D1 College Football News

May 28 , 2007

Source: The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, Inc.


NFF College Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival Announced

The National Football Foundation's (NFF) College Football Hall of Fame will enshrine 20 of the game's greatest players and coaches in South Bend, Ind. as the finale for the Hall's Enshrinement Festival. Festival events kick off July 6 and continue through the Enshrinement Dinner & Show on July 21. For more information and updates regarding the College Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival, visit www.collegefoot ball.org.

Two-Minute Drill

1994 NFF College Hall of Famer Vince Dooley underwent surgery in his throat and vocal chords last week and is resting at home... The ninth annual Bartrum-Brown Football Camp for first-eighth graders in the Huntington, W.Va., area featured former Marshall standouts Mike Bartrum and Troy Brown as well as a cavalcade of Thundering Herd coaches (including NFF Board member Jack Lengyel) and NFL standouts... Texas A&M head coach Dennis Franchione was joined by six previous Aggies' mentors from 1958-2004 in a special Aggie Coaches for Charity fundraiser in Houston. The event raised $450,000 total and over $275,000 for Franchione's charitable foundation. Attending were A&M mentors Jim Myers , Gene Stallings, Emory Bellard, Tom Wilson, Jackie Sherrill and R.C. Slocum... Washington student-athletes are slated to visit area elementary schools for the "Blitz the Sound" program to discuss staying in school, reading programs and physical education classes... North Carolina and NFL standout Dre' Bly has donated $2,500 each to the Jason K. Ray Memorial Fund (late UNC mascot killed in a pedestrian accident) and the Sweet Melissa Foundation for organ donation awareness... Former Columbia WR Matthew Fox and Temple FB Dr. Bill Cosby delivered 2007 commencement addresses at their alma maters... Colorado and Hawai'i have agreed to a four-year series from 2010-13... The City of Dallas has guaranteed Oklahoma and Texas $425,000 annually in the extension of their contract at Cotton Bowl Stadium... Baylor and Notre Dame are in negotiations to play a neutral site contest in 2012 at Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas or Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas... Texas-San Antonio, making plans for a possible football program, just completed a 101-page self-study of its athletics program developed by a 30- person select committee... South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier is the keynote speaker for June's National Association of Athletics Development Directors convention in Orlando... 2006 College Football Hall of Famer Charlie Ward joins Washington head coach Tyrone Willingham as chief clinicians at the Black Coaches Association Youth Development Sports Clinic in Miami Gardens, Fla... Former Michigan standouts Brian Griese and Steve Hutchinson hosted the recent Champions for Children's Hearts celebrity golf tourney to benefit children's charities... 1998 NFF Chris Schenkel Award recipient Max Falkenstien of Kansas is hosting "Moments With Max" on KU broadcasts with some of his favorite recollections from a 60-year career behind the mike for the Jayhawks.

The New York Yankees made a $1 million donation to the Virginia Tech Students and Families Memorial Fund last week and announced an exhibition game between the Yankees and VT's squad next spring in Blacksburg. All proceeds will be donated to the memorial fund. Tech AD Jim Weaver joined president Dr. Charles Steger, among others, for the check presentation at Yankee Stadium last week to a standing ovation by fans.

Clemson head football coach Tommy Bowden will receive the West Virginia Chapter's Frank Loria Award at the group's annual scholar-athlete luncheon on June 23. The award is named after College Hall of Famer Frank Loria (Virginia Tech) who was killed in the Marshall football team plane crash on Nov. 14, 1970. Frank was serving as a Marshall assistant football coach at the time of his death... Coastal Carolina WR Anthony Franklin has won the prestigious 2006-07 Christenberry Award from the Big South Conference for four-year academic excellence... TCU's Jeff Ballard, SMU's Darrin Johnson, Iowa State's Austin Flynn, and Michigan's Brian Thompson are among the standouts selected for the Team USA squad at the 2007 World Championship of American Football on July 7-15 in Kawasaki, Japan. It is the first appearance by a U.S. all-star squad in the world title meet.

Oklahoma State is in the early construction phases for a campus-wide athletics' facilities update after $270 million in private donations over the last three years... Iowa is projecting a final season tickets' sale of 40,000 - almost the same as pre-2006 figures... Miami (Fla.) is contemplating a decision within the next month to move its games from the Orange Bowl to Dolphins Stadium... Minnesota is making several presenting sponsorships available to help fund its new $288 million on-campus TCF Bank Stadium.

Arkansas-Little Rock director of athletics Chris Peterson had his contract extended... Montana State has appointed a search committee in its quest for a new permanent head football coach... NCAA Football has selected Jeremy Boyce as executive director of its new youth football programs in the New Orleans area.

The 2007-08 bowl schedule has been released with the same 32 FBS postseason games and sites as the 2006-07 campaign. The festivities begin on Dec. 20, 2007, with the San Diego County Poinsettia Bowl and finish on Jan. 7, 2008, with the BCS Championship in New Orleans, La... The Big 12 Conference announced future Dr Pepper Football Championship sites as Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City in 2008 and Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, in 2009 and '10. The circuit also announced a $106 million total disbursement for members from 2006-07 revenues.

XM Satellite Radio has inked a multi-year radio rights' agreement with the Bowl Championship Series and Fox Sports for the BCS Championship and the four other BCS bowl tussles... ESPN has acquired the Colorado-Florida State primetime telecast on Sept. 15 and will televise five more primetime games involving Big 12 Conference teams... New Mexico State may stream as many as 45 live athletics' events for 2007-08 with its new Aggie Vision... Northern Colorado has signed a long- term marketing agreement with Collegiate Licensing Co.

Marine Lt. Gen. Duane A. Willis, 68, who was a center at UCLA in 1959 and '60, died last week. He flew over 600 combat missions during the Vietnam conflict.

Last Saturday, May 26, would have marked the 100th birthday of celebrated Hollywood actor John Wayne, who received the NFF's Gold Medal in 1973. Wayne, who played football at Southern California, frequently attended the NFF's Annual Awards Dinners.