Small-college standouts reach the end-all zone

Sporting News, The, June 3, 1996 by Ivan Maisel

The National Football Foundation has been racing through the past few years trying to bring the College Football Hall of Fame into the 20th century before we reach the 21st. With the announcement of the first small-college class to be inducted, the Hall has completed a long journey back to relevance.

For too long, the foundation has been nothing more than football's version of the John Birch Society, injecting politics into what should be nothing more than a celebration of a sport. Last year, the foundation rectified an old wrong by inducting Jim Brown and Paul Robeson, two outstanding players who had been left out because they had been bold enough to speak their minds.

The foundation's once-feeble attempt to celebrate the game's legacy also has been changed. The new Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind., is a tremendous addition to the nation's sports museums. Now. the luminance of the names included in the first small-college class explain how large an omission the Hall had made.

For example, Terry Bradshaw of Louisiana Tech, Buck Buchanan of Grambling and Walter Payton of Jackson State already have been inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Other new members include backs Billy "White Shoes" Johnson of Widener and Wilbert Montgomery of Abilene Christian, quarterback Neil Lomax of Portland State, guard Tyrone McGriff of Florida A&M, linebackers Gary Reasons of Northwestern (La.) State and Jim Younghlood of Tennessee Tech and defensive end Vern Den Herder of Central (Iowa) College.

"Playing in Division III. there is no national coverage," says Den Herder. who returned to Iowa to farm after his career with the Dolphins. "There are two feelings--one of pricle in being selected, particularly in the inaugural selection. And it's kind of humbling. I'm go ing to enter with some of the great names in the NFL." Lomax, who has a sports-promotion business in Oregon, says, "To me, (the small-college wing) is going to open the floodgates to the kinds of players who dominated their leagues."

Of the four coaches to be inducted, only Edgar Sllerman of Muskingum College is alive. The posthumous inductees are Harold Burry of Westminster, Gil Steinke of Texas A&I and Lee Tressel of Baldwin-Wallace. All have been worthy of recognition for years. Foundation vice president Dave Torromeo says the organization failed to react when the NCAA split into its current division format in the fate '70s.

The players who haven't been selected shouldn't feel slighted. The foundation had trouble getting nominations from small-college schools. The publicity surrounding the first class should take care of that. l he sheer volume of outstanding players who starred at black colleges in the postwar, pre-integration years will keep the foundation busy for years to come.

The induction of the players on August 17 will be among the most noteworthy in the Hall's history. It's about time the foundation got with it.

Down and out

On the day last week that Randy Moss had been scheduled to appear before a West Virginia judge to hear if his probation would be revoked, Florida State kicked the freshman receiver off the team. Moss tested positive during a random drug test last month while in a work-release program to serve a 30-day sentence for misdemeanor battery. "The level of talent cannot dictate the level of consequence regarding decisions on discipline and participation," Florida State athletic director Dave Hart says. "I have always believed and told student athletes that participation on a team is not a right; it's a privilege."

Oh, if those words only could be stamped on the forehead of every Nebraska freshman player.