Every home team in Major League Baseball honored National Football Foundation College Hall of Fame RB Jackie Robinson of UCLA last Sunday on the 65th anniversary of his modern-day integration of MLB for the Brooklyn Dodgers April 15, 1947.
College Football Notes:

NFF chairman Archie Manning (also the inspiration for Judge Archibald Manning in author John Grisham’s “The Pelican Brief”) was an honored guest at the recent NCAA Division I Basketball Final Four in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.

Happy birthdays to NFF College Hall of Famers Wilber Marshall (Apr. 18), Jack Pardee and Keith Jackson (Apr. 19), Steve Spurrier (Apr. 20), and Jim Young (Apr. 21)…

NFF College Hall of Fame Facts
Some key birthdates in NFF College Football Hall of Fame annals in the Apr. 17-23 time period are Apr. 17 (1905) Herb Joesting, Little Falls, Minn.; (1941) Bill Redell, Red Bluff, Calif.; Apr. 18 (1913) Pug Lund, Rice Lake, Wis.; (1931) Harley Sewell, St. Jo, Texas; (1962) Wilber Marshall, Titusville, Fla.; Apr. 19 (1883) Germany Schulz, Ft. Wayne, Ind.; (1892) Ernie Godfrey, Dover, Ohio; (1907) Jack Cannon, Columbus, Ohio; (1925) Chuck Klausing, Wilmerding, Ohio; (1936) Jack Pardee, Exira, Iowa; (1965) Keith Jackson, Little Rock, Ark.; Apr. 20 (1893) Murray Shelton, Dunkirk, N.Y.; (1915) Eric Tipton, Petersburg, Va.; (1926) Hub Bechtol, Amarillo, Texas; (1930) Harry Agganis, Lynn, Mass.; (1945) Steve Spurrier, Miami Beach, Fla.; Apr. 21 (1935) Jim Young, Franklin Lakes, N.J.; Apr. 22 (1902) Eddie Cameron, Manor, Pa.; (1907) Barton “Botchy” Koch, Temple, Texas; Apr. 23 (1916) Bud Wilkinson, Minneapolis, Minn.
Anniversary death dates of Hall of Famers are Apr. 18 (2005) Sam Mills, Charlotte, N.C.; Apr. 19 (2009) Felix “Doc” Blanchard, Bulverde, Texas; Apr. 21 (2005) Cliff Montgomery, Mineola, N.Y.; Apr. 23 (1950) Bill Alexander, Atlanta, Ga.

Ole Miss will host Louisiana-Lafayette on Sept. 14, 2014, as the fourth meeting in their rivalry. The Rebels added Idaho and Troy for the 2013 season along with New Mexico State in 2015 and Wofford in ‘16…Marshall and Miami (Ohio) will meet in a home-and-home series in 2013 and ’14…Notre Dame will host Massachusetts in 2015…Army will renew its series with Yale in 2014…New Mexico State and UTEP have extended their longstanding series annually through the 2016 campaign…Utah is exploring some additional options, possibly a Big Ten Conference opponent, to replace Utah State on the ’14 slate…Wyoming has placed 2012 season tickets on sale with special renewal packages…Houston unveiled a new athletics logo…Michigan’s defense was on major display at last Saturday’s spring football clash as QB Denard Robinson took a limited number of snaps…Oklahoma’s offense edged the defense, which was close to winning the specially-scored contest before a potential dropped interception (three points), 22-21 before 10,000-plus partisans over the weekend…The 2012 Purdue spring game was cancelled due to severe weather, and the squad scrimmaged indoors at the Mollenkopf Center last weekend…Head coach Urban Meyer termed Ohio State’s ninth practice of spring workouts last Wednesday the best day to date, and the Buckeyes moved Saturday with the Students drills indoors to avoid weather issues as 3,100 primarily-student attendees watched…Defending FCS champ North Dakota State had one of its best mid-spring scrimmages with head-knocking defensive activity last week…Southern California’s new McKay Center, named in memory of legendary Trojans’ coach and NFF College Hall of Famer John McKay, has been pronounced as one of the top football facilities nationally.

Fairleigh Dickinson student-athletes celebrated NCAA Division III Week by hosting The Children’s Institute of Verona, N.J., for games and student chats…St. Mary’s (Md.) athletics replicated stories from student-athlete alumni and present-day standouts for DIII Week via the official website…The St. Louis Cardinals are recognizing several colleges, universities, football programs, and student-athletes with the popular College Nights at Busch Stadium series…Salisbury (N.C.) athletics will raise funds for Special Olympics through its Survivor 5-Kilometer Run…RPI athletics hosted the regional Special Olympics Games.

Vic Shealy has been named head coach of the first-year Houston Baptist program, which begins Southland Conference football competition in 2014. HBU also is scheduled to construct a 10,000-seat campus stadium…Joe Vitt (Towson) has been named interim head coach of the New Orleans Saints…Assistant coach Taver Johnson is in charge of Arkansas’ spring practices through the spring game Saturday…Colorado will retain its entire coaching staff from last fall for 2012…Featured Tennessee football clinic speaker and ESPN commentator Jon Gruden wowed attendees and area media with his wit and wisdom last Friday in Knoxville.

Marshall AD Mike Hamrick had his contract extended through 2017…Western Kentucky is stepping up its efforts to locate and hire a new director of athletics…Paul Vecchio (Alfred, N.Y.), Michael Matoso (Cal State Stanislaus), Dawn Stewart (Otterbein), and Scott Koskoski (Chatham) have become ADs at their respective institutions…Dakota State director of athletics Gene Wockenfuss has completed an eight-year tenure at the university…Trinity (Conn.) named JoAnn Acquarulo assistant AD…Loyola (Ill.) coach and administrator Porter Moser will sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” at Wrigley Field during the April 24 Chicago Cubs-St. Louis Cardinals contest. UIC coach and administrator Howard Moore will do the same honors at Cubs-Cardinals on April 23.

The Atlantic Coast Conference complete spring gridiron prospectus is available via the link http://bitly.com/2012ACCFBprospectus. The ACC spring football coaches teleconference will be conducted on April 25 and will include national webstreaming…The Big Ten Conference head coaches’ spring teleconferences’ archives are online at Bigten.org/football…The ACC also celebrated sportsmanship and Spring Sportsmanship Awareness Week April 9-15…The Southeastern Conference will sponsor first-ever 2012 SEC Faculty Achievement Awards to honor professors from SEC universities with outstanding records in teaching and scholarship and those serving as role models for other faculty and students…The Western Athletic Conference has posted its spring prospectus and 2012 composite schedule here (http://www.wacsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10100&ATCLID=205411321)…The SEC held its spring football officiating clinic on the Missouri campus in Columbia…Sun Belt Conference commissioner Karl Benson projected another possible addition to the SBC within the next 3-4 months…The Big 12 Conference denoted its Chick-Fil-A Spring Community of Champions. For the complete release, please go here…The Colonial Athletic Association is posting all spring football game recaps and gridiron notes on a daily blog at CAAFootball.com…Bill McCabe is retiring from the Pacific-12 Conference as basketball officiating coordinator after 11 years.

The BBVA Compass Bowl at Birmingham’s historic Legion Field will be played Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013, and will feature teams from the SEC and Big Esat Conferences at noon (CST) on ESPN…Oklahoma and Texas gave strong approval to the renovations at Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas in hopes of keeping their AT&T Red River Rivalry game at the same location where it has been held since 1929.

ESPN will televise the Kentucky at Louisville Governor’s Cup contest on Sunday, Sept. 2, at 3:30 p.m. (EDT)…CBS Sports Network aired the Army football team documentary – Army Spring Football Mission: Fort Benning – last week with an inside look at the special location for the Black Knights’ intrasquad contest. Please check local listings for future re-airings…New York Times columnist Ed Nocera wrote a recent national analysis of college football after appearing as a panelist on “Bob Costas Live”….The Northeast Conference Video Magazine program aired its second installment last week…Seven of the 12 ACC spring intrasquad contests or game-type scrimmages will be carried by ESPN3 or on the ESPN family of networks. Please check local listings for replays as well…The SEC Digital Network is running extensive previews and later game highlights on the circuit’s spring football encounters.

Kentucky is looking for solid leadership and performance from RB CoShik Willaims in the coming autumn after a sterling spring showing…Oklahoma WR Trey Metoyer had a game-best six catches for 72 yards in the Sooners’ annual spring encounter…Alabama RB T.J. Yeldon rushed for 88 yards notched 91 receiving yards as Alabama played it’s a-Day game before 78,526 fans…Severe storms forced cancellation of Nebraska’s Red-White spring game for the first time since 1949 last Saturday…Oregon State has gotten solid spring showings from returning starting CBs Jordan Poyer and Rashaad Reynolds and safety Anthony Watkins…Notre Dame DE Aaron Lynch is transferring to another university closer to his home in Florida…Utah’s spring practice reports have Latu Heimuli has moving from RG to LG as key backup to Sam Brenner and Mike Honeycutt as co-starter at nickel back with Lewis Walker…Colorado WR Paul Richardson is out for the 2012 season after suffering a knee injury in spring drills…Tennessee QB Nathan Peterman dislocated a finger during workouts but should return for summer practices…Jacksonville State soph QB Steven Coates was 16-of-19 passing for 216 yards and three TDs in the Gamecocks’ Red-White spring tussle.

NFF College Hall of Fame coach Fisher DeBerry of Air Force captured the 2012 Gen. Robert Neyland Award for contributions to college football from the Knoxville (Tenn.) Quarterback Club. Veteran broadcaster Bob Neal earned the annual Lindsey Nelson Award from the group…Auburn unveiled campus statues of Heisman Trophy recipients and NFF College Hall of Famers Bo Jackson and Pat Sullivan along with 2010 Heisman awardee Cam Newton during last weekend’s spring game festivities…The Purdue Athletics Hall of Fame members met with media before their inductions last weekend and featured football standouts Gary Danielson, C.S. “Pop” Doan (coach and administrator for 42 years) and Jeff Zgonina…NFF National Scholar-Athlete and Southern California AD Pat Haden was subject of a national story on keeping the student aspect of student-athlete as its strongest component.

Texas A&M will utilize the world-renowned firm Populous, which also was chief architect for the new Yankee Stadium, to head the redevelopment of historic Kyle Field in College Station…Ohio Stadium in Columbus will be adorned with a new $7 million scoreboard and LED system…New Mexico athletics is seeking to raise $2 million to erase a 2011 operating deficit…Michigan State and Paciolan have renewed their 10-year marketing and ticketing agreements…Nike and Reebok have settled a challenge between the two companies about apparel wear and contracts with the New York Jets and 2009 NFF William V. Campbell Award recipient Tim Tebow of Florida…Roanoke (Va.) has initiated the Maroon Club for boosters…Salve Regina athletics has partnered with the Licensing Resource Group for marketing, ticketing and other aspects of operations…Seton Hall athletics and Nelligan Sports Marketing have signed multi-year term agreements…Illinois athletics has extended its 31-year marketing and ticketing agreements with Paciolan…Oklahoma athletics marketing has introduced the Oklahoma Only One polo and T-shirt product lines.

The National Association for Athletics Compliance has selected the 11 recipients of the 2012 NAAC Convention stipend, sponsored by Lightfoot, Franklin & White, for the June 24-25 Convention in Dallas…NACDA John McLendon Minority Postgraduate Scholarship nominations are due April 27 via access to the NACDA.com official website and links.

NFF Chapter Updates, News:

Save the Dates: The 55th NFF Annual Awards Dinner will be held at New York City’s Waldorf=Astoria on Tuesday, Dec. 4. For more information, please contact NFF Director of National Events Will Rudd at 1-800-486-1865 or via email at wrudd@footballfoundation.com. The event features many of the greatest names in football on all levels and includes announcement of the 2011 William V. Campbell Award (22nd annual) while paying special tribute to ‘12 NFF College Hall of Fame inductees (62nd class) and NFF national award recipients.

Texas Tech athletics director Kirby Hocutt and head coach Tommy Tuberville will appear at the NFF Texas Tech Chapter scholar-athlete banquet on Wednesday, April 18…The NFF Minnesota Chapter will hold its scholar-athlete banquet on April 22. Nearly a dozen College Football Hall of Famers are expected to attend, including 2011 inductee Gene Washington (Michigan State) and the family of 2011 inductee Sandy Stephens (Minnesota). 1991 Hall of Fame inductee Bobby Bell (Minnesota) will be the featured speaker…The Emo DiNitto/Rhode Island Chapter will hold its 25th Golden Dozen Scholar-Athletes Awards Dinner on May 7 at the Crowne Plaza in Warwick, R.I. Brown athletics director Mike Goldberger will receive the chapter’s Distinguished American Award…Curry head football coach Skip Bandini will receive the 2012 Ron Burton Distinguished American Award from the NFF Jack Grinold/Eastern Massachusetts Chapter on May 14 in Randolph, Mass…The first regional NFF chapters began operation in 1959, and there are seven new or renewed chapters in the works for 2012: The South Florida (Miami) Touchdown Club has chartered and is active this year. Also in the final planning stages are Baton Rouge, La.; Central Coast/Pebble Beach, Calif.; Southwest Virginia Touchdown Club; Greater Orlando; Tuscaloosa, Ala.; Central Illinois (Normal and surrounding areas), and (in continued discussion stages) the NFF’s first international chapter in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. For additional information about these new membership and leadership opportunities, please go to Footballfoundation.com/chapters.

2013 BCS Schedule (All Times TBD)
Jan. 1 – Rose Bowl presented by VIZIO, Pasadena, Calif., ESPN
Jan. 1 – Discover Orange Bowl, Miami, Fla., ESPN
Jan. 2 – Allstate Sugar Bowl, New Orleans, La., ESPN
Jan. 3 – Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, Glendale, Ariz., ESPN
Jan. 7 – Discover National Championship Game, Miami, ESPN
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