Dickenson enters the College Football Hall of Fame
12/7/2018 6:34:00 PM | Football
Surrounded by his family and the game's A-list, legendary Montana quarterback Dave Dickenson officially entered the College Football Hall of Fame this week at the National Football Foundation's Annual Awards Banquet in New York City.
Dickenson and the rest of the class of 2018 will now be forever immortalized at the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.
Nearly a year after it was announced Dickenson would be inducted into the Hall of Fame, NFF Chairman Archie Manning officially entered the greatest Montana quarterback of all time into the game's shrine with the invitation to don his ring alongside 12 more of the greatest players and coaches in history to cap a memorable evening on Tuesday.
(12/4/2018) Dave Dickenson Hall of Fame Induction
"My Hall of Fame induction was the time of my life. I did miss my sister Amy but had the rest of my family with me. I was a proud husband, father, son and of course, a proud Griz. Having Bobby Hauck and his wife Stacy there also brought back my belief that Griz football is an extension of my family," said Dickenson following the ceremony.
"I am forever grateful of the opportunity that Montana gave me, and I will continue to try to make Montana proud. Wow, what a night."
Dickenson made his first appearance as a Hall of Famer on Tuesday the NFF's Alonzo Stagg Social, where he and the other inductees fielded questions from 2008 inductee from Syracuse and noted speaker Don McPherson after a session with local and national media.
Adorned in black-tie regalia, Dickenson and his family returned later that evening for social functions with other dignitaries from around the football world ahead of the ceremony.
Dickenson is only the third person from the state of Montana to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. The others: Grizzly great William "Wild Bill" Kelly was inducted in 1969, as was former head coach Bernie Bierman, who mentored the Grizzly football and basketball teams from 1919-1921 before winning five national championships at the University of Minnesota.
His lengthy list of accomplishments spans decades from his days at C.M. Russell High School in Great Falls to just two weeks ago when he led the Calgary Stampeders to the Grey Cup Championship as their third-year head coach.
Dickenson was a two-time state champion in high school with the Rustlers and went on to lead the University of Montana to its first-ever DI-AA (FCS) National Championship in 1995 as the Walter Payton Award winner that season for the best player in the division and a two-time All-Ameican. His #15 jersey is one of only two retired by UM, with Terry Dillon's being the other.
Although the NCAA did not recognize playoff statistics at the time, he completed the regular season with a school- and then-Big Sky Conference single-season record 4,176 passing yards. Dickenson's 379.6 yards per game in 1995 rank fifth all-time in FCS history and still stand as a school and conference record. His record-setting senior season also extended off the field where he was named an NFF National Scholar-Athlete and earned his third consecutive Academic All-America honors.
A three-time team MVP, his school-record 11,080 career passing yards are sixth in conference history, and his 33 career wins remain a program best. A member of the University of Montana's Grizzly Athletics Hall of Fame, Dickenson's No. 15 jersey is one of only two retired jerseys at the school.
As a pro quarterback in the Canadian Football League, he'd go on to win three Grey Cups (1998, 2006, 2008) earning the CFL Most Outstanding Player Award in 2000, and the 2006 Grey Cup MVP as well.
He also spent two seasons as a quarterback in the NFL with San Diego, Seattle, Miami, and Detroit.
After spending seven years as an assistant coach in Calgary, he won the CFL's Coach of the Year award in his first year as a head coach after leading the Stampeders to the Grey Cup final in 2016.
Named the greatest male athlete in the history of the Big Sky Conference on the 50th anniversary of the league, only three other players from the league have been enshrined at the College Football Hall of Fame: John Friesz (Idaho), Frank Hawkins (Nevada), and Randy Trautman (Boise State).
Dickenson is also the only player from the FCS/DI-AA ranks to be inducted in 2018. Only 997 players and 217 coaches have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame from the nearly 5.26 million who have played or coached the game during the past 149 years. Meaning fewer than two one-hundredths of a percent (.02%) of the individuals who have played the game have been deemed worthy of this distinction.
In September, Dickenson returned to Montana for an on-campus salute to celebrate his induction into the Hall of Fame, with the Griz donning copper and gold uniforms to mark the occasion.
The 2018 College Football Hall of Fame class:
Trevor Cobb, RB – Rice (1989-92)
Kerry Collins, QB – Penn State (1991-94)
Dave Dickenson, QB – Montana (1992-95)
Dana Howard, LB – Illinois (1991-94)
Calvin Johnson, WR – Georgia Tech (2004-06)
Paul Palmer, RB – Temple (1983-86)
Ed Reed, DB – Miami [Fla.] (1998-2001)
Matt Stinchcomb, OT – Georgia (1995-98)
Aaron Taylor, C/OG – Nebraska (1994-97)
Charles Woodson, DB – Michigan (1995-97)
Frank Beamer, Coach – Murray State (1981-86), Virginia Tech (1987-2015)
Mack Brown, Coach – Appalachian State (1983), Tulane (1985-87), North Carolina (1988-97), Texas (1998-2013)
Mel Tjeerdsma, Coach – Austin College [Texas] (1984-93), Northwest Missouri State (1994-2010)
Dickenson and the rest of the class of 2018 will now be forever immortalized at the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.
Nearly a year after it was announced Dickenson would be inducted into the Hall of Fame, NFF Chairman Archie Manning officially entered the greatest Montana quarterback of all time into the game's shrine with the invitation to don his ring alongside 12 more of the greatest players and coaches in history to cap a memorable evening on Tuesday.
"My Hall of Fame induction was the time of my life. I did miss my sister Amy but had the rest of my family with me. I was a proud husband, father, son and of course, a proud Griz. Having Bobby Hauck and his wife Stacy there also brought back my belief that Griz football is an extension of my family," said Dickenson following the ceremony.
"I am forever grateful of the opportunity that Montana gave me, and I will continue to try to make Montana proud. Wow, what a night."
Dickenson made his first appearance as a Hall of Famer on Tuesday the NFF's Alonzo Stagg Social, where he and the other inductees fielded questions from 2008 inductee from Syracuse and noted speaker Don McPherson after a session with local and national media.
Adorned in black-tie regalia, Dickenson and his family returned later that evening for social functions with other dignitaries from around the football world ahead of the ceremony.
Dickenson is only the third person from the state of Montana to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. The others: Grizzly great William "Wild Bill" Kelly was inducted in 1969, as was former head coach Bernie Bierman, who mentored the Grizzly football and basketball teams from 1919-1921 before winning five national championships at the University of Minnesota.
His lengthy list of accomplishments spans decades from his days at C.M. Russell High School in Great Falls to just two weeks ago when he led the Calgary Stampeders to the Grey Cup Championship as their third-year head coach.
Dickenson was a two-time state champion in high school with the Rustlers and went on to lead the University of Montana to its first-ever DI-AA (FCS) National Championship in 1995 as the Walter Payton Award winner that season for the best player in the division and a two-time All-Ameican. His #15 jersey is one of only two retired by UM, with Terry Dillon's being the other.
Although the NCAA did not recognize playoff statistics at the time, he completed the regular season with a school- and then-Big Sky Conference single-season record 4,176 passing yards. Dickenson's 379.6 yards per game in 1995 rank fifth all-time in FCS history and still stand as a school and conference record. His record-setting senior season also extended off the field where he was named an NFF National Scholar-Athlete and earned his third consecutive Academic All-America honors.
A three-time team MVP, his school-record 11,080 career passing yards are sixth in conference history, and his 33 career wins remain a program best. A member of the University of Montana's Grizzly Athletics Hall of Fame, Dickenson's No. 15 jersey is one of only two retired jerseys at the school.
As a pro quarterback in the Canadian Football League, he'd go on to win three Grey Cups (1998, 2006, 2008) earning the CFL Most Outstanding Player Award in 2000, and the 2006 Grey Cup MVP as well.
He also spent two seasons as a quarterback in the NFL with San Diego, Seattle, Miami, and Detroit.
After spending seven years as an assistant coach in Calgary, he won the CFL's Coach of the Year award in his first year as a head coach after leading the Stampeders to the Grey Cup final in 2016.
Named the greatest male athlete in the history of the Big Sky Conference on the 50th anniversary of the league, only three other players from the league have been enshrined at the College Football Hall of Fame: John Friesz (Idaho), Frank Hawkins (Nevada), and Randy Trautman (Boise State).
Dickenson is also the only player from the FCS/DI-AA ranks to be inducted in 2018. Only 997 players and 217 coaches have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame from the nearly 5.26 million who have played or coached the game during the past 149 years. Meaning fewer than two one-hundredths of a percent (.02%) of the individuals who have played the game have been deemed worthy of this distinction.
Go behind the scenes of an incredible weekend with #GrizFB legend Dave Dickenson.
— Montana Griz FB (@MontanaGrizFB) September 24, 2018
Thanks for being here Dave, and congratulations on your induction into the College Football Hall of Fame!#GoGriz @cfbhall @NFFNetwork @calstampeders pic.twitter.com/Jy8xZnbTjT
In September, Dickenson returned to Montana for an on-campus salute to celebrate his induction into the Hall of Fame, with the Griz donning copper and gold uniforms to mark the occasion.
The 2018 College Football Hall of Fame class:
Trevor Cobb, RB – Rice (1989-92)
Kerry Collins, QB – Penn State (1991-94)
Dave Dickenson, QB – Montana (1992-95)
Dana Howard, LB – Illinois (1991-94)
Calvin Johnson, WR – Georgia Tech (2004-06)
Paul Palmer, RB – Temple (1983-86)
Ed Reed, DB – Miami [Fla.] (1998-2001)
Matt Stinchcomb, OT – Georgia (1995-98)
Aaron Taylor, C/OG – Nebraska (1994-97)
Charles Woodson, DB – Michigan (1995-97)
Frank Beamer, Coach – Murray State (1981-86), Virginia Tech (1987-2015)
Mack Brown, Coach – Appalachian State (1983), Tulane (1985-87), North Carolina (1988-97), Texas (1998-2013)
Mel Tjeerdsma, Coach – Austin College [Texas] (1984-93), Northwest Missouri State (1994-2010)
Behind the scenes photo gallery with Dave Dickenson as he returns to Montana to celebrate his induction into the College Football Hall of Fame.#GoGriz
— Montana Griz FB (@MontanaGrizFB) September 25, 2018
📸➡️ https://t.co/dpuIS1aQcX pic.twitter.com/pqY0rBUXHj
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