IRVING, Texas (Feb. 27, 2015) – The leaders of The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame issued the following statements today on the passing of Father Theodore Hesburgh, who served as president of Notre Dame from 1952 to 1987 and passed away Feb. 26 on the Notre Dame campus. He was 97. The NFF honored Father Hesburgh in 1975, presenting him the NFF Distinguished American Award in recognition of his accomplishments as an “internationally known scholar and respected educator, whose philosophy champions academic and athletic excellence and concern for the human spirit.” He served with distinction on the NFF’s Board of Directors and was a key member of the leadership team that created the NFF’s Annual Awards Dinner in 1956.

“Father Hesburgh stands among the giants who have been honored by the National Football Foundation,” said NFF Chairman Archie Manning. “He played a critical role in advancing the scholar-athlete ideal, and he came to embody the highest standards in ensuring that the student-athletes on campuses nationwide developed the cherished skill sets that would benefit them for a lifetime. We are extremely grateful for his contributions. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and the entire Notre Dame community.”

“Father Hesburgh understood that a university is first and foremost an institution of higher education, and he coupled that understanding with a deep appreciation of the role of coaches as perhaps the most impactful educators on a college campus,” said NFF President Steve Hatchell. “He became an ardent proponent of the rules that guide our sport because of the educational benefits that it has on the players who have the opportunity to participate at the college level. We are forever in his debt. We are deeply saddened by his passing, and we will do our best to carry on the principals that he so passionately fought to instill in collegiate athletics.”

Following his undergraduate studies at Notre Dame, Father Hesburgh attended Gregorian University in Rome, Italy, but was forced to come back to the states due to the breakout of World War II. He finished his seminary at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., in 1945.

After serving as Chaplain for the National Training School for Boys in Washington in 1943 and 1944, he became Chaplain to Veterans at Notre Dame. He worked his way up from Assistant Professor of Religion to Head of the Department of Religion to vice president, then finally to the President of Notre Dame in 1952. Hesburgh held this role for 35 years.

Under his leadership, the university’s enrollment doubled, thanks in part to admitting females beginning in 1972, and its endowment rose significantly. The Fighting Irish football team, though it had its ups-and-downs in Hesburgh’s tenure, took home three national championships. College Football Hall of Fame head coach Ara Parseghian led the team to titles in 1966 and 1973, and Hall of Fame coach Dan Devine won another in 1977. Notre Dame fielded 11 eventual Hall of Famers and 13 NFF National Scholar-Athletes during Hesburgh’s 35 years at the helm.

Hesburgh’s off-campus efforts included leading Catholic universities to autonomy from the church hierarchy in the 1960s, giving governing power to the laity. President Dwight D. Eisenhower named Father Hesburgh to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission at its inception in 1957, a position he held for 15 years.

Hesburgh was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964, the Army’s Sylvanus Thayer Award in 1980 and the inaugural NCAA Gerald R. Ford Award in 2004. He holds the Guinness Book of World Records title for “Most Honorary Degrees”, having been awarded 150. Up until his death, he resided on the Notre Dame campus.