College Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival Slated for This Weekend

Two weeks of Enshrinement activities come to a climax Thursday-Saturday with the Enshrinement Festival at the College Football Hall of Fame. The FBS enshrinees include Bobby Anderson of Colorado, Bennie Blades of Miami (Fla.), Carl Eller of Minnesota, Steve Emtman of Washington, Thomas Everett of Baylor, Chad Hennings of Air Force, Chip Kell of Tennessee, Mike Phipps of Purdue, Mike Rozier of Nebraska, Jeff Siemon of Stanford, Bruce Smith of Virginia Tech, Emmitt Smith of Florida, Charlie Ward of Florida State, and coach Bobby Bowden. 2007 divisional enshrinees include QB Tracy Ham of Georgia Southern, QB Joe Kendall of Kentucky State (deceased), LB Frank Sheptock of Bloomsburg (Pa.), LB Jessie Tuggle of Valdosta State (Ga.) and coaches Jim Christopherson of Concordia College (Minn.) and William “Billy” Joe of Florida A&M, Central State and Cheyney (Pa.). The grand ceremony will be the Enshrinement Dinner and Show at the South Bend Convention Center on Saturday.

Lisa Malin, who has been at the Hall since 1995 and currently serves as its director of sales, has been named the interim director of the College Football Hall of Fame by NFF President & CEO Steven J. Hatchell. Rick Walls, 15-year veteran of the National Football Foundation, has been named executive director of the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum.


Two-Minute Drill

Auburn and West Virginia have switched sites for their 2008 and ’09 series with WVU hosting in Morgantown in ’08… Arkansas State hosted its eighth annual Sports Medicine Golf Scramble to raise money for treatment and therapeutic equipment for training/sports med facilities… Duke football players and coaching staff recently visited the Durham Rescue Mission, which houses over 70 women, men and children whose lives have been disrupted mainly by alcohol or drug abuse. The Duke personnel joined the residents for lunch and a football game… Illinois athletics is hosting its second annual clothing drive for the nearby Cunningham Children’s Home. Former Illinois players Jon Beutjer, Ade Adeyemo and Mike Malczyk will be a part of the playing squad that will re-enact former Syracuse Heisman Trophy winner Ernie Davis’ career in the upcoming movie The Express… NC State is sponsoring a special course for incoming freshmen, including student-athletes, on the hazards of alcohol and substance abuse in college… Georgia Tech’s “Great Jacket Encounter I,” which replaces their usual Fan Photo Day, will be an expanded fan-friendly event on Aug. 18 in Atlanta… Air Force QB Shaun Carney completed his first solo flight in a DA-20 last Friday, as part of a program that screens students for further flight training... Kansas State will hold an open practice at the College Boulevard Activity Center in Olathe, Kan., on Sat., Aug. 11… San Jose State will host a Spartan Spotlight on July 19, allowing young professionals the chance to mingle with Spartan coaches and members of the SJSU Athletic Department… Iowa State players visited 100 campers at Wildwood Hills Ranch last Wednesday… The NFF’s Triangle (N.C.) Chapter will host its fifth annual Triangle Pigskin Preview luncheon on July 19. North Carolina’s Butch Davis, N.C. State’s Tom O’Brien, N.C. Central’s Mose Rison and Duke’s Ted Roof are all scheduled to speak… Colorado State will wear “throwback” jerseys and helmets for its Sept. 8 home game with Cal… New Mexico and New Mexico State announced the formation of the Rio Grande Rivalry. The schools will face-off in 12 sports, including the 98th meeting between the football teams on Sept. 8, and vie for a trophy designed by both institutions... Former Houston Cougar Eugene Lockhart will camp-out at Texas Stadium until he raises $500,000 for Big Brother Big Sisters of North Texas.

UTEP head coach Mike Price has had a stent implanted in his heart and is recovering from last week’s surgery… Baylor head coach Guy Morriss is embarking on a five-city alumni speaking tour of Texas… The Portland Oregonian has named Portland State head coach Jerry Glanville one of the 25 most influential people in Oregon sports for 2007… South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier will host his annual Media Golf event on July 30 at Woodcreek Golf Tournament in Columbia. The Gamecocks also held their annual “Pigskin Poets” youth day in Richland County (S.C.) libraries last Friday.

Wisconsin has sold 69,140 public and student season tickets for 2007, and all the non-conference home contests are sellouts. UW section tickets only remain for the road game at Illinois on Oct. 6… The Iowa-Northern Illinois game at Chicago’s Soldier Field on Sept. 1 is an official sellout. It will be the largest crowd ever to watch an NIU game at a projected 61,500… Central Florida has exceeded 20,000 season tickets (school record) for its new 45,000-seat stadium in Orlando and almost has doubled its final tally of approximately 12,000 season tickets in 2006… Montana State has sold out its ’07 season ticket allotment.

Minnesota broke ground on its new $288 million home football stadium last Tuesday and has raised $51 million toward the initial construction costs. The Golden Gophers also have finalized their Aug. 5-11 workout schedule at St. John’s in Collegeville, Minn.… Missouri’s Dan Devine Center is undergoing extensive renovations and complete turf replacement… Nevada broke ground on the Marguerite Wattis Petersen Foundation Athletic Academic Center… Colgate has completed the installation of FieldTurf for the 2007 season at Andy Kerr Stadium… Central Arkansas will unveil its new state-of-the-art video board at Estes Stadium against Tennessee-Martin on Sept. 15.

Illinois assistant coaches Dan Disch and Curt Mallory have been promoted to interim co-defensive coordinators after former Vince Okruch took a leave of absence from the program… After 26 years at WVU, Shelly Poe has joined Ohio State as its new director of football communications. Dr. Gordon Gee was named school president for the Buckeyes… Jon Gust will become director of media relations at the Villanova department of communications… Wendy Dunn was named football operations coordinator at San Jose State.

Phil Steele has provided FWAA members with a complimentary copy of his 2007 College Football Preview… SportsSouth is airing an original program, “In My Own Words: Nick Saban” about the new Alabama head coach… CSTV has added the “Military Classic of the South” to its national telecast lineup on Nov. 17 when The Citadel visits VMI at noon (EST)… Oklahoma and KTUZ-FM Radio will air the first Spanish-speaking OU broadcast origination through Learfield Sports on Sept. 8 when the Sooners host Miami (Fla.)… Nebraska-Omaha and South Dakota have switched their game to Nov. 1 to accommodate a national CSTV cablecast… Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald was a guest on the Chicago Tribune Live show last Thursday… California and CSTV launched DeSean Jackson’s official Heisman Trophy promotional site last week, www.the1towatch.com… Conference USA has become the ninth league to partner with XOS Technologies replay systems for the 2007 season… Big Ten Network host Dave Resvine will be master of ceremonies at the 36th annual Big Ten Conference Kickoff Luncheon… A four-poster series of vintage Wisconsin football program cover artwork from the 1920s through the 1940s will be available in August… Samford has signed with eight radio stations to form a statewide broadcast network.

The Boise State football team took home two ESPY’s for “Best Game” and “Best Play” from their upset of Oklahoma in last season’s Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. The awards show, which aired Sunday, also honored former NFF Draddy recipient Peyton Manning (Tennessee) for “Best Championship Performance” for his Super Bowl triumph with the Indianapolis Colts. LaDainian Tomlinson (TCU) won four trophies, including “Male Athlete of the Year”… The Nebraska Football Hall of Fame, which is sponsored by the NFF’s Nebraska Chapter, announced its 2007 inductees. New members are Eric Anderson, Donta Jones, Tyrone Legette, Jason Peter, Kevin Ramaekers, Erik Wiegert and Adolph Wenke… Don Meredith (SMU) has received the NFL’s Pete Rozelle Award for Broadcast Excellence… College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced its 39th annual Hall of Fame Class at its 50th anniversary national workshop in San Diego. Honorees are Rod Commons of Washington State, Dennis O'Donnell of Rochester and Tam Flarup of Wisconsin…Coach Bobby Ross and LB Keith Brooking (1994-97) are two of the latest inductees into the Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame… Eastern Michigan sports information director Jim Streeter has captured the “Best of the Best Award” for excellence in media relations and publications by the Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association… The San Diego State Department of Athletics announced its new class of hall of famers, including Jay Gutowski and father-son duo John and Steve Duich… Former Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder will receive the Joe Spencer Award for Lifetime Achievement at Austin College… Former Arkansas State football standouts Ray Brown and Tim Langford will become the newest members of the ASU Ring of Honor at ceremonies on Sept. 15… San Jose State head coach Dick Tomey received a commendation by Santa Clara County Supervisor Pete McHugh for the Spartans’ success last season and the New Mexico Bowl victory.

Arizona has signed a three-year agreement with Stubhub, which will become the school’s official ticket resale vendor… Michigan has signed an eight-year uniform and apparel contract with Adidas… Fresno State has signed the longest licensing contract (13 years) in NCAA history with Collegiate Licensing Co… Georgia and XM Radio have reached a five-year agreement for football satellite radio broadcasts from 2007-11… IBM is about to unveil a new email chip innovation that could download a football game in as little as two seconds in certain systems.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office announced a nine percent rise in total number of men’s college student-athletes from 1991-92 to 2004-05 among 750 NCAA members and a 49 percent increase in women’s student-athletes over the same 14-year time span.

Lady Bird Johnson, 94, widow of late President Lyndon B. Johnson, died last Wednesday. She was owner of KLBJ Radio in Austin – the former flagship station for Texas football and other sports for 40-plus years. Former North Texas sports information director and White House press secretary Bill Moyers delivered one of the eulogies last week at the public memorial service, and the gathering sang “The Eyes of Texas” (Texas’ alma mater) for Mrs. Johnson, who received two degrees from UT.

Frank (Bucko) Kilroy, 86, who played, coached or served as a general manager in the NFL for 42 consecutive seasons from 1943-84 and who starred at Temple from 1940-42, died on July 10… Ermel Howard, 88, who lettered at Tennessee and later was an assistant coach for the Vols and Wyoming (2001 Wyoming Sports Hall of Fame inductee), died last Wednesday in Knoxville.


Featured Non-Conference Schedule: Pac-10

Arizona St. - San Jose St., Colorado, San Diego St.

Arizona - @ Brigham Young, Northern Arizona, New Mexico

California - Tennessee, @ Colorado St., Louisiana Tech

Oregon - Houston, @ Michigan, Fresno St.

Oregon St. - Utah, @ Cincinnati, Idaho St.

Southern California - Idaho, @ Nebraska, @ Notre Dame

Stanford - San Jose St., TCU, Notre Dame

UCLA - Brigham Young, @ Utah, Notre Dame

Washington - @ Syracuse, Boise St., Ohio St., @ Hawaii

Washington St. - @ Wisconsin, San Diego St., Idaho


Key NFF Dates

July 19-21: 2007 College Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival in South Bend, Ind.

July 26-29: 2007 Play It Smart Annual Conference

Oct. 14: First release of the BCS Standings

Oct. 25: Draddy Trophy Finalists and National Scholar-Athlete Award Winners Announcement

Dec. 4: The NFF Annual Awards Dinner at the Waldorf=Astoria

Jan. 2, 2008: National College Football Hall of Fame Salute at the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl

Jan. 8, 2008: Presentation of the MacArthur Trophy to BCS National Champion




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