IRVING, Texas  (Oct. 23, 2014) – Stanford and The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame announced today that they will jointly honor Darrin Nelson with an NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute, presented by Fidelity Investments, on Oct. 25 in Stanford during the game between Stanford and Oregon State. Coverage of the game will start at 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

“Darrin was probably the most popular player at Stanford in the time I’ve been around the school,” said Paul Wiggin, one of Nelson’s head coaches at Stanford and a Hall of Fame player from his days with the Cardinal. “He was not only a great player, but had that magnetic personality and was such an impressive guy to be around. As a player, he was exceptional. Passing the ball was much different at that time than it is now and he was able to be such a well-rounded back, running the ball and catching it. He was truly Mr. Stanford at that time. He was loved by the students, faculty, alumni and most of all very well respected by his teammates.”

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.

The first player in NCAA history to rush for more than 1,000 yards and catch more than 50 passes in one season, Darrin Nelson would accomplish the feat three times during his standout career at Stanford from 1977-78 and 1980-81.

“A dual threat as a rusher and receiver, Darrin Nelson was one of the most impressive running backs of his era,” said NFF President and CEO Steve Hatchell. “A model student-athlete, he excelled just as well in the classroom as he did on the field. We are thrilled to honor him in front of the Stanford faithful at Stanford Stadium.”

A 1981 First-Team All-American, Nelson ended his career as Stanford’s all-time leader in rushing yards (4,033), receptions (214), scoring (242) and touchdowns (40), and he finished his career as the NCAA leader for all-purpose yards, which remains a school record at 6,885. The only four-time First-Team All-Pac-10 selection in Stanford history, he became the first freshman running back in conference history to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season.

A finalist for the 1981 Heisman Trophy, Nelson held nine of the top 12 single-game rushing performances in school history at the end of his career, and he led Stanford to wins in the 1977 Sun Bowl and 1978 Bluebonnet Bowl. Honored for his all-around achievements as an NFF National Scholar-Athlete in 1981, Nelson was also a First-Team Academic All-America and academic all-conference selection.

Selected in the first round of the 1982 NFL Draft by the Minnesota Vikings, Nelson played 11 seasons with the Vikings and San Diego Chargers. The Los Angeles native finished his professional career with 4,442 rushing yards, 2,559 receiving yards and 23 touchdowns, and he led the league with 4.9 yards per carry in 1987.

A member of the Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame, Nelson was coached by Bill Walsh and Paul Wiggin (a College Football Hall of Fame player from Stanford), and he played alongside Hall of Famers John Elway and Ken Margerum. Currently serving as a Senior Associate Athletics Director at the University of California, Irvine, he previously worked in the same position at Stanford as well as a community relations liaison between Stanford Athletics and various governmental agencies in the Palo Alto area.

Nelson becomes the 18^th Stanford player to be inducted, joining Frankie Albert (1939-41), John Brodie (1954-56), Chris Burford (1957-59), Bill Corbus (1931-33), John Elway (1979-82), Hugh Gallarneau (1938-40), Bobby Grayson (1933-35), Bob Hamilton (1933-35), Ken Margerum (1977-80), Bill McColl (1949-51), James Moscrip (1933-35), Ernie Nevers (1923-25), Jim Plunkett (1968-70), Bob Reynolds (1933-35), Jeff Siemon (1969-71), Chuck Taylor (1940-42) and Paul Wiggin (1954-56). Six coaches with stops in Stanford are in the Hall: Walter Camp (1892, 1894-95), Andy Kerr (1922-23), John Ralston (1963-71), Clark Shaughnessy (1940-41), Pop Warner (1924-32) and Fielding Yost (1900).

Including the 2014 class, only 948 players and 207 coaches have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame from the nearly 5.06 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. Click here for a complete list of players and coaches in the Hall.

The 2014 College Football Hall of Fame Class will be officially inducted at the 57^th NFF Annual Awards Dinner, held at New York City’s historic Waldorf Astoria Hotel on Tuesday, Dec. 9. This year’s College Football Hall of Fame Class includes: Dre Bly (DB, North Carolina), Tony Boselli (OT, Southern California), Dave Butz (DT, Purdue), Shane Conlan (LB, Penn State), Joe Hamilton (QB, Georgia Tech), John Huard (LB, Maine), Darrin Nelson (HB, Stanford), Willie Roaf (OL, Louisiana Tech), John Sciarra (QB, UCLA), Sterling Sharpe (WR, South Carolina), Leonard Smith (CB, McNeese State), the late Derrick Thomas (LB, Alabama), LaDainian Tomlinson (TB, TCU), Wesley Walls (TE, Mississippi), and coaches Mike Bellotti (Chico State [Calif.], Oregon) and Jerry Moore (North Texas, Texas Tech and Appalachian State). For more information, please contact Will Rudd at wrudd@footballfoundation.com or by calling 972.556.1000.

Remaining Scheduled 2014 NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salutes
Presented by Fidelity Investments
(Chronological Order)

Date	Inductee	School (Years Played/Coached)	Opposing Team
Oct. 25	Shane Conlan	Penn State (1983-86)	Ohio State
Oct. 25	Darrin Nelson	Stanford (1977-78, 1980-81)	Oregon State
Nov. 8	Leonard Smith	McNeese State (1980-82)	Stephen F. Austin
Nov. 15	Joe Hamilton	Georgia Tech (1996-99)	Clemson
Nov. 22	John Sciarra	UCLA (1972-75)	Southern California
Nov. 29	Dre Bly	North Carolina (1996-98)	North Carolina State

The 2014 season marks the fifth 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. At the start of the 2014 season, Fidelity became the presenting sponsor of the William V. Campbell Trophy, college football’s premier scholar-athlete award, which is celebrating its 25^th Anniversary in 2014. 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 Fidelity Investments
Fidelity’s goal is to make financial expertise broadly accessible and effective in helping people live the lives they want. With assets under administration of $4.9 trillion, including managed assets of $2.0 trillion as of September 30, 2014, we focus on meeting the unique needs of a diverse set of customers: helping 23 million people investing their own life savings, 20,000 businesses to manage their employee benefit programs, as well as providing 10,000 advisors and brokers with technology solutions to invest their own clients’ money. Privately held for nearly 70 years, Fidelity employs 41,000 associates who are focused on the long-term success of our customers. For more information about Fidelity Investments, visit www.fidelity.com.

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 in Atlanta, the NFF Leadership Hall of Fame, the NFF Scholar-Athlete Awards presented by Fidelity Investments, the NFF High School Showcases, the NFF Hampshire Honor Society, the NFF Faculty Salute Initiative presented by Fidelity Investments, the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Alumni Association, and scholarships of more than $1.3 million for college and high school scholar-athletes. The NFF also collaborates with the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) to release the FWAA-NFF Grantland Rice Super 16 Poll; awards the William V. Campbell Trophy presented by Fidelity Investments and hosted at the New York Athletic Club; and bestows several other major awards at the NFF Annual Awards Dinner. NFF corporate partners include the Allstate Sugar Bowl, Fidelity Investments, Herff Jones, PrimeSport, the Sports Business Journal, and Under Armour. Learn more at www.footballfoundation.org.