NFF to Announce 2008 FBS Hall of Fame Class on May 1
On Thursday, May 1, the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame will announce its 2008 FBS (formerly Division I-A) College Football Hall of Fame Class at the Waldorf=Astoria. ESPNEWS will provide live national coverage of the 13 players and two head coaches among a ballot of 75 All-America standouts and eight elite coaches. NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell will make the announcement alongside award-winning ESPN and ABC anchor John Saunders as emcee. ESPN's Anish Shroff is the studio host. The announcement and program begin at noon (EDT) from New York, and three members of the new Hall of Fame class will be available for media interviews.
NFF News
Legendary Minnesota head football coach and ‘M’ Club Hall of Famer Murray Warmath received the Distinguished Minnesotan award at the inaugural Twin Cities Chapter awards dinner last night. Warmath led the Gophers to the 1960 National Championship. Current Minnesota head coach Tim Brewster was the featured speaker. The attendees list also included four College Football Hall of Famers – Carl Eller, Bobby Bell, Jeff Siemon, and coach Jim Christopherson – and 13 of Coach Warmath’s former players.
Chapter president Sean Gothier has been instrumental in promoting the chapter banquet as well as NFF membership in the greater Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Gothier recently made a one-hour appearance on a local radio talk show to promote chapter membership and scholarships.
Missouri head football coach Gary Pinkel was the featured speaker at the St. Louis/Tom Lombardo Chapter’s monthly luncheon last Wednesday… Notre Dame assistant coaches Jappy Oliver and Bernie Parmalee served as guest speakers at the 34th annual Moose Krause Chapter scholar-athlete dinner… Dave Kragthorpe, former head coach at Idaho State and Oregon State and father of Louisville head coach Steve Kragthorpe, received the Utah Chapter’s Contribution to Amateur Football Award.
Noted NFF historian Dan Jenkins received the Life Achievement Award from the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., and is publishing a romantic comedy “The Franchise Babe" in May. The new work of fiction is set against the background of women's professional golf.
1998 NFF Gold Medal Recipient John McConnell Dies
John H. McConnell, 84, the 1998 winner of the NFF's Gold Medal, former Michigan State offensive guard and business titan, passed away April 25 after a battle with liver cancer. Inspired by the NFF’s mission and his experiences as a collegiate football player, he endowed one of the NFF prestigious National Scholar-Athlete Awards in 1999 with a $300,000 gift to the organization.
He played a major role in supporting the Columbus (Ohio) Chapter. Each year the chapter presents the John H. McConnell and Worthington Industries Foundation High School Scholar-Athlete Scholarships, currently totaling $14,000 a year.
Born on May 10, 1923, in Pughtown, W.Va., he grew up during the Great Depression. He served aboard the U.S.S. Saratoga during World War II, and following his service in the Navy, he enrolled at Michigan State under the G.I. Bill, played offensive guard for the Spartans and graduated with a business degree in 1949. McConnell founded Worthington Industries in 1955, using his car as collateral, and he built the company into an industry leader by filling a gap in custom steel processing.
NFF and Football Writers Association of America to Host Football Forum
The NFF and the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) will host a national Football Forum in Dallas on May 15-16. The event, limited to invited media only and entitled “College Football: Today and Tomorrow,” will be broken in to four sessions, and discussion topics will include media relations, academics, recruiting, minority coaching opportunities, the economics of the sport, post-season imperatives, the influence of the NFL on the college game, among others.
Panelists scheduled to attend include: Kevin Anderson, Army athletics director; Mark Mangino, Kansas head coach; Gary Patterson, TCU head coach; Jim Tressel, Ohio State head coach; Dr. T. K. Wetherell, Florida State president; Tyrone Willingham, Washington head coach; Kevin White, Notre Dame athletics director.
Two-Minute Drill
The Chick-fil-A Bowl Alma Mater at Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro, Ga., Tuesday will feature several returning coaches and dignitaries with celebrity alumnus partners for the golf outing. The event will provide $375,000 in scholarship donations to the participating universities. College Football Hall of Famer Steve Spurrier of South Carolina is paired with former Gamecocks’ wide receiver and Green Bay Packers All-Pro Sterling Sharpe. Other standouts and celebrities vying for the $100,000 first prize and charitable donations are Alabama coach Nick Saban and Ken Stabler; College Football Hall of Famers from Arizona State Frank Kush and Michael Haynes; Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville and College Football Hall of Famer Pat Sullivan; Boston College coach Jeff Jagodinski and Chris O’Donnell; former Colorado coach Bill McCartney and Kordell Stewart; Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson and Jon Barry; Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen and Neil O’Donnell; UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel and Sinjin Smith; Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer and Dell Curry; and Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe and Billy Packer.
Connecticut was honored at “Husky Day” last week at the state capital in Hartford to celebrate the 2007 team’s success and to announce a future football series between UConn and Notre Dame from 2011-17… Navy and Ohio State have signed to play a two-game series in 2009 and ’14… Florida State and Maine will play for the first time on Sept. 5, 2009, in Tallahassee, Fla…. USF and Connecticut have moved their game to Sunday, Nov. 23, with a national broadcast on ESPN at 8 p.m. (EST)… The fourth annual Pat’s Run, in honor of the late Arizona State standout and 2006 NFF Distinguished American Pat Tillman, was held on April 19. All proceeds benefitted the Pat Tillman Foundation’s Leadership Through Action program at ASU… Wake Forest held its 28th annual fundraiser to benefit the Brian Piccolo Cancer Fund in memory of the Demon Deacons’ and Chicago Bears’ late star. The function has raised almost $850,000 since 1981 for cancer research… Peyton Manning, 1998 Draddy Award recipient and son of NFF chairman Archie Manning, has donated $600,000 from the PeyBack Foundation to 125 youth related agencies in Indiana, Tennessee and New Orleans areas. This is the highest annual amount donated by the foundation, and a large part of the gifts will be allotted to New Orleans youth football programs… Texas A&M is holding “Prostate Cancer Awareness” sessions and fundraising efforts through athletics… Newberry (S.C.) football squad members participated in the Real Men Read program at local elementary schools… SMU head coach June Jones was a celebrity member of the team that won last Tuesday’s EDS Byron Nelson PGA Classic Celebrity Pro-Am scramble. College Football Hall of Famer and 2007 Gold Medal co-recipient Roger Staubach of Navy competed to assist the East Texas Children’s Ranch charity.
The Top 10 attendance figures for spring football games played through Apr. 27 are Nebraska – 80,149; Alabama – 78,200; Ohio State – 76,346; Penn State – 73,000; Florida – 61,000; Texas – 43,000; Auburn – 35,000; LSU – 33,624; Texas A&M – 32,000; and South Carolina – 31,125.
The Southeastern Conference dedicated its new Academic Consortium headquarters on Arkansas’ main campus last week… Louisville has received approval from the commonwealth of Kentucky for the proposed $72 million expansion of Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium. The construction will raise stadium capacity above 60,000 and will add 45 luxury suites… Bob and Pat Sletten have made a $500,000 donation to Montana State athletics... Boise State will utilize part of the $4.5 athletics donation by Duane and Lori Stueckle for the Stueckle Sky Box section at Bronco Stadium… St. Francis (Ind.) has inked dual athletics apparel contracts with Russell Athletics and Adidas over the next three years.
Notre Dame TE John Carlson was one of four 2008 NFF National Scholar-Athletes selected in last weekend’s NFL Draft. He was a second-round pick of the Seattle Seahawks. Kentucky TE Jacob Tamme (Indianapolis), Oregon QB Dennis Dixon (Pittsburgh) and Washington State QB Alex Brink (Houston) were also drafted. llinois’ J Leman and Chadron State’s Danny Woodhead inked free agent contracts with the Minnesota Vikings and New York Jets, respectively.
The AutoZone Liberty Bowl will have a January playing date for the first time as it celebrates its 50th contest. The bowl will be played Friday, Jan. 2, 2009, at 4 p.m. (CST) in Memphis and matches teams from Conference USA and the Southeastern Conference.
The AT&T Cotton Bowl plays its final game at Dallas’ Cotton Bowl Stadium earlier that day at 1 p.m. (CST) and the Allstate Sugar Bowl from New Orleans finishes off the day at 7:20 p.m.
Harry Ulinski, 83, former Kentucky standout, died in Louisville, Ky., last week. Ulinski played for College Football Hall of Fame coach Paul “Bear” Bryant at UK from 1946-49 and in UK’s first bowl victory in the 1947 Great Lakes Bowl before embarking on his NFL career… West Morris Mendham (N.J.) High School football student-athlete Peter G. Cavalero, 17, died in an auto accident last week.
Key NFF Dates
May 1: Live Announcement of the 2008 College Football Hall of Fame Class – New York, N.Y.
July 18-19: College Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival - South Bend, Ind.
July 23-27: NFF Play It Smart National Conference - Arlington, Texas
Dec. 9: NFF Annual Awards Dinner at the Waldorf=Astoria – New York, N.Y.
Jan. 5, 2009: National College Football Hall of Fame Salute at the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl – Glendale, Ariz.
Jan. 9, 2009: Presentation of the MacArthur Trophy to BCS National Champion – Miami, Fla.
2009 BCS Schedule
Jan. 1: Rose Bowl presented by Citi – Pasadena, Calif., ABC
Jan. 1: FedEx Orange Bowl – Miami, Fla., Fox
Jan. 2: Allstate Sugar Bowl – New Orleans, La., Fox
Jan. 5: Tostitos Fiesta Bowl – Glendale, Ariz., Fox
Jan. 8: FedEx BCS National Championship Game – Miami, Fla., Fox
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