Atlanta, GA – Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer of BYU and national championship coaches Jimmy Johnson and Phillip Fulmer were enshrined into the College Football Hall of Fame on Wednesday.
A total of 14 players and three coaches from the Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly I-A) were selected for enshrinement.
Joining Detmer among players are quarterbacks Steve Bartkowski from California and Tommy Kramer of Rice, running backs Charles Alexander of LSU, Otis Armstrong from Purdue, wide receiver Art Monk of Syracuse, Notre Dame tight end Dave Casper, offensive linemen Jonathan Ogden of UCLA and John Wooten of Colorado, split end Hal Bedsole of Southern California, defensive tackle Gabe Rivera of Texas Tech, Kansas State linebacker Mark Simoneau and defensive backs Greg Myers of Colorado State and Scott Thomas of Air Force.
Johnson, who coached at Miami-Florida and Oklahoma State, and Tennessee's Fulmer will be joined by Texas A&M's R.C. Slocum as coaches in this year's class.
Detmer won the 1990 Heisman Trophy and was twice a consensus All-American from 1988-91 at BYU. He finished his career with 15,031 passing yards and 121 touchdowns -- both NCAA bests at the time -- and still holds nine NCAA records.
The sixth Cougar inducted into the Hall, Detmer helped BYU to three conference championships and a record of 37-13-2. He went on to play 14 seasons in the NFL with the Packers, Eagles, 49ers, Browns, Lions and Falcons.
Johnson spent five seasons as head coach at Oklahoma State, then went on to a highly-successful five-year run at Miami-Florida. The Hurricanes were 52-9 under Johnson with five New Year's Day bowl appearances, and his 1987 squad won the national championship with a 20-14 victory over Oklahoma in the 1988 Orange Bowl.
A member of Arkansas' national championship team as a player in 1964, he posted an overall collegiate record of 81-34-3 from 1979-88. He left for the NFL in 1989 and guided the Dallas Cowboys to a pair of Super Bowl titles. In addition to his five-year stint with Dallas, Johnson also coached the Miami Dolphins from 1996-99.
Fulmer was the head coach at Tennessee from 1992-2008, a 17-year tenure highlighted by the school's sixth national championship in 1998. He led the Volunteers to a record of 152-52 with 15 bowl appearances and a pair of SEC titles.
Bartkowski is the 16th Cal player selected for the Hall of Fame. He led the nation in passing with 2,580 yards in his senior year of 1974 and was then the first pick of the 1975 NFL Draft. Bartkowski was the league's top rookie with the Falcons and played 11 seasons with Atlanta and one year with the Rams.
Kramer was fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting during his senior season of 1976 at Rice when he led the nation with 3,317 passing yards and 3,272 yards of total offense while earning Southwest Conference Player of the Year honors. He was a first-round pick by the Vikings in the 1977 draft and played 14 years in the NFL.
Alexander, the eighth LSU player inducted into the Hall, left LSU after the 1978 season as the SEC's all-time leader in rushing attempts, yards and touchdowns. He ran for 1,172 yards and 14 touchdowns in his senior season of 1978 and went on to a seven-year pro career with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Armstrong was the Big Ten MVP as a senior at Purdue in 1972 and was eighth in that year's Heisman Trophy balloting. His 3,315 career rushing yards set school and conference records at the time. He was a first-round pick of the Denver Broncos in 1973, led the NFL in rushing in 1974 and helped the franchise to its first Super Bowl after the 1977 season.
Monk, a Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee in 2008, was the top player in the East as a freshman in 1976 and again as a senior in 1979. He led Syracuse in receiving for three straight seasons and helped the school to its first bowl win in 13 years with a 31-7 victory over McNeese State in the 1979 Independence Bowl. A first-round pick of Washington in 1980, Monk spent 14 seasons with the Redskins, winning three Super Bowl titles, and one year with the Jets.
Casper, the 44th Notre Dame player chosen for the Hall, was the Irish's offensive MVP during his senior season of 1973 when he led the school to a national championship. He went on to play 11 seasons in the NFL with Oakland, Houston and Minnesota, earning four Pro Bowl berths, a Super Bowl title with the Raiders and selection to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2002.
Ogden, the 1995 Outland Trophy winner and a unanimous All-American in his senior year, is the 11th UCLA member of the Hall of Fame. He was a four-year starter at left tackle, then played 12 seasons with the Baltimore Ravens. An 11-time Pro Bowl selection, he helped Baltimore to the Super Bowl title after the 2000 season.
Wooten, selected by the veterans' committee, was a 1958 All-American at Colorado. The Buffaloes had one of the nation's top rushing attacks during his three seasons, during which the school was 20-9-2 and beat Clemson in the 1957 Orange Bowl. He played 10 seasons in the NFL with Cleveland and Washington.
Bedsole helped USC to the 1962 national championship and is the 30th Trojan to enter the Hall. He caught 33 passes for 827 yards with 11 touchdowns during an All-America senior season of '62, capping the record-setting year with a pair of TD catches in the 1963 Rose Bowl win over Wisconsin.
Rivera, nicknamed Senor Sack, averaged 80 tackles per season from 1979-82 at Texas Tech and was a consensus All-American his senior year when he compiled 62 solo stops, 43 assists, 10 tackles for loss and five sacks. After being chosen with the 21st pick in the 1983 draft, his promising NFL career with the Pittsburgh Steelers was cut short in his rookie year by a car accident that left him a paraplegic.
Simoneau was a two-time All-America during his career from 1996-99 at Kansas State and holds the school record with 251 career unassisted tackles. He was the 1999 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and helped the Wildcats to a record of 42-7 before going on to an 11-year NFL career with Atlanta, Philadelphia, New Orleans and Kansas City.
Myers was the 1995 Jim Thorpe Award winner as the nation's top defensive back and was a four-time All-WAC selection. He was also a three-time All-WAC pick as a return specialist.
Thomas notched 221 career tackles with 10 interceptions while averaging 28.8 yards per kickoff return from 1982-85 at Air Force. He helped the Falcons to their first WAC title during his senior season as well as a record of 7-1 against Army and Navy with three Commander-in-Chief trophies.
Slocum led Texas A&M to a record of 123-47-2 from 1989-2002 and is the winningest coach in Aggie history. His teams produced a Southwest Conference record of 28-0-1 from 1991-94 and three titles. He also led the Aggies to 11 bowl games, including five New Year's Day appearances.
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