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I attended tonight the annual College Hall of Fame/National Football Foundation dinner at the Waldorf Astoria with 2000 of my closest friends (99 percent of whom I did not know). I arrived late (due to the December traffic mess in Manhattan), and therefore got the worst seat at the table (with my back to the dais). However, Floyd Little apparently arrived just before I did, so I lucked out and he was my random dinner partner.
Art Monk was one of the inductees into the HOF, and Ryan Nassib was one of 15 finalists for the national scholar/athlete of the year award. Ryan did not win, but the Alabama lineman who did was very impressive… 4.0 GPA and a great extemporaneous speaker.
The Grand Ballroom was festooned with banners from all the NCAA football schools (all divisions), and schools like Fordham were given as much prominence as Notre Dame. Actually, the Fordham banner was right in front of our table, and I never saw the ND one. The Syracuse banner was one of 20 prominently displayed over the stage. That was cool.
Oddest moment of the night: There was a silent slide show (like at the Oscars) of all the prominent college football people who died during the year. Everyone got one slide …. until they got to Joe Paterno… who got six slides!! Some guys at next table (obviously PSU folks) started to cheer. They were quickly stared down. Their cheering was so inappropriate. Nice touch: all the people in the slide show … were former players, coaches and athletic directors…. Except for Arnie Burdick… long time sports writer at the Post Standard who covered SU football for almost 50 years. Floyd, who was very fond of Arnie, thought that was seriously cool….. as did I.
Highlight of the evening to me was the presentation to Roscoe Brown of the Foundation's lifetime achievement award. Roscoe, who played football at Springfield College 70 years ago, is one of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen and former president of Bronx Community College. His video, and his talk about the progress of race relations in college sports during the past 70 years… was “Oh, Wow.” I hope it is on YouTube someplace.
The attendees at this annual event are an amazing who’s who in college football … past and present. You name him, he was there. Example: in the crowded lobby, a large person inadvertently stepped on my foot. He profusely apologized. It was Hal Bledsoe, one of tonight’s HOF inductees. It was that kind of evening.
Doug and Helen Marrone both seemed very relaxed and happy. In fact I have never seen Doug so relaxed. I hope that means he is thinking good thoughts about the Pinstripe Bowl.
Art Monk was one of the inductees into the HOF, and Ryan Nassib was one of 15 finalists for the national scholar/athlete of the year award. Ryan did not win, but the Alabama lineman who did was very impressive… 4.0 GPA and a great extemporaneous speaker.
The Grand Ballroom was festooned with banners from all the NCAA football schools (all divisions), and schools like Fordham were given as much prominence as Notre Dame. Actually, the Fordham banner was right in front of our table, and I never saw the ND one. The Syracuse banner was one of 20 prominently displayed over the stage. That was cool.
Oddest moment of the night: There was a silent slide show (like at the Oscars) of all the prominent college football people who died during the year. Everyone got one slide …. until they got to Joe Paterno… who got six slides!! Some guys at next table (obviously PSU folks) started to cheer. They were quickly stared down. Their cheering was so inappropriate. Nice touch: all the people in the slide show … were former players, coaches and athletic directors…. Except for Arnie Burdick… long time sports writer at the Post Standard who covered SU football for almost 50 years. Floyd, who was very fond of Arnie, thought that was seriously cool….. as did I.
Highlight of the evening to me was the presentation to Roscoe Brown of the Foundation's lifetime achievement award. Roscoe, who played football at Springfield College 70 years ago, is one of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen and former president of Bronx Community College. His video, and his talk about the progress of race relations in college sports during the past 70 years… was “Oh, Wow.” I hope it is on YouTube someplace.
The attendees at this annual event are an amazing who’s who in college football … past and present. You name him, he was there. Example: in the crowded lobby, a large person inadvertently stepped on my foot. He profusely apologized. It was Hal Bledsoe, one of tonight’s HOF inductees. It was that kind of evening.
Doug and Helen Marrone both seemed very relaxed and happy. In fact I have never seen Doug so relaxed. I hope that means he is thinking good thoughts about the Pinstripe Bowl.
