IRVING, Texas (Nov. 13, 2013) – Ithaca College and The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame announced today that they will jointly honor Jeff Wittman with an NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute, presented by Fidelity Investments®, on Nov. 16 in Ithaca during halftime of the annual Cortaca Jug rivalry game between Ithaca and Cortland. The game kicks off at noon EST.
"I'm excited and very nervous,” said Wittman in August before being inducted with the rest of the divisional class in Atlanta. “I consider myself lucky to have played for Jim Butterfield, a College Football Hall of Famer. It means so much for me to be able to go down to Atlanta with my wife, my kids and my parents.”
The NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute program is a hallowed tradition that began with the inaugural class in 1951, and to this day the salutes remain the first of numerous activities in each inductee’s Hall of Fame experience. During the NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salutes, each inductee returns to his alma mater to accept a Hall of Fame plaque that will remain on permanent display at the institution. The events take place on the field during a home game, and many inductees cite the experience as the ultimate capstone to their careers, providing them one more chance to take the field and hear the crowd roar their name.
Wittman earned First Team All-American honors three times during his spectacular career as a fullback for the Bombers from 1989-92, helping them win a national title in 1991.
“Earning First Team All-America honors once is hard enough, but Jeff Wittman was able to earn them three times during his record-breaking career at Ithaca,” said NFF President and CEO Steve Hatchell. “He was a huge part of their national championship team in 1991, and we are thrilled to honor him in front of the Ithaca faithful at Butterfield Stadium.”
Under Hall of Fame coach Jim Butterfield, Wittman led Ithaca to the Division III national title in 1991 and was subsequently named MVP of the Stagg Bowl after a stellar three-touchdown performance. A three-time First Team All-American from 1990-92, he broke 16 career rushing and scoring records while leading the Bombers to a 36-8-0 record during his prolific career. The 1993 Ben Light Senior Male Athlete of the Year ran for 100-plus yards in a game 18 times, and he rushed for an Ithaca-record 3,410 yards and 44 touchdowns during his collegiate campaign.
After graduating from Ithaca in 1993, Wittman returned to his hometown of Rochester, N.Y., to pursue his passion for teaching and coaching. He taught at an elementary school within the Gates Chili Central School District while also coaching the junior varsity football and wrestling teams at the local high school. He currently teaches physical education at Gates Chili High School.
More than 20 years later, Wittman remains a fixture atop the Ithaca and Stagg Bowl record books, and he was inducted into his alma mater’s athletics hall of fame in 2001. Wittman becomes the first Ithaca player to be inducted, and he joins his coach Jim Butterfield (1967-1993) as the only Bombers in the hall.
Including the 2013 divisional class, only 934 players and 205 coaches have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame from the 4.99 million people who have played or coached the game over the past 145 years. In other words, only two ten-thousandths of one percent (.0002) of those who have set foot on the gridiron have earned the distinction. For a complete list of players and coaches in the hall, please visit www.collegefootball.org.
The 2013 College Football Hall of Fame Divisional Class was inducted during the Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony on Aug. 28 at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta. This year’s class included: coach Frank Cignetti (West Virginia, Indiana [Pa.]), coach James “Boots” Donnelly (Austin Peay State University, Middle Tennessee State University), coach Jess Dow (Southern Connecticut State), Shelby Jordan (Washington University in St. Louis [Mo.]), Joe Micchia (Westminster College [Pa.]), Art Shell (University of Maryland Eastern Shore) and Jeff Wittman (Ithaca College [N.Y.]).
The 2013 season marks the fourth season that Fidelity Investments, a leading provider of not-for-profit workplace retirement savings plans to higher education employees, is serving as the national presenting sponsor of the NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salutes. The salutes are one component of a multi-year initiative between the two organizations to celebrate the scholar-athlete ideal and a joint commitment to higher education. Other highlights of the sponsorship include Fidelity becoming the first presenting sponsor of the organization’s prestigious NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards and helping launch the NFF Faculty Salutes Initiative, which recognizes the contributions of the faculty athletics representatives around the country.
About The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame
Founded in 1947 with early leadership from General Douglas MacArthur, legendary Army coach Earl "Red" Blaik and immortal journalist Grantland Rice, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame is a non-profit educational organization that runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in young people. With 120 chapters and 12,000 members nationwide, NFF programs include the College Football Hall of Fame, the NFF Scholar-Athlete Award presented by Fidelity Investments, Play It Smart, the NFF Hampshire Honor Society, the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Alumni Association, and scholarships of more than $1.3 million for college and high school scholar-athletes. The NFF presents the MacArthur Bowl, the William V. Campbell Trophy endowed by HealthSouth, and releases the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) Standings. NFF corporate partners include the Allstate Sugar Bowl, the BCS, Fidelity Investments, Herff Jones, Liberty Mutual Insurance, NCAA Football, and Under Armour. For more information, please visit www.footballfoundation.org.
