MINNESOTA’S ELLER, PENN STATE’S PATERNO AND PURDUE’S PHIPPS

MINNESOTA’S ELLER, PENN STATE’S PATERNO AND PURDUE’S PHIPPS  ELECTED TO COLLEGE HALL OF FAME Paterno one of only two coaches to receive

MINNESOTA’S ELLER, PENN STATE’S PATERNO AND PURDUE’S PHIPPS  

ELECTED TO COLLEGE HALL OF FAME 

Paterno one of only two coaches to receive football’s highest honor 

  

Park Ridge, Ill. – Former Big Ten standouts Carl Eller of Minnesota and Mike Phipps of Purdue as well as Penn State head coach Joe Paterno have been elected into the College Hall of Fame as announced today by The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame. The 2006 class, which includes 13 players and two coaches, will be inducted during the 49th Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 5 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. They will be officially enshrined at the Hall in South Bend, Ind., during ceremonies in the summer of 2007. 

  

Eller lettered for the Gophers for three seasons from 1961-63 during a time when freshmen were not allowed to compete. He earned first-team All-Big Ten honors in 1963, in addition to being named first-team All-American by eight different organizations. In 1962, Eller was part of a defense that allowed their opponents only 52.2 yards rushing per game, a school record that still stands today. In 1984, the Gopher football program renamed its Outstanding Defensive Player of the Year Award the “Carl Eller Award.”  

  

Phipps led the Boilermakers to three consecutive 8-2 seasons, establishing himself as the winningest quarterback in school history at the time. Purdue shared the 1967 Big Ten championship and was ranked ninth in the final Associated Press national poll. In 1969, Phipps was a unanimous All-America selection and finished runner-up in the Heisman Trophy balloting, with Oklahoma's Steve Owens winning by merely 154 votes. Phipps set school records with 2,527 passing yards and 23 touchdowns that year, while also rushing for eight touchdowns. Twice named first-team All-Big Ten (1967 and 1969), Phipps was selected as a first-team Academic All-American in 1969 and was the recipient of a prestigious Rhodes scholarship.  

  

Paterno is second in all-time victories among major college coaches and fourth in wins across all four NCAA divisions. A member of the Penn State coaching staff since 1950, he owns a 354-117-3 (75.0) career record and has been selected the AFCA Coach of the Year an unprecedented five times, including last year. He ranks No. 6 in winning percentage among active Division I-A coaches that have been a head coach a minimum of 10 years. Paterno has led Penn State to national championships in 1982 and '86 and five unbeaten and untied seasons (1968, '69, '73, '86, '94). He is the all-time leader in bowl appearances (32) and victories (21-10-1 record) and has guided the Nittany Lions to 16 appearances in one of the four games that comprise the Bowl Championship Series, earning a 12-4 record.  

  

Founded in 1947, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame inducted its first class in 1951, which included 32 players and 19 coaches. Overall, 796 former players and 170 coaches have been selected to the Hall of Fame from more than 4.4 million who have played the game over the past 138 years.