Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo’s resume already glows: Five bowl appearances, first service academy head coach to win the Commander in Chief’s Trophy in his first two seasons, on pace to shatter Navy’s all-time win record, and the caretaker of the longest win streak over Army in the program’s history. Still, he’ll need to find room to add a line or two: The Hawaii-born Niumatalolo will join six other standouts as members of the first class of the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame. The class was announced Wednesday — about a month after finalists for the class were announced and…
Browsing: Hall of Fame
Two Heisman Trophy winners in a four-year span. A No. 2 national ranking by a service academy. A 10-win season with the Temple Owls, capped off by a postseason victory. It is, without question, a resume that could belong to only one person. And now, after years on the ballot, it’s earned Navy (and Temple) coaching legend Wayne Hardin a spot in the College Football Hall of Fame. Wayne Hardin joins a 2013 class that includes Heisman-winning Miami quarterback Vinny Testaverde, two-time national-championship QB Tommie Frazier of Nebraska, all-world offensive lineman Orlando Pace of Ohio State and fellow unheralded head…
One was a senior leader on what’s probably the best Air Force football team ever. The other coached both of Navy’s Heisman winners and led the Mids to a de facto national title game in 1963. Not much in common, except another chance at enshrinement in the College Football Hall of Fame. Air Force’s Scott Thomas and Navy’s Wayne Hardin are back on the hall’s ballot, which was announced Feb. 28. Thomas appeared for the first time in 2011, and Hardin has been on since at least 2006. Once a candidate clears the nomination process (here’s the lofty criteria; non-All-Americans…
While Bob Feller’s greatness on the mound won’t go unnoticed upon passing — he died Wednesday — we also should remember his service to our country. Feller, who turned 92 last month, enlisted in the Navy on Dec. 8, 1941, one day after Pearl Harbor. He missed parts of four seasons serving in the Navy, most notably aboard the battleship Alabama for three years. He rose to the rank of chief petty officer and was in charge of a 40mm gun mount. He saw action in the Pacific theater during World War II. On to the obligatory rundown of his…
