Not to go all Hubie Brown on you here, but on Monday, “one of the great injustices we have in OUR sport was corrected”: Legendary Nebraska quarterback Tommie Frazier was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame. The quarterback who won two National Championships in four seasons as a Cornhusker will finally go into the Hall in 2013, even though he became eligible for induction back in 2006.
Better late than never, I suppose.
And on Tuesday, the National College Football Hall of Fame officially announced the rest of its class via press release.
Here is this year's list of selections.
Players:
• TED BROWN – TB, North Carolina State (1975-78)
• TEDY BRUSCHI – DE, Arizona (1992-95)
• RON DAYNE – RB, Wisconsin (1996-99)
• TOMMIE FRAZIER – QB, Nebraska (1992-95)
• JERRY GRAY – DB, Texas (1981-84)
• STEVE MEILINGER* – E, Kentucky (1951-53)
• ORLANDO PACE – OT, Ohio State (1994-96)
• ROD SHOATE (deceased) – LB, Oklahoma (1972-74)
• PERCY SNOW – LB, Michigan State (1986-89)
• VINNY TESTAVERDE – QB, Miami, Fla. (1982, 1984-86)
• DON TRULL – QB, Baylor (1961-63)
• DANNY WUERFFEL – QB, Florida (1993-96)
Coaches:
• WAYNE HARDIN – 118-74-5 (61.2%); Navy (1959-64) and Temple (1970-82)
• BILL McCARTNEY – 93-55-5 (62.4%); Colorado (1982-94)
According to the Hall, there are seven unanimous first-team All-Americans in the group, seven multi-year All-Americans, four members of National Championship teams and three Heisman Trophy winners, Wuerffel, Testaverde and Dayne. It also includes the NCAA’s all-time leading rusher (Dayne, with 6,397 career yards) and Pace, who went on to be the No. 1 pick in the 1997 NFL Draft (not that it matters for this particular exercise). McCartney is one of two coaches elected, thanks in large part to his 1990 split National Championship at Colorado.
Still, the real story here is Frazier, who overcame seven years of a fundamental lack of common sense on the Hall’s part to finally be elected this spring. Frazier was overqualified as overqualified gets for this distinction, after leading the Cornhuskers to both the 1994 and 1995 National Championships, three straight National Championship games and a 33-3 record overall as a starter.
Frazier released a statement through Nebraska thanking his teammates for the achievement:
“This is quite an honor,” Frazier said in a statement released by NU. “You never play the game and think you are going to be in the Hall of Fame one day. You just go out and try to be the best you can be and whatever happens, happens. I was fortunate that good things happened, but it certainly was not me alone. I had great teammates and coaches that played a big part in this honor.
“If we had not won all those games and two national championships, I wouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame. I was surrounded by great players at every position, and many of those guys had great careers themselves. I did have the role of being a coach on the field, but the guys around me made that much easier. With the supporting cast we had on offense, many times regardless of whether I had us in the right play or wrong play, they made it work.”
The Hall of Fame class will be inducted at the 56th NFF Annual Awards Dinner on December 10, 2013, and officially enshrined in the summer of 2014.
Follow Crystal Ball Run on Twitter @CrystalBallRun.
