National Football Foundation

Named the Outstanding Defensive Player of the Game, defensive end Bruce Bannon helped Penn State to a 30-6 victory over Texas in the 1972 Cotton Bowl Classic to finish 11-1 under College Football Hall of Fame head coach Joe Paterno. Bannon was also named First Team All-America and selected to play in the Hula Bowl the following season.  The Nittany Lions compiled a 28-6 record in his three seasons at Penn State, and the team twice received the Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy as the best team in the Northeast. A recipient of the NCAA Top V Award, Bannon was a First Team Academic All-American and achieved a 3.9 GPA in geology and made the Dean’s List nine consecutive semesters. He was a member of Omicron Delta Fraternity and the Kappa honorary fraternity, and he won the Ellen Steidle Achievement Award for outstanding performance in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.

Bannon was selected in the fifth round (116 overall) of the 1973 NFL Draft by the New York Jets. He played for the Miami Dolphins in 1973 and 1974 and won a Super Bowl with the Dolphins in 1973.  In 2012, he was inducted into the Morris Hills (N.J.) Regional District Hall of Fame. Bannon is Owner and President of Growth Enterprises in Pennsylvania.