March 5, 2013

Follow @SonnyDykes Follow @CalFootball Follow @CalBearBlog

DALLAS, Tex. - Former Cal football player Ron Rivera was one of 77 names announced Tuesday by the National Football Foundation on the 2013 Football Bowl Subdivision Ballot for induction into the College Football Hall of Fame. Rivera is currently the head coach of the Carolina Panthers and also a former NFL player and assistant coach.

A consensus first-team All-American linebacker as a senior at Cal in 1983, Rivera set a school record that still stands today with 26.5 tackles for loss that season. He was also named the 1983 Pac-10 Co-Defensive Player of the Year, was the recipient of the Pop Warner Trophy as the top senior on the West Coast and a finalist for the Lombardi Trophy. Rivera ended his career with 336 tackles that still rank fifth on the school's all-time list through the 2012 season, including 47.5 for loss. Rivera played in the NFL for the Chicago Bears from 1984-92, winning the Super Bowl XX title with the 1985 squad. He was the Bears' Man of the Year for community service in 1990.

The ballot was mailed this week to more than 12,000 NFF members and current Hall of Famers whose votes will be tabulated and submitted to the NFF's Honors Court, which deliberates and selects the class. Chaired by Gene Corrigan, a former ACC commissioner and NCAA president, the 14-member NFF Honors Court includes an elite and geographically diverse pool of athletics directors, conference commissioners, Hall of Famers and members of the media.

"It's an enormous honor to just be on the ballot when you think that more than 4.92 million people have played college football," said NFF President & CEO Steven J. Hatchell. "The Hall's requirement of being a first-team All-American creates a much smaller pool of only 1,500 individuals who are even eligible to be on the ballot, so being in today's group of 77 names means an individual is truly among the greatest to ever have played the game, and we are proud to announce their names today."

The FBS Hall of Fame Class will be announced live in New York City during a press conference on May 7 (Noon ET) from the NASDQ OMX Market Site and inducted at the 56th NFF Annual Awards Dinner on December 10, 2013 at the landmark Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City.