[NU Sports] FW: Quotes from the 2008 College Football Hall of Fame inductees from the Football Bowl Subdivision

Thu May 1 18:52:44 CDT 2008

Thought all of us might enjoy this news release. 
The quote from Fitz is the fourth one down.
 Go Cats!

________________________________

From: Phil Marwill [mailto:pmarwill at footballfoundation.com] 
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2008 4:47 PM
To: Abrahamson, Alan (NBC Universal)
Subject: Quotes from the 2008 College Football Hall of Fame inductees
from the Football Bowl Subdivision

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NEWS RELEASE 

NFF Contacts:

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Phil Marwill, director of communications
Mobile: 917-579-4256
Email: pmarwill at footballfoundation.com

Hillary Jeffries, director of special projects
Office: 972-556-1000
Email: hjeffries at footballfoundation.com

Bo Carter, NFF Correspondent
Office: 972-556-1000
Email: bcarter at footballfoundation.com

Quotes from the members of the 2008 FBS College Football Hall of Fame
Class 

NEW YORK, May 1, 2008 - The National Football Foundation & College Hall
of Fame captured the following quotes from the members of the 2008
College Football Hall of Fame Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly
Division I-A) Class on the day of the announcement of their induction.

TROY AIKMAN - QB, UCLA (1987-88) 
"It's an honor to be included in such an exclusive group of players and
coaches who have shaped the great tradition that college football
enjoys. College football has meant so much to the sporting history of
our country, and it means a lot to me personally. I appreciate that
legacy, and I have great respect for those who have been honored before
me. The opportunity to share this recognition with my former Cowboys
teammate Jay Novacek will make this experience all the more rewarding."

BILLY CANNON - RB, LSU (1957-59) 
"It's a great honor to be included with greats such as Paul Hornung,
Johnny Majors, Alex Karas, and many others from our era. LSU has always
been near and dear to my heart, and I know this will be a credit to the
university and the football program. Playing on the first national
championship team in 1958 and winning the Heisman Trophy in 1959 were
great thrills, and I must remember all of my teammates, trainers and
coaches who were there as well. No one person can do anything alone. It
takes many, many people to win a national championship. I am grateful
that I was able to play with those talented men. LSU has won two
national championships recently, and I hope I see them win many more.
LSU is an incredible school academically and athletically. I am deeply
honored to have been chosen and I am even prouder that I will always be
an LSU Tiger!"

JIM DOMBROWSKI - OT, Virginia (1982-85) 
"This was a surprise. You walk into the house; see a box on the table;
read the inscription on the football and the National Football
Foundation letter; and suddenly, you realize you are in the College Hall
of Fame. That is a very creative way of informing people about this
great honor. When I first went to Virginia, becoming a Hall of Famer
wasn't even a thought on the radar screen. Getting acclimated to college
and classes, surviving two-a-days and meeting all my teammates were the
primary concerns. The great thing about football is that you work hard,
play with great people and things just fall into place... I am excited
about the induction ceremonies in New York. I had the chance to go up a
few years back to see my coach George Welsh's induction, and just
hanging out with some of the football greats that I had watched as a
kid. It was pretty awesome. I am really looking forward to the entire
process."

PAT FITZGERALD - LB, Northwestern (1994- 96) 
"I am very humbled and honored to be here today. This truly is a dream
come true. My mother started me playing football in the second grade,
and we played football with kids as old as the sixth grade. I wanted to
quit, but my mother and father talked me out of it and taught me
perseverance. My high school coaches helped me get the opportunity to
play college football at Northwestern. I also am honored to be on the
board of directors of the Chicago area chapter and to assist with the
outstanding scholar-athlete program. I am glad to be part of this
wonderful class. I want to thank Coach Gary Barnett and all my position
coaches, and I still don't consider myself a special player. I was just
glad to be part of Northwestern teams that hadn't had a winning record
since 1971 and then to go 15-1 in the Big Ten Conference over two
years."

WILBER MARSHALL - LB, Florida (1980-83) 
"I was home in Florida visiting relatives when I got the news about the
Hall of Fame. I'm just excited it happened. Florida had a Ring of Honor
ceremony in Gainesville last year, and all the other players honored
were in the College Hall of Fame. I guess I was just a year early. Last
year when I was on the ballot, a lot of people wondered what was going
on with the College Hall of Fame because I was in the Pro Hall of Fame.
When you play, you have all the numbers, and the honors. You just have
to wait and be patient. I'm excited for my family and especially my
school, Florida. I've always taken the approach of you just have to
concentrate on what you need to do on and off the field. Just being in
the College Hall of Fame is enough for me. You don't know what it means
to play college football until you leave. We had a rivalry game just
about every week with Florida State, Miami, Georgia (it was literally
the top dog at the time), Tennessee, Auburn, and Alabama. We played
against future Hall of Famers and Pro Bowl players every week, and this
just caps off many good things in my career."

RUEBEN MAYES - RB, Washington State (1982-85)
"I found out about the Hall of Fame when my assistant picked up a
package addressed to me from the dean's office. I opened the box on
Monday (Apr. 28) and was thrilled to see the notification. The honor
took a few minutes to sink in because I could not believe I was inducted
into this prestigious club. I began reflecting on all the people who
helped mold my athletic career; it's a long list. I also felt honored to
represent Washington State University, a great institution. Of course, I
called my wife (20-plus years of marriage), and she was ecstatic. My two
sons, Logan (14) and Kellen (12) were also very excited about the award.
I had many great thrills in college, and the best was beating the
Washington Huskies in the Apple Cup my senior year. This whole process
has been amazing. The Hall of fame was a thought in the back of my mind,
but I never believed it would happen. I started playing football at the
age of 12 in the city league. I was one of the smaller players on the
team, but my speed made up for small stature. My parents came to the
games and encouraged me. Don Hodgins, my high school football head
football coach, also was a big influence on my football career. Garth
Link, a high school history teacher, was an assistant coach and my
weight room instructor, who taught the importance of maximizing
potential in the weight room. Gary Gagnon, my WSU running backs coach,
drilled fundamentals into me and gave me a vision to maximize my
potential in college. He reinforced the hard work ethic and a
never-give-up attitude."

RANDALL McDANIEL - OG, Arizona State (1984-87) 
"At first when I got the news about the honor, I just stared at it and
tried to believe what it said. Over the years, others would comment on
how they thought I should be in the College Hall of Fame. You never
expect it to happen to you. It is unbelievable to me and humbling to be
included in such a great group. It's always difficult for an offensive
lineman to receive an individual award. I have so many good memories of
Arizona State. My all-tie favorite was beating Michigan in the 1987 Rose
Bowl. We had amazing talent on that team, and we had a starting
offensive line of all- Arizona players. That was really special. When I
was growing up, I never imagined I would get to play football for ASU or
earn a college degree or to have the chance to make a living playing the
game I loved. I'm just thankful that my parents made me value education
and hard work. Without those, I would never have had any of these
opportunities. It's all very humbling. I actually didn't start playing
football until I was a freshman in high school. Before that I was mostly
a baseball and basketball guy. I started football and track in high
school, and the professional player I tried to be like was (College Hall
of Famer) Kellen Winslow. My biggest influence in sports was my dad, and
he always told me I was more than an athlete. He taught that I should
not let people define me. I should define myself."

DON McPHERSON - QB, Syracuse (1984-87) 
"We had the same 11 starters leave the locker room for the first game in
1987 and come out of the locker room at 11-0 to end the season. I want
to thank Steve Hatchell and Matt Sign from the National Football
Foundation and the Honors Court. What does it feel like to be a Hall of
Famer? I don't know honestly if I can answer that question today or any
time in the future. When I saw the ballot come out, I thought there is
no way that I can make it this year. The journey I was on in my years
before Syracuse was a long and difficult one, but I am honored to be
working on behalf of kids. The parents, coaches, teammates, and all the
support personnel are always such a part of the journey. I literally
played scared for 20 years and ran off the field crying when I was eight
and nine years. This means a tremendous deal to me, and this is another
opportunity to teach kids powerful things about football and life. I
trust this will carry on for us to uphold the great responsibility and
tradition of football."

JAY NOVACEK - TE, Wyoming (1982-84) 
"This isn't something that you expect from a skinny tight end on a
Wyoming team that ran the wishbone offense, but it is a great honor and
very meaningful. I am proud to be going in with my teammate and friend,
Troy Aikman... This is exciting, to say the least. It's an honor to be
the second Wyoming player ever chosen for the Hall of Fame, and I know
coach (Bob) Devaney and coach (Pat) Dye are in as Wyoming coaches, but
it really tremendous to be admitted as a player. Wyoming is a small
school with no great recruiting budgets, and I was a tight end in a
Wishbone offense in college. Who would have thought I had a chance to
make it? One thing we always tried to do at Wyoming was encourage the
younger players and to tell them to hang in against some very tough
opponents, the weather and a number of factors. When I first received
notice, I didn't realize that Troy Aikman was coming in with the same
class. Chad Hennings called me the morning of the announcement, and he
was pretty pumped about it as well. I laugh because I went from the
Wyoming Cowboys to the Dallas Cowboys as well as the Arizona Cardinals
in my NFL days... I really appreciated the way my Wyoming position coach
Tom Vaughn took extra time to work with me and make me a better blocker
and receiver. I wouldn't have been in the College Hall of Fame without
his guidance."

DAVE PARKS - SE, Texas Tech (1961-63) 
"I just want to say that this is a total team reward for my teammates at
Texas Tech. We struggled some for a few of those years while I played at
Tech and had just been admitted to the Southwest Conference. We did
build a pretty good base for those later bowl teams and the team that
almost won the SWC championship in 1967. We had to stick together
through some tough games with Texas, Texas A&M and all the rest of those
teams in the conference, and we did. I am just thrilled. This caps off
many great days of college football. It is a great day for the Parks
family and for Texas Tech. Again, I can't express enough thanks to my
teammates, all my coaches from the youth leagues to the NFL and everyone
involved with the College Football Hall of Fame."

RON SIMMONS - NG, Florida State (1977-80) 
"I was just coming home and saw the NFF box on the porch; naturally, I
thought it was someone soliciting or wanting an autograph. When I read
National Football Foundation on the address label, I dropped the two
sets of auto parts that I had in my hand, opened it and couldn't believe
it. It was like the thrill of putting my football pads on for the first
time as a kid. Coach Bobby Bowden called me a few days later with a
couple of my old teammates, and they were thrilled and happy for me. I
don't that think that I could have made it without the great competition
and rivalries we had with Florida and Miami (Fla.). We were the first
FSU team to beat Florida four straight times, and that was when Florida
State was almost unheard of nationally. I caught a lot of grief going to
Florida State after living in middle Georgia as a kid, but I wouldn't
have traded the experience for anything, and I wouldn't have been here
making the Hall of Fame without really good teammates. No one believed
in us; we just believed in ourselves. Playing Miami and Florida every
year and beating a lot of SEC and ACC teams in those years established
our program. This is indeed a great honor, I couldn't not be prouder of
it than any award I have been fortunate enough to receive."

THURMAN THOMAS - RB, Oklahoma State (1984-87)
"Wow! I just came off last year going to the Pro Football Hall of Fame,
and now this. I was just fortunate to have played with a lot of great
people at Oklahoma State. This will be a treat to see Troy Aikman again
in December in New York after we were at Canton for the Pro Football
Hall of Fame ceremonies. We had many good games at Oklahoma State, but
the one that stands out for me was our first Gator Bowl in 1984 (21-14
win over South Carolina in Jacksonville). It was my freshman year, and I
was MVP in the game. It definitely put Oklahoma State on the national
map. Jimmy Johnson had just left for Miami after being our head coach,
and Pat Jones took over and really had us ready to play. Just having the
opportunity to challenge Big Eight Conference teams like Oklahoma,
Nebraska and Colorado the rest of my career was very satisfying. Besides
Barry Sanders and some great backs in the past, we have had recent
running backs and guys who are among the national leaders almost every
year in rushing. It has been a great run, and I'm pleased to have been
part of it and being inducted into the College Hall of Fame as well."

ARNOLD TUCKER - QB, Army (1944-46) 
"This is such a wonderful honor, and I'm happy to be celebrating it at
84 years of age. Army was a challenging but very enjoyable experience.
When I finished my plebe year (freshman), the captain of the team was
Tom Lombardo, who was then the second team quarterback. Doug Kenna (a
1984 College Football Hall of Fame inductee) also was up there on the
depth chart. (Army head coach) Col. Earl Blaik personally used to tutor
all the quarterbacks at team meetings. He came on the field and assured
me 'You're my quarterback' right after the plebe game with Army. We have
been back to campus a few times and got back for a ceremony called 'The
Weekend of Champions" - a very nice reunion. I'll be honest: academics,
our schedule of drill formations, Army training, etc., came first at
West Point. You always worked hard daily, but football was important to
us. Again, the Hall of Fame notice was quite a surprise and quite
flattering. My son and daughter-in-law live with me, and I woke them up
when the package game early that morning. We had a mini-celebration; I'm
tickled pink about it. I can't wait until the induction ceremony in New
York in December. I have stayed a couple of times at the
Waldorf=Astoria, and it is quite a place. This brings back so many good
memories. College Hall of Fame member Glenn Davis and I roomed together
on trips. I distinctly remember at the end of the 1946 Michigan-Army
game, someone tried to wrest the game ball away from Glenn Davis. He
kept his composure and really could have used some strong language, but
just kept repeating: 'gee, whiz... gee, whiz... let me have the ball.'
It was such a pleasure to play on the same teams with Glenn and Doc
Blanchard... It was just an honor to play on the same teams with them."

COACH JOHN COOPER - 192-84-6 (.691) - Tulsa (1977-84), Arizona State
(1985-87), Ohio State (1988- 2000) 
"When I received the overnight shipment from the Hall of Fame, I was on
cloud nine and on top of Mt. Everest. I coached college football for 29
years. Back when I played at Iowa State, I was thinking if I was lucky I
might end up as an assistant at a high school someplace. There were so
many good memories of coaching at Tulsa, Arizona State and Ohio State. I
told my wife we're going into the Hall of Fame - all of us together with
our son and daughter. They have travelled with me and put up with some
very tough time demands. My son played for me, so I promised every
mother of every student-athlete that I coached that I would treat her
kid just like my own son. It is simply fantastic to be joining coaches
like Bear Bryant, Woody Hayes and Gen. Robert Neyland - a gentleman I
watched closely when I was growing up in Tennessee. Professionally, this
is the highest honor you can attain. It ranks up there with the 1997
Rose Bowl when our Ohio State team beat an undefeated Arizona State team
- a team that I coached before coming to OSU. I have been very fortunate
to have many good assistant coaches and to be the only coach ever to win
Rose bowls while coaching a Pacific-10 (Arizona State) and Big Ten
Conference (Ohio State) school."

COACH LOU HOLTZ - 249-132-7 (.651) - William & Mary (1969-71), North
Carolina State (1972-75), Arkansas (1977-83), Minnesota (1984-85), Notre
Dame (1986-96), South Carolina (1999-2004) 
"Congratulations to the fellow inductees and thanks to Steve Hatchell
and the Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame. How in the world
did this happen? How did I marry the wife (Beth) I married 48 years ago?
We have moved 16 times in 48 years. She is a very strong woman and a
Christian lady. I thank my uncle Lou and uncle Leo for their great
positive inspiration and letting me play the game of football. Football
teaches you about life: you persevere; you care about one another and
help one another. Woody Hayes had such a positive impact on my life. I
can never thank the people from the Ohio Valley for their influence.
When you don't show up, will people ask you why? This is pretty amazing
for a guy with a lisp and who finished in the lower half of his high
school class. I will write letters to that 70 people I worked for and
worked with for so many years tomorrow to thank them for their influence
and kindness. You miss the game; I had to tell my wife that I was coming
back into coaching at South Carolina. She supported me throughout, and
someday I want to be known as Skip Holtz's dad. He's the head coach at
East Carolina... I have great memories of all the schools where I
coached. It isn't all about talent; it's about what's inside a person,
too."

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