College Sports

Spurrier, Ford part of College Football Hall of Fame’s newest class

Steve Spurrier and Danny Ford
Steve Spurrier and Danny Ford THE STATE

Steve Spurrier is now a two-time Hall of Famer.

South Carolina’s former head football coach, the winningest head coach of all-time at two SEC schools, was announced Monday morning as member of the 2017 class of the College Football Hall of Fame as coach. Spurrier, who won the Heisman Trophy as a quarterback at Florida, was elected to CFB Hall of Fame as a player in 1986.

Former Clemson head coach Danny Ford, who was 96-29-4 at Clemson and led the Tigers to the 1981 national championship, joined Spurrier in the 2017 Hall class. Ford coached at Clemson from 1978-1989 and coached Arkansas from 1993-1997.

After leading Duke to an ACC title, Spurrier won six SEC championships and one national championship while the head coach at Florida from 1990-2001. Then he coached at South Carolina from 2005-midway through the 2015 season, during which time he led the Gamecocks to the 2010 SEC East championship and then three straight 11-win seasons. He finished his South Carolina career 86-49.

Former South Carolina, West Virginia and Texas Tech head coach Jim Carlen also was on the ballot but was not elected.

Other inductees

In addition to Spurrier and Ford, also to be inducted in December at the National Football Foundation banquet are:

-- Tennessee QB Peyton Manning

– Notre Dame LB Bob Crable

– Michigan State WR Kirk Gibson

– Texas OT Bob McKay

– Texas A&M LB Dat Nguyen

– Georgia Southern RB Adrian Peterson

– Boston College NG Mike Ruth

– New Mexico DB Brian Urlacher

– Mount Union coach Larry Keheres

-- Southern Cal QB Matt Leinart

-- San Diego State RB Marshall Faulk

This story was originally published January 9, 2017 at 11:57 AM with the headline "Spurrier, Ford part of College Football Hall of Fame’s newest class."

Get unlimited digital access
#ReadLocal

Try 1 month for $1

CLAIM OFFER