New Orleans, LA – January 5, 2003 -- Bernie Kish, Executive Director of the College Football Hall of Fame, presented the MacArthur Trophy to LSU Coach Nick Saban today in New Orleans, LA during a press conference, following a hard fought victory over the Oklahoma Sooners in the Nokia Sugar Bowl.
With the advent of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) in 1998, the national BCS championship game now determines which team is presented the MacArthur Bowl and ADT National Championship Trophies and have their named etched along side the greatest teams of all time. As an impartial arbiter, The National Football Foundation works with the six conferences that make up the BCS to tabulate and release the standings during the college football season.
Presented to every national champion since 1959, the MacArthur Trophy represents excellence, perseverance, and the pinnacle of team achievement in college football. Designed from suggestions made by General Douglas MacArthur himself and made from almost 400 ounces of silver, the trophy features the names of all of the national champions from the past 43 years.
The MacArthur Bowl will be displayed at LSU for a short period before being returned to its home at the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Indiana.
Previous NFF National Champions include:
Syracuse 1959, Minnesota 1960, Alabama 1961, Southern California 1962, Texas 1963, Notre Dame 1964, Michigan State 1965, Southern California 1967, Ohio State 1968, Texas 1969, Ohio State/Texas 1970, Nebraska 1971, Southern California 1972, Notre Dame 1973, Southern California 1974, Oklahoma 1975, Pittsburgh 1976, Notre Dame 1977, Alabama 1978, Alabama 1979, Georgia 1980, Clemson 1981, Penn State 1982, Miami (FL) 1983, Brigham Young 1984, Oklahoma 1985, Penn State 1986, Miami (FL) 1987, Notre Dame 1988, Miami (FL) 1989, Colorado 1990, Washington 1991, Alabama 1992, Florida State 1993, Nebraska 1994, Nebraska 1995, Florida 1996, Michigan 1997, Tennessee 1998, Florida State 1999, Oklahoma 2000, Miami (FL) 2001, Ohio State 2002.
With 119 chapters and over 13,000 members nationwide, The National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame, a non-profit educational organization, runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in America’s young people. NFF programs include the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind., Play It Smart, The NFF Center for Youth Development Through Sport at Springfield College (Mass.), the NFL-NFF Coaching Academy, and scholarships of nearly $1 million for College and High School Scholar-Athletes.
