IRVING, Texas  (Sept. 25, 2015) – The University of Michigan and The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame announced today that they will jointly honor the late Rob Lytle with an NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute, presented by Fidelity Investments, Saturday, Sept. 26, in Ann Arbor, Mich., during the game between Michigan and BYU. Members of Lytle's family will represent him on the field. Coverage of the game will start at Noon ET on ABC/ESPN.

“Above anything else, we’re proud and honored and really speechless that he is now a part of such a prestigious group of players,” Rob’s son Kelly Lytle told the Fremont News-Messenger after the announcement in January. “It’s such a meaningful reward for everything he sacrificed as a football player and how he carried himself both on the field and off it.”

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 great Bo Schembechler once called Rob Lytle the greatest back he ever coached,” said NFF President and CEO Steve Hatchell. “Lytle certainly lived up to that distinction, rewriting the Wolverine record books during his remarkable career. We are thrilled to pay tribute to his memory in front of the Michigan faithful at the Big House.”

A consensus First Team All-American following his senior campaign, Lytle finished third in the 1976 Heisman Trophy voting after being named the Big Ten Most Valuable Player. The First Team All-Conference selection set Wolverine records for single-season (1,469 in 1976) and career (3,317) rushing yards, with both totals still ranking in the top 10.

A member of Michigan’s 1974 and 1976 Big Ten Conference championship teams, Lytle also set school records for 150-yard rushing games in a single-season with five and 100-yard rushing games in a career with 15. The 1976 captain and team MVP led the Wolverines to the 1976 Orange Bowl and the 1977 Rose Bowl. In 1974, Lytle received Michigan’s Maulbetsch Award, given on the basis of desire, character and leadership on and off the football field. He played alongside College Football Hall of Fame safety Dave Brown.

A second-round pick by the Denver Broncos in the 1977 NFL Draft, he played seven seasons for the Broncos. He helped guide them to Super Bowl XII during his rookie season, and he became the first player to score a touchdown in both the Rose Bowl and the Super Bowl.

After retiring, Lytle returned to his hometown of Fremont, Ohio, to raise his family, and he served as vice president at Old Fort Banking Company. He was active with the NFF Michigan Chapter, and he volunteered with many organizations, including Head Start, the March of Dimes and the Special Olympics. Tragically, Lytle passed away at the age of 56 on Nov. 20, 2010, following a heart attack. He was posthumously inducted into the University of Michigan Hall of Honor in 2012.

Lytle becomes the 30th Wolverine to be inducted, joining Albert Benbrook (1908-10), Dave Brown (1972-74), Anthony Carter (1979-82), Bob Chappuis (1942, 1946-47), Tom Curtis (1967-69), Dan Dierdorf (1968-70), Bump Elliott (1946-47), Pete Elliott (1945-48), Benny Friedman (1924-26), Tom Harmon (1938-40), Willie Heston (1901-04), Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch (1943), Desmond Howard (1989-91), Ron Johnson (1966-68), Harry Kipke (1921-23), Ron Kramer (1954-56), Jim Mandich (1967-69), Johnny Maulbetsch (1914-16), Reggie McKenzie (1969-71), Harry Newman (1930-32), Bennie Oosterbaan (1925-27), Merv Pregulman (1941-43), Germany Schulz (1904-05, 1907-08), Neil Snow (1898-1901), Ernie Vick (1918-21), Bob Westfall (1939-41), Albert Wistert (1940-42), Alvin Wistert (1946-49) and Francis Wistert (1931-33).

Six coaches with stops in Ann Arbor are in the Hall: Lloyd Carr (1995-2007), Fritz Crisler (1938-47), George Little (1924), Bo Schembechler (1969-89), Tad Wieman (1927-28) and Fielding Yost (1901-23, 1925-26).

Including the 2015 class, only 963 players and 209 coaches have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame from the nearly 5.12 million people who have played or coached the game over the past 147 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 2015 College Football Hall of Fame Class will be officially inducted at the 58^th NFF Annual Awards Dinner, held at New York City’s historic Waldorf Astoria Hotel on Tuesday, Dec. 8. This year’s College Football Hall of Fame Class includes: Trev Alberts (Nebraska), Brian Bosworth (Oklahoma), Bob Breunig (Arizona State), Sean Brewer (Millsaps [Miss.]), Ruben Brown (Pittsburgh), Wes Chandler (Florida), Thom Gatewood (Notre Dame), Dick Jauron (Yale), Clinton Jones (Michigan State), Lincoln Kennedy (Washington), the late Rob Lytle (Michigan), Michael Payton (Marshall), Art Still (Kentucky), Zach Thomas (Texas Tech), Ricky Williams (Texas) and coaches Bill Snyder (Kansas State) and Jim Tressel (Youngstown State, Ohio State). For more information, please contact Will Rudd at wrudd@footballfoundation.com or by calling 972.556.1000.

Remaining Scheduled 2015 NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salutes
Presented by Fidelity Investments
(Chronological Order)

The 2015 season marks the sixth 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 will be presented for the 26^th time in 2015. 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 $5.1 trillion, including managed assets of $2.0 trillion as of August 31, 2015, we focus on meeting the unique needs of a diverse set of customers: helping more than 24 million people invest their own life savings, nearly 20,000 businesses manage employee benefit programs, as well as providing nearly 10,000 advisory firms with technology solutions to invest their own clients’ money. Privately held for nearly 70 years, Fidelity employs 42,000 associates who are focused on the long-term success of our customers. For more information about Fidelity Investments, visit https://www.fidelity.com/about.

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 FootballMatters.org, the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, The William V. Campbell Trophy presented by Fidelity Investments, annual scholarships of more than $1.3 million and a series of initiatives to honor the legends of the past and inspire the leaders of the future. NFF corporate partners include the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Fidelity Investments, Herff Jones, New York Athletic Club, Pasadena Tournament of Roses, PrimeSport, SKP, the Sports Business Journal and Under Armour. Learn more at www.footballfoundation.org.