Grigsby Set for Oct. 1 NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute

IRVING, Texas – Illinois State and The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame announced today that they will jointly honor 2022 College Football Hall of Fame electee Boomer Grigsby with an NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute, presented by Fidelity Investments. The Salute will take place this Saturday, Oct. 1, during the Redbirds' home football game against Southern Illinois. Coverage of the game will start at 6:30 p.m. CT on ESPN+ and the Marquee Sports Network.

"I am completely overwhelmed by this honor and cannot thank the National Football Foundation voters enough for selecting me to be a part of this amazing 2022 College Football Hall of Fame Class," Grigsby said. "This award is so much more than only me. This is for my family, my hometown of Canton, Illinois, my alma mater Illinois State, my friends, my teammates, my coaches, and all the people who helped me along the way. This never would have been possible without all of them. They helped me earn this; We earned this."

The NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute program, which began with the inaugural College Football Hall of Fame Class in 1951, has become a hallowed tradition, and to this day the singular events remain the first of numerous activities in the Hall of Fame experience. 

During the NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salutes, each electee returns to his respective school to accept a Hall of Fame plaque that will stay on permanent display at the institution. The events take place on the field during a home game, and many Hall of Famers cite the experience as the ultimate capstone to their careers, providing them one more chance to take the field and be recognized in front of their home crowd.

The 2022 College Football Hall of Fame Class will be officially inducted during the 64th NFF Annual Awards Dinner Presented by Las Vegas on Dec. 6 at the Bellagio Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. 

"The all-time leading tackler in FCS history, Boomer Grigsby is so deserving of becoming Illinois State's first College Football Hall of Fame inductee," said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. "We are thrilled to honor him at Hancock Stadium for his upcoming College Football Hall of Fame induction."
 
A three-time First Team All-American (2002-04), Grigsby remains the FCS leader in career tackles (550), career solo tackles (325), single-season tackles per game (16.27 in 2002) and single-season solo tackles per game (9.82 in 2002). 

The standout linebacker is the only player in history to finish in the top three for the Buck Buchanan Award in three consecutive seasons. Grigsby ranks second all-time in FCS history with 12.5 tackles per game during his career, and he boasts two of the top three single-season solo tackle performances in FCS history: 109 in 2003 and 108 in 2002. 

He twice won the College Sporting News FCS Defensive Player of the Year award, which has since been renamed in his honor.
 
The only three-time Missouri Valley Football Conference Defensive Player of the Year in league history, Grigsby is a three-time First Team All-MVFC selection, and he remains the all-time leading tackler in conference and school history (note: both the MVFC and Illinois State credit him with 580 career tackles). 

Grigsby was also an honorable mention all-conference selection in 2001 when he was named to the MVFC All-Newcomer Team. He led the FCS in tackles in 2002, led the conference in tackles three times and led Illinois State in tackles all four seasons. A three-time team captain, Grigsby was also twice named the Illinois State Milt Weisbecker Male Athlete of the Year, and he was inducted into the Illinois State Athletics Percy Family Hall of Fame in 2010.
 
A fifth-round pick in the 2005 NFL Draft, Grigsby played in league for the Kansas City Chiefs (2005-07), Miami Dolphins (2008) and Houston Texans (2009).
 
Off the field, he established the Boomer Grigsby Foundation, and he has volunteered with Jared Allen's Homes for Wounded Warriors and the Special Olympics. Grigsby continued his relationship with ISU football as the color analyst for Redbird football broadcasts on NBC Sports Chicago for three seasons, and he served as a television analyst for Illinois High School Association football playoff broadcasts for two years. 

He currently works in Las Vegas as a sales representative for Stryker.

The 2022 College Football Hall of Fame Class includes LaVar Arrington (Penn State), Champ Bailey (Georgia), Michael Crabtree (Texas Tech), Sylvester Croom (Alabama), Mike Doss (Ohio State), Chuck Ealey (Toledo), Kevin Faulk (LSU), Moe Gardner (Illinois), Boomer Grigsby (Illinois State), Mike Hass (Oregon State), Marvin Jones (Florida State), Andrew Luck (Stanford), Mark Messner (Michigan), Terry Miller (Oklahoma State), Rashaan Salaam (Colorado), Dennis Thomas (Alcorn State), Zach Wiegert (Nebraska), Roy Williams (Oklahoma) and coaches John Luckhardt (Washington & Jefferson [PA], California [PA]), Billy Jack Murphy (Memphis) and Gary Pinkel (Toledo, Missouri).

The accomplishments of the 2022 Class will be forever immortalized at the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, and each inductee will receive a custom ring created by Jostens, the official and exclusive supplier of NFF rings.

Including the 2022 Hall of Fame Class, only 1,056 players and 226 coaches have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame from the nearly 5.62 million who have played or coached the game during the past 153 years. In other words, less than two one-hundredths of a percent (.02%) of the individuals who have played the game have earned this distinction.

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