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For
Immediate Release
November 16, 1999
Division
II Football Hall of Fame Created In the Shoals
Florence
-- Beginning this December, three legends of NCAA Division II football
will be honored annually with induction into the Division II Football
Hall of Fame in Florence, Ala. The three inductees will be
selected by a 20-member Division II Football Hall of Fame selection
committee and will be inducted on December 10 as part of a combined
Harlon Hill Trophy and Division II Football Hall of Fame Banquet at the
Florence Conference Center.
The
Division II Football Hall of Fame will be housed at the recently
renovated Braly Municipal Stadium, which has hosted the Division II
Football Championship Game since 1986. "This is a great way
to honor some of the true legends of Division II college football, and
bring together the best of Division II past and present," said
Hall of Fame chairman Jeff Hodges. "With more than half of all the
Division II Football Championships having been played here, and with the
Harlon Hill Trophy having been presented here for the last 13 years, the
Shoals has become known as the Division II Football Capital," said
Hodges. "We think the Division II Football Hall of Fame will be a
perfect tie-in to our championship week activities and will help
complement both the Championship Game and the Harlon Hill Trophy
presentation."
The
27th annual Division II Football Championship Game will be played at
Braly Stadium on December 11, 1999, and the Harlon Hill Trophy
presentation to the Division II Player of the Year, and the Hall of Fame
induction's are part of the Shoals area's championship week activities.
The Division II Football Hall of Fame is sponsored by Coca-Cola, The
Florence Utilities Gas Department, The Real Yellow Pages from BellSouth
and Northwest Airlink.
Tickets
for the Harlon Hill Trophy and Division II Football Hall of Fame Banquet
can be purchased at the Shoals Chamber of Commerce at (256)
764-4661. Tickets are $35 each of $250 for a table of eight.
The inductees into the Division II Football Hall of Fame will be
selected by a nation-wide panel comprised of media
representatives, sports information directors and current and former
collegiate administrators.
To
be eligible for consideration for the Division II Football Hall of Fame,
a player must have competed at least two years in Division II football
since the division was created in 1973. A player becomes eligible
10 years after his last year of intercollegiate competition. Players who
are still competing on the professional level are not eligible until
after they retire. Coaches and other persons associated with Division II
football will become eligible for consideration beginning in 2002.
The initial ballot for the Division II Football Hall of Fame will be
comprised of players nominated for the Division II Team of the Quarter
Century in 1997.
The
13 years that the Division II Football Championship has been played in
the Shoals is the third longest consecutive period that any NCAA
Championship in any sport has been held at one site. The current
contract with the NCAA calls for the 1999-2001 championship games
to be in the Shoals as well.
The
Division II Football Hall of Fame will have a potential pool of 272
schools to draw from. NCAA Division II football began in 1973 and
currently has a membership of 150 schools competing in football. There
are an additional 122 schools that have competed in Division II at some
point since 1973.
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