McMichael Elected to College Football Hall of Fame
May 1, 2009 - Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL)
Chicago Slaughter News Release
Hoffman Estates, IL -- The Chicago Slaughter of the Continental Indoor Football Legaue, is proud to announce that the team's head coach, Steve McMichael, was inducted into the National Football Foundation's College Hall of Fame. He becomes the Texas Longhorns' 15th player and 17th overall inductee into the Hall of Fame. McMichael will be honored by the Slaughter before their May 16th home game against the Wisconsin Wolfpack.
"I will never be able to thank The University of Texas enough for what it did for me during that time," McMichael recalled from his home in Chicago, where he was a star in the NFL for the Bears and is now the head coach of the arena league Chicago Slaughter. "My `old man' put me on the road, but if it hadn't have been for Texas, I have no idea where I would be right now."
McMichael joins a class that includes, among others, Tim Brown of Notre Dame, Major Harris of West Virginia, Chris Spielman of Ohio State, Curt Warner of Penn State, Gino Torretta of Miami and Grant Wistrom of Nebraska.
His senior year in 1979, as part of perhaps the best defense in Texas history (it allowed an average of only nine points per game), McMichael personally dominated the 1978 Heisman Trophy winner Billy Sims in the Longhorns' 16-7 victory over the Sooners. Sims gained only 73 yards on 20 carries, and McMichael registered 13 tackles--nine against the running game.
McMichael totaled 133 tackles during his senior season, and posted 369 tackles, 30 sacks, 40 tackles behind the line, 99 quarterback pressures and 11 caused fumbles during his career as a Longhorn.
A member of the Longhorn Hall of Honor, the Texas High School Sports Hall of Fame and the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame, McMichael is involved in numerous charities, most notably the Fisher House Foundation and other organizations that support wounded soldiers and their families.
McMichael becomes the second member of his Longhorn era to be inducted into the NFF Hall of Fame, joining safety Johnnie Johnson, who was enshrined in 2007. Upon his induction during the December festivities in New York, Johnson allowed that he would have made a lot more tackles, had McMichael not made them all before they could get into the secondary.
"I can tell you this," McMichael said Wednesday. "I will be wearing orange. There is no way to describe how much this means, or how thankful I am to all of the people who helped me at Texas. All I can say is, `hook `em!'"
The 2009 Chicago Slaughter (7-0) continues their season with a home game this Saturday against the Wheeling Wildcats at the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates. Game-time is 7:05pm. For more information on this release or on the Slaughter, please call the Slaughter at (847) 310-3190 or visit our website at www.ChicagoSlaughter.com.
Continental Indoor Football League Stories from May 1, 2009
- McMichael Elected to College Football Hall of Fame - Chicago Slaughter
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