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NEW YORK (Dec. 4, 2018) – The New York Hilton Midtown's Grand Ballroom played host to an all-star cast of history's greatest football legends, including Fighting Illini great Dana Howard, and the sport's most promising student-athletes during the 61st National Football Foundation (NFF) Annual Awards Dinner tonight.
A celebrity-laden College Football Hall of Fame class took center stage for a packed house of 1,600 at the event, which took place for the second year at the New York Hilton Midtown. Howard, one of 13 inductees in 2018, became the 17th Fighting Illini to enter the College Football Hall of Fame.
Howard finished his Fighting Illini career as the Big Ten's all-time leader in tackles with 595 stops from 1991-94. He earned consensus First-Team All-America honors and was named the Butkus Award winner in 1994, becoming the first Illini football player to win a major national award. Howard also earned several first-team All-America mentions in 1993, and was first-team All-Big Ten three times after earning second-team honors as a freshman in 1991. He was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year in both 1993 and 1994.
A model of consistency at linebacker, Howard made 147 tackles in 1991, 150 in 1992 and 1994 and 148 stops in 1993. He holds the top two spots, and three of the top four, in single-game solo tackles at Illinois. A fifth-round NFL Draft pick by the Dallas Cowboys, Howard played with the St. Louis Rams in 1995 and spent one seasons with the Chicago Bears in 1996.
Howard also was inducted into the Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame in 2018. A native of East St. Louis, Illinois, he currently lives and owns a construction company in the St. Louis Metro East area.
Howard becomes the 12th Fighting Illini player to be inducted, joining Alex Agase (1941-42, 1946), Al Brosky (1950-52), Dick Butkus (1962-64), Chuck Carney (1918-21), J.C. Caroline (1953-54), Jim Grabowski (1963-65), Red Grange (1923-25), Bart Macomber (1914-16), Bernie Shively (1924-26), David Williams (1983-85) and Buddy Young (1944, 1946). Five former Illinois coaches are also in the Hall: Bob Blackman (1971-76), Pete Elliott (1960-66), Ed Hall (1892-93), George Woodruff (1903) and Bob Zuppke (1913-41).
ESPN's Joe Tessitore, the voice of "Monday Night Football," entertained the crowd as the emcee for the annual celebration, which lived up to its historic role of bringing the college football community together at the end of the regular season to pay tribute to the game and its greatest legends.
The 2018 College Football Hall of Fame Class was introduced by NFF Board Member Archie Griffin, a Hall of Fame running back from Ohio State. Along with Fighting Illini great Dana Howard, the class included Trevor Cobb (Rice), Kerry Collins (Penn State), Dave Dickenson (Montana), Calvin Johnson (Georgia Tech), Paul Palmer (Temple), Ed Reed (Miami [Fla.]), Matt Stinchcomb (Georgia), Aaron Taylor (Nebraska), Charles Woodson (Michigan) and coaches Frank Beamer (Murray State, Virginia Tech), Mack Brown (Appalachian State, Tulane, North Carolina, Texas) and Mel Tjeerdsma (Austin College [Texas], Northwest Missouri State). NFF Chairman and Hall of Fame inductee Archie Manning(Mississippi) conducted the Official Hall of Fame Ring Ceremony.
The 10 players and three coaches bring the total number of players in the Hall of Fame to 997 and the number of coaches to 217.
