March 13, 2006

Notre Dame, Ind. – The names of four former Notre Dame football all-stars -Bob Golic, Terry Hanratty, Jim Seymour and Chris Zorich – appear on the National Football Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame Division I-A ballot released last week. The ballot contains names of 77 players and seven coaches vying for induction in 2006.

The ballot hit the mail last week to the more than 12,000 members of the NFF and College Hall of Fame whose votes will be recorded and submitted to the Foundation’s honors court, which deliberates and is responsible for selecting the class. The honors court, an 11-member panel chaired by Gene Corrigan (former Notre Dame athletic director, Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner and NCAA past president) and also including former Notre Dame associate athletic director and sports information director Roger Valdiserri, is comprised of athletics directors, conference commissioners, Hall of Fame coaches and members of the media.

The Hall of Fame class will be announced May 16 and then inducted at the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame’s 49th Awards Dinner Dec. 5, 2006, at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City.

To be eligible for the ballot, players must have been chosen first-team All-America by a major/national selector as recognized and utilized by the NCAA for their consensus All-America teams, played their last year of intercollegiate football at least 10 years prior, played within the last 50 years and be retired from playing professional football. Coaches must be out of the college coaching profession for at least three years, coached a minimum of 10 years and 100 games as a head coach, not be coaching on the professional level and have won at least 60 percent of their games. In both cases, the candidate’s post-football record as a citizen may also be weighed.

Once nominated for consideration, all player candidates are submitted to one of eight district screening committees, depending on their geographic location, which conducts a vote to determine who appears on the ballot and represents their respective districts. Each year, 15 candidates not selected for the Hall of Fame are named automatic holdovers and bypass the district screening process and automatically appear on the ballot the following year.

Here are details on the four Irish players on the ballot:

* Bob Golic – Linebacker — Named unanimous All-America in 1978 and was a finalist for Lombardi Award in 1978 . . . co-holder of Notre Dame single-game record for tackles with 26 vs. Michigan in 1978 . . . second in school history with 479 career tackles . . . Cotton Bowl defensive player of the game and co-MVP of the Hula Bowl in 1978.

* Terry Hanratty – Quarterback — Named consensus first-team All-America in 1968 . . . finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1968, sixth in 1966 and ninth in 1967 . . . led Notre Dame to a national championship in 1966 . . . set numerous school career records including passing yards (4,152).

* Jim Seymour – End – Two-time first-team All-America selection (1967-68) . . . led the team in receiving from 1966-68 . . . set Notre Dame career records for receptions (138) and receiving yards (2,113) and still holds records for pass receptions in a game (13 vs. Purdue in 1966) and receiving yards in a game (276 in that same game).

* Chris Zorich — Defensive Tackle — Two-time first-team All-America selection (1989-90), unanimous in 1990, consensus in 1989 . . . received Lombardi Award in 1990 and was an Outland Trophy finalist . . . member of the 1988 undefeated national championship team . . . named CBS Sports/Chevrolet Defensive Player of the Year in 1990.

With 119 chapters and more than 12,000 members nationwide, the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame, a non-profit educational organization, runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in America’s young people. NFF programs include the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind., Play It Smart, the NFF Center for Youth Development Through Sport at Springfield College (Mass.), the NFL-NFF Coaching Academy, and annual scholarships of nearly $1 million for college and high school scholar-athletes.

Notre Dame has 41 former players and five former coaches already enshrined in the Hall of Fame, providing more inductees than any other institution. The most recent addition is former quarterback and ’64 Heisman Trophy winner John Huarte, who was inducted in December 2005 and will be enshrined in August 2006.