Colorado University Athletics
Williams, Solder Honored In NFF New York City Events
NEW YORK CITY - Alfred Williams officially became the fifth University of Colorado Buffalo inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame here Tuesday evening, joining 11 other colleagues and two head coaches in the induction ceremony at the famed Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
Earlier in the day at a morning press conference, Williams recalled how he learned last May that he would be the newest Buff in the Hall of Fame.
"I was on the air doing my radio show (when CU athletic director Mike Bohn called with the news) and I broke down in tears," he said. "I was so happy to be able to represent the University of Colorado. This is our 20-year anniversary of our national championship so for me it's been a wonderful year. I've been able to be a part of some great football teams. The men who've coached me over the years have been outstanding and I want to say thank you to all of them. From high school, Roland Rogers, to Colorado and my position coach Bob Simmons and the great head coach Bill McCartney, and all of my coaches in the NFL. This has been a wonderful, wonderful day for me and my family and we want to say thank you."
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At Colorado, Williams was the Big 8 Conference's Defensive Player of the Year for both 1989 and 1990, when he earned consensus and then unanimous All-America honors, respectively. He was the first player in school history to earn one of college football's postseason trophies when he earned the Butkus Award as the nation's best linebacker his senior season.
In a first-class move, Williams' last pro team, the Denver Broncos, sent team vice president Jim Saccomano to represent the club. Williams was a key member on defense for the Broncos' two Super Bowl champion teams in 1997 and 1998.
"This has been a tremendous experience and many more memories have been created for me," Williams told the audience Monday at a private reception in his honor. "I said this when I first learned that I was going to be inducted, and that is that I absolutely love my alma mater. The University of Colorado is a special, special place. "He also asked those in attendance to support CU's new head football coach, Jon Embree and vowed that the school would soon return to its football glory when he "raced out on Folsom Field behind Ralphie."
CU senior offensive tackle Nate Solder also made the trek to the Big Apple, as the Big 12's Offensive Lineman of the Year and one of three Outland Trophy finalists was here as a finalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy (formerly the Draddy Award), which is considered the "Academic Heisman." Though Solder did not win the award, as one of 16 National Football Foundation Scholar-Athletes, he is the recipient of an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship.
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Solder graduated last May with a 3.52 grade point average in Biology, and since has been taking coursework toward a second major in Integrative Physiology.
"For any college football player, it's an incredibly demanding sport," Solder said. "And on top of that to have a good GPA in a challenging major is just another step of difficulty; that's something these guys understand. I'm incredibly impressed by this group and I think it stands for a lot of great things. I'm humbled and honored to be here and I appreciate it."
"So many times, you see people on television and it's all about their football success," Solder answered when queried on school's factor in football success. "That's why this is such a great award because it's more than that, and a lot of college football is more than that. But they haven't highlighted that as much. And absolutely school is important and I think it is something that needs to be highlighted more about this sport. This award does support the student-athlete and I think that is a very true statement."
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Solder had a special treat, as of the 16 scholar-athletes, his was the scholarship assigned to the National Football League's sponsorship. Included with that distinction was a trip down Park Avenue from the Waldorf to the NFL offices, where he had the opportunity to meet with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
"It was awesome, he's a very nice man, I had the chance to shake his hand and visit with him for several minutes," Solder said. "He's all business, but very sincere. But the coolest part was that I got to hold the (Vince) Lombardi Trophy and pose for some pictures with it."
The conference commissioners were also at the NFL headquarters at the same time, and Solder also was introduced to Pac-10 Conference commissioner Larry Scott; the Buffaloes join what will be the Pac-12 next July 1. He also visited with Big 12 commish Dan Beebe.
From here, Solder will head to Orlando for ESPN's Home Depot Awards show, where he will find out if he has won the Outland Trophy. Regardless, he is projected to be the first offensive tackle taken in next April's NFL Draft.
Steve Hatchell, a Colorado graduate ('70), is the NFF's executive director and opened Tuesday's proceedings by noting that 2010 has been "a very fine year for the NFF. Over $1.1 million has been distributed to high school student-athletes to attend college, and we've kicked off the Campaign For Excellence, the goal of which is to raise $10 million in four years to we can increase the number of postgraduate scholarships."
He also noted that NIKE, one of CU's major corporate sponsors, has endowed a scholarship in the name of former Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden and that the College Football Hall of Fame is making the move from South Bend to Atlanta, where the goal is to make it "a different kind of Hall of Fame, where it will be more of an experience."
Several others earned the annual NFF awards, most notably Bill Cosby and Tom Brokaw. Cosby is this year's Gold Medal Recipient, while Brokaw is the recipient of the organization's Distinguished American Award.
Cosby, the well-known comedian, had the audience in stitches.
"The reason why I'm here is the current athletic director said to me, 'Oh Billy, do you know what this means?'," Cosby relayed. "And I said, 'No, because I haven't done anything.' We played Division 12. I would have like to have had a helmet in those days. In my day, Cornell was the school that had great helmets. Our athletic director was the calculus professor who knew nothing except calculus. I asked him to get me a helmet so you could tell I was the fullback. After listening to all these people, every one of these fellas that I'm going in with, I want them to know that I'm tickled to go in with them. Thank you so much for giving me the Gold Medal, which will take some doing to explain to my wife what I did to earn this because there's no film on me. "
(Kathleen Majewski contributed to this report.)