contentious, with Pilar contesting the prenuptial agreement signed before they got married. She wanted more money in alimony and child support payments from Deion.

At the time, Deion Sanders called it greed from Pilar, saying she signed the contract but now wants more from him. Despite this, the former couple's children still have positive relationships with both parents. However, at senior night at Colorado in November, Shilo Sanders joked about how they could not walk with both of them because it was like World War III.