College Football weekly news and notes

-Courtesy of the National Football Foundation

Two Hall of Famers Pass Away Last Week

College Football Hall of Famers Buddy Dial (Rice) and Jerry Groom (Notre Dame) died last week. Dial, 71, and Groom, 78, both passed away on Friday, Feb. 29.

Dial was an All-America and All-Southwest Conference end during three record-setting seasons at RU from 1956-58. He led Hall of Fame coach Jess Neely's squad to the '57 SWC title and played in the Cotton Bowl, making the bowl's all-star team. In 1958, he caught 19 passes, averaging 14 yards per reception, and was named team co-captain and MVP. He was a prominent businessman in Tomball (near Houston) for several years and was twice selected to the Pro Bowl while in the NFL. He was born in Ponca City, Okla., and starred at Magnolia (Texas) High School.

Groom was a three-year starter at center and linebacker for Hall of Fame coach Frank Leahy's teams from 1948-50. He led the Irish to a national title in 1949 and was named team captain en route to garnering consensus All-America laurels the following season. Groom was named to the Pro Bowl in 1954 while playing for the Chicago Cardinals and later served as vice president for Levi Strauss & Co. Originally from Des Moines, Iowa, he was a standout football and baseball player at Dowling High School.

NFF News

College Football Hall of Famer and NFF Board member Willie Lanier received regional and national kudos for interviews with Comcast Sports Net/Mid-Atlantic and WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C., as he promoted the "Blood, Sweat and Tears: A History of Black College Football" exhibit at the College Hall of Fame to commemorate Black History Month.

Chef Gordon Ramsay entertained guests in the College Football Hall of Fame's Stadium Theater last week, as the cast and of Fox's "Kitchen Nightmares" reality show were taping in South Bend, Ind. Celebrity chef Ramsay revamped J Willy's Bar and Grille in the city and joined the Hall of Fame in hosting over 100 people last Wednesday. The owners and staff of J Willy's joined Ramsay as they introduced ribs as its new signature item and also debuted its special barbeque sauce, which was available for all the attendees to taste.

The NFF National Capital Region Chapter will host its second scholar Athlete Banquet on Sunday, Apr. 6, at the Army-Navy Country Club in Arlington, Va. The keynote speaker will be Richmond head coach Mike London, and high school scholar- athletes will be honored. The chapter also will recognize Contribution to Amateur Football awardees coach Dr. Bill Ramseyer of Virginia- Wise and Wilmington (Ohio) and Pepper Rodgers, former Kansas, UCLA and Georgia Tech head coach.

Other upcoming NFF Chapter scholar-athlete banquets include: Middle Tennessee (Nashville, Tenn.), Orange County (Anaheim, Calif.) and Pasadena, Calif. - all on Tuesday, Mar. 4; Sacramento Valley (Sacramento, Calif.), Baltimore, Md., and Springfield, Ohio - all on Wednesday, Mar. 5; Passaic County (North Hale, N.J.) on Thursday, Mar. 6; Toledo and Tri- Cities (Johnson City, Tenn.) on Mar. 10; San Fernando (Studio City, Calif.) and Essex County (West Orange NJ.) on Mar. 11; Los Angeles on Mar. 14; and Wyoming (Casper) on Mar. 15.

Former Ivy League Standouts Featured in New Documentary

For Love & Honor Productions has completed the documentary, "Eight: Ivy League Football and America," an original feature-length documentary film (TRT 96 minutes). A world premiere, hosted by the Ivy Football Association, will be held on Thursday, Apr. 24, 2008, at the Yale Club in New York City.

"Eight," which tells the history of Ivy League football from its earliest days to the present, is narrated by two- time Tony Award-winning actor Brian Dennehy (Columbia '60). It also features interviews with Academy Award-winning actor Tommy Lee Jones (Harvard '69), College Football Hall of Fame coach from Penn State Joe Paterno (Brown '50), ESPN anchor Chris Berman (Brown '77), General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt (Dartmouth '78), former Secretary of State George Shultz (Princeton '42), College and Pro Football Hall of Famer Chuck Bednarik (Penn '49), four-time Pro Bowl running back Calvin Hill (Yale '69), Chicago Bears' star Dan Jiggetts (Harvard '76), College Football Hall of Famer and Heisman Trophy winner Dick Kazmaier (Princeton '52), College Football Hall of Famer Ed Marinaro (Cornell '72), Intuit chair and NFF Board member Bill Campbell (Columbia '62), and many others.

Two-Minute Drill

Lamar's and Texas State University System regents have approved the return of football at the university for 2010... Marist will join the Pioneer Football League in 2009... Hawaii's initial season ticket sales for 2008 are approaching record numbers after the school's first BCS appearance in the Allstate Sugar Bowl... Massachusetts will add permanent lighting to McGuirk Stadium for 2008... Florida State received one of 57 national awards from the National Consortium for Academics & Sports at the group's annual conference in Orlando after donating game tickets to 156,750 youngsters in the Tallahassee area and providing 5,339 community volunteer hours by FSU student-athletes in 2006-07... Elon recently celebrated the academic and athletics accomplishments at its "The Night of the Phoenix" with host Roy Firestone and a sold- out turnout... Oregon director of athletics Pat Kilkenny and his wife, Stephanie, are giving $1 million to academic programs at the university. An additional $500,000 will go to academics this year and next, as Kilkenny has declined his salary... 2009 retiring Ivy League commissioner Jeff Orleans was the subject of a complimentary retrospective in the New York Times... New College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) executive director John Humenik has outlined part of a master plan for the 2,300-member organization in a story in the NCAA News... Texas State is naming its Athletic Administration Annex after alumnus and benefactor Darren Casey... Mike Byrne of Delaware has been named co-Student-Athlete of the Year for the Colonial Athletic Association... St. Francis (Ind.) QB Jeff Wedding was awarded the NAIA-CTSA "All That's Right in Sport" Award for ability, sportsmanship, academics and leadership.

James Madison has extended head coach Mickey Matthews' contract through the 2012 season... Connecticut's Randy Edsall had his football pact extended through 2012 as well, and Edsall also has been chosen for the Board of Directors of the American Football Coaches Association... Alabama named Kevin Steele associate head coach in charge of defense and Kirby Smart defensive coordinator... Doug Nussmeier has been selected as offensive coordinator at Fresno State... Dr. Jim Phillips is leaving Northern Illinois to become director of athletics at Northwestern... Bruce Benson, a solid promoter of athletics in Colorado and throughout the Rockies, has been named as the University of Colorado's 22nd president. He succeeds Vietnam veteran and CU grad Hank Brown, who presided over CU from 2005-08... Stanford named Jim Young of senior assistant athletics director of media relations. He replaces longtime Stanford asst. AD for media relations Gary Migdol, now in public relations at Stanford Hospital... Kathy Saunders has been elected as Chairman of the Cotton Bowl Athletic Association (CBAA), the sponsoring agency of the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic.

The Western Athletic Conference announced a 10-game football television schedule for 2008 on ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC (to be determined) during the season... ESPN Nation has designated Boise State's statue of liberty play in the 2007 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl as one of two finalists for the network's "Greatest Highlights" competition via ESPN.com... CBS and CBS College Sports Network are planning expanded high-definition coverage of several 2008 football events... EA Sports is sponsoring a National Mascot Challenge through internet voting for the cover of its new college football e-game CD release in 2009... Liberty Media has formed a new Liberty Sports Group concentrating on the FSN cable regionals headquartered in Seattle, Pittsburgh and Denver. LSG will be headed by president and CEO Mark Shuken...Under Armour, Inc. has inked an eight-year agreement to outfit the Hawaii football squad... CollegePressbox.com is offering extensive spring football practice updates and latest news on offseason work to members of the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and other key outlets... CSTV.com has begun a series of spring practice profiles with Auburn as the initial subject.

ESPN has released its complete Thursday night live national schedule. Matchups on the Thursday slate include N.C. State at South Carolina (ESPN) and Oregon State at Stanford (ESPN2) on Aug. 28, South Carolina at Vanderbilt on Sept. 4, North Carolina at Rutgers on Sept. 11, West Virginia at Colorado on Sept. 18, Southern California at Oregon State on Sept. 25, Pittsburgh at USF on Oct. 2, Clemson at Wake Forest on Oct. 9, Florida State at N.C. State on Oct. 16, Auburn at West Virginia on Oct. 23, USF at Cincinnati on Oct. 30, Maryland at Virginia Tech on Nov. 6, Virginia Tech at Miami (Fla.) on Nov. 13, Miami (Fla.) at Georgia Tech on Nov. 20, Texas A&M at Texas on Nov. 27 (Thanksgiving), and Louisville at Rutgers on Dec. 4.

Ted Kjolhede, football standout and athletics director at Central Michigan from 1972-84, died last week in Mt. Pleasant, Mich... Margaret Koy Kistler, 63, daughter of Texas football and baseball legend Ernie Koy, Sr. and sister of Longhorn football standouts Ernie Koy, Jr. and Ted Koy, died recently in Bellville, Texas. She was one of the first women to cover football on a regular basis in Texas and started her journalism career at the age of 13... Calvin Dale Neal, 70, Southern Arkansas football All-America, SAU coach and professor, died last Wednesday in Magnolia, Ark.