The College Football Hall of Fame is a

hall of fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

and interactive attraction devoted to

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

. The

National Football Foundation The National Football Foundation (NFF) is a non-profit organization to promote and develop amateur American football on all levels throughout the United States and "developing the qualities of leadership, sportsmanship, competitive zeal and the dr ...

(NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were voted first team All-American by the media. In August 2014, the

Chick-fil-A Chick-fil-A ( , a Word play, play on the American English pronunciation of "wikt:filet#Pronunciation, filet") is an American fast food restaurant chain which is the country's largest which specializes in chicken sandwiches. Headquartered in Coll ...

College Football Hall of Fame opened in downtown

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. The facility is a attraction located in the heart of Atlanta's sports, entertainment and tourism district, and is adjacent to the

Georgia World Congress Center The Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC) is a convention center in Atlanta, Georgia. Enclosing some 3.9 million ft2 (360,000 m2) in exhibition space and hosting more than a million visitors each year, the GWCC is the world's largest LEED certi ...

and

Centennial Olympic Park Centennial Olympic Park is a public park located in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, owned and operated by the Georgia World Congress Center Authority. It was built by the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) as part of the infrastructu ...

History

Early plans

1949 - Rutgers was selected as the site for football’s Hall of Fame, via a vote by thousands of sportswriters, coaches, and athletic leaders. Rutgers was chosen for the location because Rutgers and Princeton played the first game of intercollegiate football in New Brunswick on November 6, 1869. Secondary plans in 1967 called for the Hall of Fame to be located at

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

New Brunswick, New Jersey New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat, seat of government of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.first contest under rules now considered to be those of modern football, between teams from Rutgers and the College of New Jersey, now

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

; Rutgers won 6–4. Rutgers donated land near its football stadium, office space, and administrative support. After years of collecting donations starting in 1949 for the construction of the building with ground not having been broken and no plans to do so, the

New Jersey Attorney General The attorney general of New Jersey is a member of the executive cabinet of the state and oversees the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety, Department of Law and Public Safety. The office is appointed by the governor of New Jersey, confir ...

began an investigation of the finances of the Hall of Fame's foundation, the

. In response, the Foundation moved its operations to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where it continued to collect donations for several years.

Kings Mills

When the

New York Attorney General The attorney general of New York is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the Department of Law of the state government. The office has been in existence in some form since 1626, under the Dutch colonial government o ...

's office began its own investigation, the foundation moved to

Kings Mills, Ohio Kings Mills is a census-designated place in the southwestern corner of Deerfield Township, Warren County, Ohio, United States, on the western shore of the Little Miami River. Located along I-71 twenty miles northeast of Cincinnati, it is less ...

in suburban

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, where a building finally was constructed adjacent to

Kings Island Kings Island is a amusement park located northeast of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio, United States. Owned and operated by Cedar Fair, the park first opened in 1972 by the Taft Broadcasting Company. It was part of a larger effort to move and expa ...

in 1978. In choosing the site, it had been hoped that the museum could attract the same visitors attending the adjacent

amusement park, but this failed to happen. The Hall opened with good attendance figures early on, but visitation dwindled dramatically as time went on and never truly met projections. Attendance, which had been projected to be 300,000 annually, but peaked at 80,000 per year and dwindled to 30,000 per year. The facility closed in 1992. Nearby

Galbreath Field Galbreath Field was associated with the former College Football Hall of Fame in Kings Mills, Ohio. The 7,000–10,000 seat stadium (sources differ) was also the home of the Moeller High School Moeller High School ( ), known as Moeller, is a priv ...

remained open as the home of Moeller High School football until 2003.

South Bend

South-bend-college-football-hall-of-fame-blocking

In September 1991, the National Football Foundation opened a national search for a new location, soliciting bids from cities. It first started by offering bids to cities with local National Football Foundation chapters. Thirty-five such cities replied, including

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 United S ...

. The South Bend bid proposal was led by Bill Starks and Edward "Moose" Krause of the South Bend chapter of the National Football Foundation, who then approached South Bend mayor Joe E. Kernan about the concept. Kernan brought the concept to the city's Project Future department, tasked with bringing new attractions to the city to assist its economic development. Patrick McMahon, Project Future's executive director, collaborated with over a hundred people to craft a proposal for South Bend to host the Hall of Fame, which was presented to the National Football Foundation in November 1992. The proposal slated for a $14 million facility to be constructed in South Bend's downtown. Several sites in the city had been explored, such as a site near the

Indiana Toll Road The Indiana Toll Road, officially the Indiana East–West Toll Road, is a tolled freeway that runs for east–west across northern Indiana from the Illinois state line to the Ohio state line. It has been advertised as the "Main Street of the ...

and various sites in the city's downtown, but a location near

Century Center The Century Center Convention Center, designed by architects Philip Johnson and John Burgee, broke construction in 1974 and opened in 1977, has been managed by SMG since July, 2013. The center, built on the banks of the West Race canal, overlo ...

was the top choice. On July 13, 1992, William Pearce, chairman of the National Football Foundation, made the announcement that South Bend had won the bid to host the Hall of Fame's new location. South Bend had beaten out other locales, including

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, the

New Jersey Meadowlands New Jersey Meadowlands, also known as the Hackensack Meadowlands after the primary river flowing through it, is a general name for the large ecosystem of wetlands in northeastern New Jersey in the United States, a few miles to the west of ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

. The new location was opened in

, on August 25, 1995. Despite estimates that the South Bend location would attract more than 150,000 visitors a year, the Hall of Fame drew about 115,000 people the first year, and about 60,000 annually after that. By the late 1990s, some had already begun to criticize the Hall of Fame in South Bend as a failure, due to a lack of corporate sponsorship and poor turnout even during special events. In September of 2009,

Archie Manning Elisha Archibald Manning III (born May 19, 1949) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily with the New Orleans Saints. He played for the Saints from 1971 to 1982 and al ...

, the chairman of the National Football Foundation, announced that the museum would be moving to Atlanta. The South Bend location closed in December of 2012.

Current location in Atlanta

In 2009, the

decided to move the College Football Hall of Fame to Atlanta, Georgia. The possibility of moving the museum has been brought up in other cities, including

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

, which had the financial backing of multi-millionaire T. Boone Pickens. However, the National Football Foundation ultimately decided on Atlanta for the next site. The new $68.5 million museum opened on August 23, 2014. It is located next to

, which is near other attractions such as the

Georgia Aquarium Georgia Aquarium is a public aquarium in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It exhibits hundreds of species and thousands of animals across its seven major galleries, all of which reside in more than of water. It was the largest aquarium in the wo ...

, the

World of Coca-Cola The World of Coca-Cola is a museum, located in Atlanta, Georgia, showcasing the history of the Coca-Cola Company. The complex opened to the public on May 24, 2007, relocating from and replacing the original exhibit, which was founded in 1990 in ...

CNN Center The CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, is the international headquarters of the Cable News Network (CNN). The main newsrooms and studios for several of CNN's news channels are located in the building. The facility's commercial office space is occu ...

, and the

National Center for Civil and Human Rights The National Center for Civil and Human Rights is a museum dedicated to the achievements of the civil rights movement in the United States and the broader worldwide human rights movement. Located in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, the museum opened t ...

. The Hall of Fame is located near the

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

of the

ACC ACC most often refers to: * Atlantic Coast Conference, an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference located in the US *American College of Cardiology, A US-based nonprofit medical association that bestows credentials upon cardiovascular spec ...

(home to the oldest stadium in

Division I FBS The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). A ...

, Bobby Dodd Stadium), 10 blocks from

Georgia State University Georgia State University (Georgia State, State, or GSU) is a Public university, public research university in Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1913, it is one of the University System of Georgia's four research universities. It is also the ...

of the Sun Belt Conference, and roughly from the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

of the SEC. The new building broke ground on January 28, 2013. Sections of the architecture are reminiscent of a football in shape. The facility is and contains approximately of exhibit and event space, interactive displays and a 45-yard indoor football field. Atlanta Hall Management operates the College Football Hall of Fame. During the

George Floyd protests The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and civil unrest against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of internati ...

on May 29, 2020, the Hall of Fame was damaged and looted by protesters. Hall of Fame CEO Kimberly Beaudin told ESPN that only the gift shop was looted, adding that "no artifacts or displays were damaged".

Inductees

As of 2018, there are 997 players and 217 coaches enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame, representing 308 schools. Thirteen players, two coaches and one inanimate object (the Goodyear Blimp) were slated for induction in 2019.

Players by school

Criteria for induction

The National Football Foundation outlines specific criteria that may be used for evaluating a possible candidate for induction into the Hall of Fame. # A player must have received major first team All-America recognition. # A player becomes eligible for consideration 10 years after his last year of intercollegiate football played. # Football achievements are considered first, but the post-football record as a citizen is also weighed. # Players must have played their last year of intercollegiate football within the last 50 years. # The nominee must have ended his professional athletic career prior to the time of the nomination. # Coaches must have at least 10 years of head coaching experience, coached 100 games, and had at least a .600 winning percentage. The eligibility criteria have changed over time, and have occasionally led to criticism.

References

External links

* {{Authority control International Sports Heritage Association Sports museums in Georgia (U.S. state) Museums in Atlanta Sports organizations established in 1936 Halls of fame in Georgia (U.S. state)