DALLAS, May 14, 2012 – The National Football Foundation (NFF) announced today during College Football Live on ESPN that former BYU quarterback Ty Detmer will enter the College Football Hall of Fame.
The 1990 Heisman Trophy winner was the first member of the 2012 College Football Hall of Fame Class to be revealed as a prelude to the announcement of the entire class tomorrow, which will take place from the NASDAQ MarketSite in New York City at 11:30 a.m. ET.
“Ty was a tremendous talent and an absolute legend at BYU,” said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. “He accomplished almost everything a player can do in college football, and the way he played the game was truly ahead of its time. He is a very deserving member of the College Football Hall of Fame.”
Watch Detmer on ESPN College Football Live
Fans will have three options on the internet for watching the announcement, which will be emceed by ESPN analyst Jesse Palmer. XOS Digital for the second consecutive year will produce a live stream, including highlight footage, that can watched at the NFF On Demand YouTube Channel or at the NFF's home page. Fans will also be able to watch a live stream on ESPN3.com. To help local TV stations nationwide, ESPN is also putting the entire event on satellite for the affiliates to download broadcast quality video for use during their local newscasts.
For those wishing to watch on their smart phones or tablets, XOS Digital has built the NFF iPhone and iPad applications, which can be purchased at the iTunes App Store by searching for "National Football Foundation," and SiriusXM College Sports Nation (Channel 91) will offer listeners live coverage from the NASDAQ MarketSite. Veteran broadcaster Jack Arute will host a special edition of SiriusXM's College Football Playbook from 11:00 am - 3:00 pm ET, featuring interviews with the new and previous inductees on site.
The NFF will also keep fans abreast of the announcement on Twitter (@NFFNetwork) and Facebook (Facebook.com/NFFNetwork). Finally, fans will be able to watch a recap of the class on May 15 during ESPN's College Football Live at 3:30 p.m. ET with an exclusive interview with ESPN analyst Rece Davis, who will be on site to talk with the inductees and capture their emotion about what it means to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
TY DETMER
Brigham Young University
Quarterback, 1988-91
With a Heisman Trophy, a Maxwell Award, two Davey O’Brien Awards and 59 NCAA records, Ty Detmer left BYU as one of the most accomplished quarterbacks in college football history. His accomplishments led him to be elected to the College Football Hall of Fame and become the seventh Cougar to enter the sport’s ultimate shrine.
With Detmer's induction in December, BYU's Hall of Fame Inductees will include Gifford Nielsen (1994), Marc Wilson (1996), Jim McMahon (1998), LaVell Edwards (2004), Steve Young (2005), Gordon Hudson (2009) and Ty Detmer (2012). BYU will now feature five quarterbacks in the Hall, second only to Notre Dame's nine signal callers enshrined.
Twice named a consensus All-American, Detmer won national player of the year awards from organizations such as UPI, CBS, Scripps Howard and the U.S. Sports Academy. His 15,031 career passing yards and 121 touchdowns were NCAA bests at the time, and the gunslinger still holds nine NCAA records. A three-time First Team All-WAC performer, Detmer led College Football Hall of Fame coach LaVell Edwards’ teams to three conference championships, four bowl games, three AP top 25 finishes and a 28-21 win over top-ranked and defending national champion Miami on Sept. 8, 1990. The Cougars compiled a 37-13-2 overall record during the Detmer years. The NCAA Today’s Top VI Award recipient still holds 10 school records, including the season and career marks for total offense, passing yards and 400-yard games.
A ninth round selection of the 1992 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers, Detmer played 14 seasons with the Packers, Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions and Atlanta Falcons.
The founder of the Ty Detmer Charitable Foundation, he regularly holds the Ty Detmer Youth Football League in Grants, N.M. He remains involved in the Davey O’Brien Foundation and the Children’s Miracle Network, and he makes yearly appearances at numerous fundraising events for youth organizations. A 2000 inductee of the BYU Athletics Hall of Fame, Detmer is currently the head coach at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Austin, Texas.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME FACTS
· Including the 2012 FBS class, only 914 players and 197 coaches, have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame from the nearly 4.86 million who have played or coached the game over the past 143 years. In other words, only two one-hundredths of one percent(.0002)of the individuals who have played the game have been deemed worthy of this distinction.
· Founded in 1947, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame inducted its first class of inductees in 1951. The first class included 32 players and 19 coaches, including Illinois' Red Grange, Notre Dame's Knute Rockne, Amos Alonzo Stagg and Carlisle's Jim Thorpe.
· 288 schools are represented with at least one College Football Hall of Famer.
· Induction for this class of Hall of Famers will take place December 4, 2012 at the 55th NFF Annual Awards Dinner in New York City’s historic Waldorf=Astoria.
· Click here to see the College Football Hall of Fame criteria.
About The National Football Foundation:
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 121 chapters and 12,000 members nationwide, NFF programs include the College Football Hall of Fame, the NFF Scholar-Athlete Awards, presented by Fidelity Investments, Play It Smart, the NFF Hampshire Honor Society, the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Alumni Association, and scholarships of more than $1.3 million for college and high school scholar-athletes. The NFF presents the MacArthur Bowl, the William V. Campbell Trophy, endowed by HealthSouth, and releases the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) Standings. NFF corporate partners include the Allstate Sugar Bowl, the BCS, Fidelity Investments, Herff Jones, Liberty Mutual, NCAA Football, and Under Armour. For more information, please visit www.footballfoundation.org.