USC’s White Heads List of Inductees

Charles White, USC’s Heisman Trophy winner in 1979, former UCLA coach Henry “Red” Sanders and former UCLA linebacker Jerry Robinson were among 12 former players and coaches inducted into college football’s Hall of Fame.

White said his induction means “somebody out there likes me,” echoing the sentiments of the other new inductees.

“I will wear the crown proudly,” White said before his formal induction at the National College Football Foundation and Hall of Fame awards dinner in New York.

Also inducted were Hugh Green (Pittsburgh), Bob Ferguson (Ohio State), Frank Merritt (Army), John Michels (Tennessee), Bob Pellegrini (Maryland), Pat Richter (Wisconsin), James Saxton (Texas), Jerry Tubbs (Oklahoma) and Marc Wilson (BYU).

Florida quarterback Danny Wuerffel was named player of the year. Wuerffel, who won the award as a junior last year, already has won the Walter Camp player-of-the-year Award and Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award and is a leading candidate for the Heisman Trophy, which will be announced Saturday.

ACC Commissioner Gene Corrigan was the Gold Medal winner and former Boston College president and chancellor the Rev. J. Donald Monan was the Distinguished American recipient.

USC defensive tackle Matt Keneley, Wuerffel and Virginia running back Tiki Barber were among 16 NCAA and NAIA players honored as scholar-athletes. Each of the 16 will receive $18,000 for postgraduate study.

The Division I-A winners were Keneley, Wuerffel, Barber, Greg Bellisari (Ohio State), Pat Fitzgerald (Texas), Jason Johnson (Kansas State), Wally Richardson (Penn State) and Wayne Wyatt (Arizona). In I-AA, the winners were Derek Beres (The Citadel), Eion Hu (Harvard) and Willie Thompson (Morgan State). In Division II, it was Brian Gilmore (Missouri Rolla) and Tim Tibesar (North Dakota) and in Division III, it was Lon Erickson (Illinois Wesleyan) and Derrick Johnson (Kenyon College). In the NAIA, it was Scott Reynolds (Hastings College).