Some of Detroit’s greatest sports legends including Willie Horton, Lem Barney, Dave Bing and the late Emanuel Steward were honored Friday night for their achievements and service during a Ford-sponsored Black History Month celebration.

Keynote speaker Jerome Bettis, the Detroit-born Pro Football Hall of Fame running back, reflected on his formative years in the city and those who helped him reach the peak of his sport.

“I stand before you a product of my environment,” Bettis told the audience of several hundred at The Henry Hotel in Dearborn. “When I say environment, a lot of people think ‘OK, he grew up in Detroit and it’s rough and it’s difficult.’ Yes, it was difficult. But the environment that I speak of was the environment of love and caring, and wanting to do for others.”

Presented by the Ford-Employees African Ancestry Network, the event’s highest honors for service — Heritage Awards — were presented to former Detroit Tigers star Horton, former Detroit Lions star Barney, former Detroit Pistons star Bing and the family of renowned boxing trainer Steward.

Steward, who died in 2012 at age 68, opened the world-renowned Kronk Gym in Detroit and produced a string of champions. His award was accepted by his sister, Diane Steward-Jones, who said Steward would have deeply appreciated the honor.

“He was the only man in the history of boxing to train 43 world champions and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of national and regional, amateur and Olympic boxers,” Steward-Jones said. “But he also turned many a child from the streets into great citizens.”

Bettis, who played for the Pittsburgh Steelers and is now a studio analyst for ESPN, credited Highland Park native Reggie McKenzie and his popular youth football clinic for helping to transform him into a serious athlete during his own high school years.

“I always took that camp with me,” Bettis said, “because that was the moment that I saw the possibility — the hope.”

Barney, a Pro Football Hall of Fame cornerback who played for the Lions from 1967-78, was unable to attend Friday’s event but was praised by organizers for his highly successful careers in athletics, the ministry and philanthropy.

Bing, the Pistons star, auto supplier founder and Detroit mayor from 2009 through 2013, also received loud applause and a standing ovation in the hotel ballroom. He thanked the group and event organizers and kept his remarks short.

Horton, 73, the four-time All-Star left fielder who played for the Tigers in 1963-77, recalled growing up as the youngest of 21 children and moving from Virginia to Detroit with his family at age 9.

“My journey started from the Jeffries Projects” in Detroit, said Horton, who now wears a patch over his right eye.

“I left home as a young man. At the time, you know, there were still racial problems going on,” he said. “And I experienced that during my first five years of baseball — what Jackie Robinson went through.”

“I’ll never forget the time I got off the bus in Lakeland (Florida),” Horton continued. “I had to walk 6 miles to spring training. I thought (someone) was playing a joke on me…but when I look back in life, that walk was the best thing,” he said, adding how the experience heightened his motivations to succeed.

Other athletes honored Friday evening included:

The Ford-employee African Ancestry Network dates to 1983 and is the first and oldest of Ford Motor Co.’s employee resource groups.