Established | August 23, 2014 |
---|---|
Location | 250 Marietta St. NW Atlanta, Georgia 30313 |
Coordinates | 33°45′35″N84°23′42″W / 33.75972°N 84.39500°W |
Type | College sports hall of fame |
Visitors | 250,000 |
CEO | Kimberly Beaudin |
Curator | Denis Crawford |
Website | www |
The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college American football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were voted first team All-American by the media.
In August 2014, the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame opened in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. The facility is a 94,256 square feet (8,756.7 m2) attraction located in the heart of Atlanta's sports, entertainment and tourism district, and is adjacent to the Georgia World Congress Center and Centennial Olympic Park. [1]
In 1949, Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, was selected as the site for football's Hall of Fame, via a vote by thousands of sportswriters, coaches, and athletic leaders. Rutgers was chosen for the location because Rutgers and Princeton played the first game of intercollegiate football in New Brunswick on November 6, 1869. [2]
Secondary plans in 1967 [3] called for the Hall of Fame to be located at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, the location of the first contest under rules now considered to be those of modern football, between teams from Rutgers and the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University; Rutgers won 6–4. Rutgers donated land near its football stadium, office space, and administrative support. After years of collecting donations starting in 1949 for the construction of the building with ground not having been broken and no plans to do so, the New Jersey Attorney General began an investigation of the finances of the Hall of Fame's foundation, the National Football Foundation. In response, the Foundation moved its operations to New York City, where it continued to collect donations for several years.
When the New York Attorney General's office began its own investigation, the foundation moved to Kings Mills, Ohio in suburban Cincinnati, where a building finally was constructed adjacent to Kings Island in 1978. [4] [5] In choosing the site, it had been hoped that the museum could attract the same visitors attending the adjacent Kings Island amusement park, but this failed to happen. [5] The Hall opened with good attendance figures early on, but visitation dwindled dramatically as time went on and never truly met projections. [4] Attendance, which had been projected to be 300,000 annually, peaked at 80,000 per year and dwindled to 30,000 per year. [4] [5] The facility closed in 1992. [4] [5] Nearby Galbreath Field remained open as the home of Moeller High School football until 2003. [4] In 2024, Mercy Health Kings Mills Hospital opened on the site. [6] [7]
In September 1991, the National Football Foundation opened a national search for a new location, soliciting bids from cities. [5] It first started by offering bids to cities with local National Football Foundation chapters. [5] Thirty-five such cities replied, including South Bend, Indiana. [5]
The South Bend bid proposal was led by Bill Starks and Edward "Moose" Krause of the South Bend chapter of the National Football Foundation, who then approached South Bend mayor Joe E. Kernan about the concept. [5] Kernan brought the concept to the city's Project Future department, tasked with bringing new attractions to the city to assist its economic development. [5] Patrick McMahon, Project Future's executive director, collaborated with over a hundred people to craft a proposal for South Bend to host the Hall of Fame, which was presented to the National Football Foundation in November 1992. [5] The proposal slated for a $14 million facility to be constructed in South Bend's downtown. [5] Several sites in the city had been explored, such as a site near the Indiana Toll Road and various sites in the city's downtown, but a location near Century Center was the top choice. [5]
On July 13, 1992, William Pearce, chairman of the National Football Foundation, made the announcement that South Bend had won the bid to host the Hall of Fame's new location. [5] South Bend had beaten out other locales, including Atlanta, Houston, the New Jersey Meadowlands, New Orleans. [5]
The new location was opened in South Bend, Indiana, on August 25, 1995. Despite estimates that the South Bend location would attract more than 150,000 visitors a year, the Hall of Fame drew about 115,000 people the first year, [8] and about 60,000 annually after that. [9]
By the late 1990s, some had already begun to criticize the Hall of Fame in South Bend as a failure, due to a lack of corporate sponsorship and poor turnout even during special events. [10]
In September 2009, Archie Manning, the chairman of the National Football Foundation, announced that the museum would be moving to Atlanta. [9] The South Bend location closed in December of 2012. [11]
In 2009, the National Football Foundation decided to move the College Football Hall of Fame to Atlanta, Georgia. The possibility of moving the museum has been brought up in other cities, including Dallas, which had the financial backing of multi-millionaire T. Boone Pickens. [12] However, the National Football Foundation ultimately decided on Atlanta for the next site. The new $68.5 million museum opened on August 23, 2014. [13] It is located next to Centennial Olympic Park, which is near other attractions such as the Georgia Aquarium, the World of Coca-Cola, CNN Center, and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. [14] [15] The Hall of Fame is located near the Georgia Institute of Technology of the ACC (home to the oldest stadium in Division I FBS, Bobby Dodd Stadium), 10 blocks from Georgia State University of the Sun Belt Conference, and roughly 70 miles (110 km) from the University of Georgia of the SEC. The new building broke ground on January 28, 2013. [16] Sections of the architecture are reminiscent of a football in shape.
The facility is 94,256 square feet (8,756.7 m2) and contains approximately 50,000 square feet (4,600 m2) of exhibit and event space, interactive displays and a 45-yard indoor football field. [17] [18] Atlanta Hall Management operates the College Football Hall of Fame. [16]
During the George Floyd Protests on May 29, 2020, the Hall of Fame was damaged and looted by protesters. [19] Hall of Fame CEO Kimberly Beaudin told ESPN that only the gift shop was looted, adding that "no artifacts or displays were damaged". [20] In 2022, civil rights icon and Pitt Hall of Famer Bobby Grier along with family and Blake Van Leer were invited for a VIP tour. Grier's football story is being made into a future film. [21] [22]
As of 2018, there are 997 players and 217 coaches enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame, representing 308 schools. [23] Thirteen players, two coaches and one inanimate object (the Goodyear Blimp) [24] were slated for induction in 2019. [25]
Institution | Players inducted |
---|---|
Notre Dame | 50 [26] |
USC | 36 [27] |
Michigan | 33 [28] |
Ohio State | 28 [29] |
Tennessee | 26 [30] |
Yale | 24 [31] |
Army | 24 [32] |
Alabama | 23 [33] |
Oklahoma | 23 [34] |
Navy | 22 [35] |
Princeton | 21 [31] |
Texas | 21[ citation needed ] |
Nebraska | 20 [36] |
Penn State | 20 [37] |
Pittsburgh | 19 [38] |
Minnesota | 19 [39] |
Harvard | 18 [40] |
Stanford | 18 [41] |
Penn | 17 [39] |
California | 16 [42] |
Georgia | 14 [43] |
Georgia Tech | 14 [44] |
Illinois | 13 [45] |
UCLA | 13[ citation needed ] |
Wisconsin | 12 [46] |
Washington | 12 [47] |
Northwestern | 11 [48] |
Purdue | 11 [49] |
NC State | 10 [50] |
SMU | 10 [51] |
Syracuse | 10 [52] [53] |
Texas A&M | 10 [54] |
Iowa | 10 [55] |
Florida State | 9 |
Arkansas | 9 [56] |
Miami | 9[ citation needed ] |
Michigan State | 9 [57] |
Florida | 9 [58] |
Auburn | 8 [59] |
Boston College | 8 [60] |
Baylor | 7 |
Missouri | 7 |
Virginia Tech | 7 [61] |
BYU | 6 [62] |
Virginia | 5 [63] |
Marshall | 5 |
Oklahoma State | 4 [64] |
Houston | 4 [65] |
Kansas State | 4 |
New Mexico | 2 |
Georgia Southern | 2 [66] |
Temple University | 1 |
Memphis | 1 |
Kansas | 1 |
The National Football Foundation outlines specific criteria that may be used for evaluating a possible candidate for induction into the Hall of Fame. [67]
The eligibility criteria have changed over time, and have occasionally led to criticism.
Vincent Joseph Dooley was an American college football coach. He was the head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs from 1964 to 1988, as well as the University of Georgia's (UGA) athletic director from 1979 to 2004. During his 25-year head coaching career, Dooley compiled a 201–77–10 record. His teams won six Southeastern Conference (SEC) titles and the 1980 national championship. After the 1980 season, Dooley was recognized as college football's "Coach of the Year" by several organizations.
The Georgia Bulldogs football program represents the University of Georgia in the sport of American football. The Bulldogs compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). They play their home games at historic Sanford Stadium on the university's Athens, Georgia, campus.
The William V. Campbell, formerly the Vincent dePaul Draddy Trophy, is awarded by the National Football Foundation to the American college football player with the best combination of academics, community service, and on-field performance. It is considered by many to be the "Academic Heisman" and nicknamed as such.
Joseph Fitzgerald Hamilton is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL), NFL Europe and Arena Football League (AFL). He played college football for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, earning consensus All-American honors and winning the Davey O'Brien Award in 1999. After his playing career ended, Hamilton became an administrator and coach. He has served as the running backs coach for Georgia State University and currently works in the recruiting department for his alma mater, Georgia Tech.
The National Football Foundation (NFF) is a non-profit organization to promote amateur American football on all levels throughout the United States and develop "the qualities of leadership, sportsmanship, competitive zeal and the drive for academic excellence in America's young people." It was founded in 1947 with early leadership from General Douglas MacArthur, longtime Army Black Knights football coach Earl Blaik and journalist Grantland Rice.
George Edkin Little was an American football player, and coach of football, basketball, and baseball, and college athletics administrator.
Bernie Hawthorne Moore was an American college football, basketball, track and field coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Mercer University (1926–1928) and Louisiana State University (LSU) (1935–1947). Moore was also the head basketball coach at Mercer (1926–1928) and the head track and field coach at LSU (1930–1947). He was then SEC commissioner from 1948 to 1966. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1952.
The Vanderbilt Commodores football program represents Vanderbilt University in the sport of American football. The Commodores compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the East Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). They are led by head coach Clark Lea. Vanderbilt plays their home games at FirstBank Stadium, located on the university's Nashville, Tennessee campus.
The Clemson Tigers are the American football team at Clemson University. The Tigers compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). In recent years, the Tigers have been ranked among the most elite college football programs in the United States.
Ronald George Polk is an American professional coach in NCAA Division I college baseball. He was a long-time head baseball coach at Mississippi State and is considered to be the "Father of Southeastern Conference Baseball." Polk compiled one of the most successful winning records, as a coach, in both MSU and Southeastern Conference history. In 31 seasons as an SEC coach he compiled a 1218-638-2 (.656) record. His career record stands at 1373-702-2. He currently ranks 9th on the all-time wins list nationally for 10+ year Division I coaches. His teams won five SEC championships and five SEC tournament championships. His teams participated in the NCAA tournament twenty-three times, and reached the College World Series eight times.
The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets baseball team represents the Georgia Institute of Technology in NCAA Division I college baseball. Along with most other Georgia Tech athletic teams, the baseball team participates in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Yellow Jackets play their home games in Russ Chandler Stadium and they are currently coached by Danny Hall.
The MacArthur Bowl is a trophy awarded annually by the National Football Foundation (NFF) to the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football team(s) that are recognized by the NFF as the National Champions for that season.
A national championship in the highest level of college football in the United States, currently the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), is a designation awarded annually by various organizations to their selection of the best college football team. Division I FBS football is the only National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sport for which the NCAA does not host a yearly championship event. As such, it is sometimes referred to as a "mythical national championship".
The 1966 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame as an independent during the 1966 NCAA University Division football season. The Irish, coached by Ara Parseghian, ended the season undefeated with a record of 9–0–1, and won a national championship. The Fighting Irish earned a consensus title after beating No. 10 Oklahoma, 38–0, in Norman, tying unbeaten and No. 2 Michigan State, 10–10, and ending the season defeating No. 10 USC, 51–0, in the Coliseum The 1966 squad became the eighth Irish team to win the national title and the first under Parseghian. The Irish outscored their opponents 362–38. The 10–10 tie between The Spartans and the Irish remains one of the controversial games of college football, and is considered today to be one of the great "games of the century".