IRVING, Texas (Sept. 8, 2022) – The University of Toledo and The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame announced today that they will jointly honor 2022 College Football Hall of Fame electees Coach Gary Pinkel and Chuck Ealey with an NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute, presented by Fidelity Investments®. The Salute will take place this Saturday, Sept. 10, during the Rockets' home football game against UMass. Coverage of the game will start at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
 
"Coach Gary Pinkel and Chuck Ealey are two of the most important figures in Toledo football history," said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. "Coach Pinkel remains the Rockets' all-time winningest coach while Ealey never lost a game in three seasons at Toledo's starting quarterback. We are thrilled to honor them together at the Glass Bowl for their upcoming College Football Hall of Fame induction."
 
Pinkel and Ealey join former Toledo defensive tackle Mel Long in the College Football Hall of Fame. Long, who was inducted in 1998, will also be honored during the game.
 
The NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute program, which began with the inaugural College Football Hall of Fame Class in 1951, has become a hallowed tradition, and to this day the singular events remain the first of numerous activities in the Hall of Fame experience.
 
During the NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salutes, each electee returns to his respective school to accept a Hall of Fame plaque that will stay on permanent display at the institution. The events take place on the field during a home game, and many Hall of Famers cite the experience as the ultimate capstone to their careers, providing them one more chance to take the field and be recognized in front of their home crowd.
 
The 2022 College Football Hall of Fame Class will be officially inducted during the 64th NFF Annual Awards Dinner Presented by Las Vegas on Dec. 6 at the Bellagio Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Click here for more information on the Awards Dinner, including options to purchase tickets online, special travel rates to the event from Delta Air Lines and Bellagio and a concierge service provided by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
 
Pinkel's legacy as the winningest coach in school history at both Toledo and Missouri makes him one of only three coaches to hold the distinction at two Division I programs.
 
Pinkel began his head coaching career at Toledo in 1991 and during the next 10 years he would take the Rockets to new heights, winning 65.9 percent of his games and amassing a 73-37-3 record, the most wins in school history. His nine winning seasons at Toledo included the 1995 MAC championship, with the Rockets going 11-0-1 and finishing at No. 24 in the final polls.
 
Pinkel would lead Toledo to three other MAC West Division titles. In 1997, the Rockets finished 9-3, climbing as high as No. 18 in the national rankings. They repeated as division champions again in 1998 with a 7-5 record.
 
In his final season with the Rockets in 2000, the team went 10-1, including a 24-6 win at Penn State. The team finished the regular season with the MAC West Division title and ranked No. 25 in the AP Poll. He was named the MAC Coach of the Year in 1995 and 1997.
 
Pinkel would go on to coach at Missouri from 2001-15, inheriting a program that had produced just one 10-win season in school history and two winning seasons in the previous 17 years. Pinkel would transform the program, leading the Tigers to 10 winning seasons (including five years with 10 wins or more), five conference division titles, 10 bowl appearances and six bowl victories. The end result: an overall record of 118-73 and the distinction of being the school's all-time winningest coach.
 
"I had such a great experience at the University of Toledo," said Pinkel. "We ran a program with a lot of integrity and we won a lot of games. I was honored to be a part of the great tradition at Toledo. It's also a great honor for me to be inducted in the same class as Chuck Ealey, who is without a doubt one of the all-time great college football players to ever play the game."
 
Named a 1971 First Team All-American, Ealey went a remarkable 35-0 as Toledo's starting quarterback. The three-time MAC Back of the Year became the first player in conference history to receive votes for the Heisman Trophy, tallying 168 points for an eighth-place finish in 1971.
 
A three-time First Team All-MAC selection, Ealey led the Rockets to three consecutive conference titles. He guided the team to three-straight Tangerine Bowl victories, earning MVP honors in all three games.
 
A 1971 team captain, Ealey finished his career as Toledo's all-time leader with 5,275 passing yards and 45 touchdown passes, both marks that still rank in the top 10. In both 1970 and 1971, he received the team's Jim Nicholson Award.
 
Voted No. 1 on Toledo's All-Century Football Team, Ealey is one of just four players to have his number retired by the Rockets.
 
After going undrafted by the NFL, Ealey signed with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League. Taking over as the starting quarterback in 1972, he would go on to win the CFL's Most Outstanding Rookie Award and lead the Tiger-Cats to a victory in the Grey Cup, where he earned MVP honors. In total, Ealey played seven seasons in the CFL with the Tiger-Cats (1972-74), Winnipeg Blue Bombers (1974-75) and Toronto Argonauts (1975-78).
 
Following his football career, Ealey served as a financial advisor in the Toronto area. He currently serves as a consultant and public speaker, helping people of all ages discover and embrace their undefeated spirit so they can better themselves and their community.
 
He founded the Chuck Ealey Foundation, which annually awards academic scholarships to college and high school recipients of The Chuck Ealey Undefeated Spirit Award. The Chuck Ealey Foundation also provides opportunities to high school students to help build their mentoring skills while guiding underprivileged youth to discover and embrace their sense of self-worth and "undefeated spirit."
 
"I was thrilled when I heard the news," said Ealey, who was an NFF Veterans Committee selection. "I'm grateful to the selection committee, to the University of Toledo and to everybody who supported my candidacy for the Hall of Fame."
 
The 2022 College Football Hall of Fame Class includes LaVar Arrington (Penn State), Champ Bailey (Georgia), Michael Crabtree (Texas Tech), Sylvester Croom (Alabama), Mike Doss (Ohio State), Chuck Ealey (Toledo), Kevin Faulk (LSU), Moe Gardner (Illinois), Boomer Grigsby (Illinois State), Mike Hass (Oregon State), Marvin Jones (Florida State), Andrew Luck (Stanford), Mark Messner (Michigan), Terry Miller (Oklahoma State), Rashaan Salaam (Colorado), Dennis Thomas (Alcorn State), Zach Wiegert (Nebraska), Roy Williams (Oklahoma) and coaches John Luckhardt (Washington & Jefferson [PA], California [PA]), Billy Jack Murphy (Memphis) and Gary Pinkel (Toledo, Missouri).
 
The accomplishments of the 2022 Class will be forever immortalized at the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, and each inductee will receive a custom ring created by Jostens, the official and exclusive supplier of NFF rings.
 
Including the 2022 Hall of Fame Class, only 1,056 players and 226 coaches have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame from the nearly 5.62 million who have played or coached the game during the past 153 years. In other words, less than two one-hundredths of a percent (.02%) of the individuals who have played the game have earned this distinction.
 

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

 
Date – Honoree – School (Opponent)

• Sept. 10 – Chuck Ealey & Coach Gary Pinkel – Toledo (vs. UMass)
• Sept. 10 – Andrew Luck – Stanford (vs. Southern California)
• Sept. 10 – Terry Miller – Oklahoma State (vs. Arizona State)
• Sept. 17 – Zach Wiegert – Nebraska (vs. Oklahoma)
• Sept. 24 – Michael Crabtree – Texas Tech (vs. Texas)
• Sept. 24 – Rashaan Salaam* – Colorado (vs. UCLA)
• Sept. 24 – Dennis Thomas – Alcorn State (vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff)
• Oct. 1 – Boomer Grigsby – Illinois State (vs. Southern Illinois)
• Oct. 1 – Coach Gary Pinkel – Missouri (vs. Georgia)
• Oct. 8 – Coach John Luckhardt – California [PA] (vs. Indiana [PA])
• Oct. 15 – Mike Hass – Oregon State (vs. Washington State)
• Oct. 15 – Coach John Luckhardt - Washington & Jefferson [PA] (vs. Carnegie Mellon [PA])
• Oct. 22 – Sylvester Croom – Alabama (vs. Mississippi State)
• Oct. 22 – Mike Doss – Ohio State (vs. Iowa)
• Oct. 22 – Kevin Faulk – LSU (vs. Mississippi)
• Oct. 29 – LaVar Arrington – Penn State (vs. Ohio State)
• Oct. 29 – Mark Messner – Michigan (vs. Michigan State)
• Nov. 5 (tentative) – Champ Bailey – Georgia (vs. Tennessee)
• Nov. 5 – Coach Billy Jack Murphy* – Memphis (vs. UCF)
• Nov. 5 – Roy Williams – Oklahoma (vs. Baylor)
• TBD – Moe Gardner – Illinois
• TBD – Marvin Jones – Florida State

* Deceased
 
Fidelity Investments has served as the national presenting sponsor of the NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salutes since 2010. 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. Fidelity is also the presenting sponsor of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards, and it helped launch the NFF Faculty Salutes in 2011, which recognize the contributions of the faculty athletics representatives around the country.

 
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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 in 47 states, NFF programs include the selection and induction of members of the College Football Hall of Fame; the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta; Future For Football; The William V. Campbell Trophy®; the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class Presented by Fidelity Investments; the NFF National High School Academic Excellence Award; and a series of initiatives to honor the legends of the past and inspire the leaders of the future. NFF corporate partners include Catapult, Delta Air Lines, Fidelity Investments, Jostens, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, the New York Athletic Club, the Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation and the Sports Business Journal. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @NFFNetwork and learn more at footballfoundation.org.