IRVING, Texas  (Sept. 3, 2015) – Kansas State and The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame announced today that they will jointly honor Coach Bill Snyder with an NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute, presented by Fidelity Investments, this Saturday, Sept. 5, in Manhattan, Kan., just prior to the kickoff of the game between Kansas State and South Dakota. Coverage of the game will start at 7:10 p.m. ET on K-StateHD.TV.

“Obviously this is a very humbling honor, and I am certainly grateful to those who nominated me, those who voted for me and for Steve Hatchell and the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame for all they have done for our remarkable game of college football,” Coach Snyder said at the January press conference announcing the 2015 Class. “It is, however, not a one-person honor but one for a large collection of wonderful people who have had a major impact on our program and any successes that I may have had.”

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.

“Bill Snyder’s name has become synonymous with coaching success,” said NFF President and CEO Steve Hatchell. “The job he has done at Kansas State turning the football program into a perennial national contender and his longevity as a head coach are truly remarkable. We are thrilled to honor him in front of the Wildcat faithful at the stadium that bears his name.”

The “architect of the greatest turnaround in the history of college football,” Bill Snyder became the winningest coach in Kansas State history while continuing to lead the program to national prominence during his 23 years as head coach from 1989-2005 and 2009-present. He becomes only the fourth coach to earn induction into the College Football Hall of Fame while still actively heading a program, joining Bobby Bowden (Samford [Ala.], West Virginia, Florida State), John Gagliardi (Carroll [Mont.], Saint John's [Minn.]) and Joe Paterno (Penn State). Entering the 2015 season, Snyder's head coaching record stands at 187-94-1 (66.5%).

The 14^th fastest coach in college football history to win 100 games, Snyder has led Kansas State to two Big 12 Championships and 16 of the school’s 18 bowl appearances, including 11-straight from 1993-2003. He is a three-time Big Eight and four-time Big 12 Coach of the Year, and he took home almost every major college football coaching award after the 1998 season, including those presented by Walter Camp and the Associated Press. Leading Kansas State to top 20 finishes 12 times, Snyder has coached College Football Hall of Famer Mark Simoneau along with 26 First Team All-Americans, seven First Team Academic All-Americans, five NFF National Scholar-Athletes and two Heisman Trophy finalists during his time in Manhattan, Kan.

Snyder is the chairman of the Kansas Mentors Council and the Kansas Leadership Council, and he serves on the boards or councils of many organizations, including the KSU Foundation Board of Trustees and the Terry C. Johnson Cancer Research Center. He has been awarded many awards for his civic service, including the 2006 Kansas Community Service and Kansan of the Year Awards, and he has received Lifetime Achievement Awards from Austin College (Texas), the Kansas City Sports Commission and William Jewell College (Mo.). 

The Saint Joseph, Mo., native began his coaching career in the high school ranks, and he served as an assistant coach at Southern California, North Texas and Iowa before becoming the head coach at Kansas State. He is a member of the Kansas State Athletics, Missouri, Kansas, Austin College (Texas) and Holiday Bowl Halls of Fame. In 2006, Kansas State honored Snyder by renaming its stadium Bill Snyder Family Stadium, and the school unveiled a statue of him at the stadium in 2013. Snyder was a three-year letterman at wide receiver for William Jewell (Mo.)

Snyder becomes the third Wildcats coach to be inducted, joining Charlie Bachman (1920-27) and Lynn “Pappy” Waldorf (1934). Two former Kansas State players are also enshrined in the Hall: Mark Simoneau (1996-99) and Gary Spani (1974-77).

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 $5.3 trillion, including managed assets of $2.1 trillion as of July 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.