Former NC State defensive back Dennis Byrd, who is a member of the 2010 College Football Hall of Fame Class that will be inducted this December, died Friday, July 23 at the age of 63.

NFF News

Dennis Byrd, a two-time First Team All-American from NC State who is a member of the 2010 College Football Hall of Fame Class that will be inducted this December, died Friday, July 23. He was 63 and had suffered a heart attack earlier this month while undergoing back surgery. Byrd, who played defensive tackle from 1964-67 for Wolfpack and coach Earle Edwards, was the first player in Atlantic Coast Conference history to be named a three-time All-ACC selection, and he was the first NC State player ever to garner consensus All-American honors.

Navy and the NFF announced that they will jointly honor Chet Moeller with an NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute Oct. 16 as the Midshipman host SMU in Annapolis.

NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell gave an update on the activities of the NFF to the press at the SEC Media Days last week in Hoover, Ala., while NFF COO Matthew Sign gave a similar report at the Big 12 Media Days in Dallas, Texas.

The NFF announced that Brandbridge Ltd, an award winning full-service creative, film, HD video and live event production company based in suburban Philadelphia, Pa., will produce the 2010 NFF Annual Awards Dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City on Dec. 7, 2010.

Robert Morris University (Ill.) will add football in the beginning of 2012...Florida Tech recently announced the university’s next steps in developing a football program, which has been fully endorsed by the school’s board of trustees...

NFF National Scholar-Athlete Alumni Association

NFF National Scholar-Athletes Gary Beban , also a College Football Hall of Fame inductee from UCLA; Dan Glowatski (Delaware Valley, Pa.); Craig Mahoney (Iowa State); Mike Ryan (Washington); Leon Shadowen (Kentucky); Randall Stockham (Utah State); Charles Thomson (Indiana); and David Wonderlick (Susquehanna, Pa.) have renewed their memberships in the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Alumni Association.

NFF Institutional Academic Members

Fairleigh Dickinson (N.J.), College of Mount St. Joseph (Ohio), Oregon and Rowan (N.J.) have joined the NFF as Institutional Academic Members.

Chapter News

Four individuals have assumed new roles as NFF Chapter presidents: Nick Fitzgerald (Capital District, N.Y.), Greg Guarino (Touchdown Club of Houston), John Smith (Joe Mewhiney/Central Mass.) and Steve Virkler (New York State Southern Tier).

The NFF Capital District Chapter will hold its inaugural induction ceremony for its local hall of fame on Aug. 7. The class includes 19 players, five coaches, four officials and a Service to Football honoree. Former NFF Chapter president Brent Steuerwald (Shenendehowa HS) will be inducted as a coach, and University of Albany coach Bob Ford will be honored for his service to football.

The NFF Bill Dooley Triangle/East Chapter held its 8th Annual "Pigskin Preview in Durham, N.C., on July 22. The event, a yearly gathering to promote the upcoming football season with the media and fans, featured head coaches David Cutcliffe (Duke); and Butch Davis (North Carolina); Ruffin McNeill (East Carolina); Tom O'Brien (NC State); and Mose Rison (North Carolina Central).

Upcoming NFF chapter events include:

September 10, NFF Nebraska Chapter, Nebraska Hall of Fame banquet, Memorial Stadium

To become an NFF member, please contact NFF Director of Membership Ron Dilatush at 800-486-1865 or via email at rdilatush@footballfoundation.com. Worldwide membership now is at 12,000-plus in 119 chapters. Visit www.footballfoundation.org to join online.

TWO-MINUTE DRILL

Scheduling and Media

Miami (Fla.) and Notre Dame formally signed game contracts to play at Miami in 2011, at Chicago’s Soldier Field on Oct. 6, 2012, and then on a home-and-home basis beginning in 2016… CBS Sports announced it will broadcast the “Iron Bowl” on Friday, Nov. 26 when Auburn takes on rival Alabama... Tennessee and Montana agreed to a one-game deal to open the 2011 football season in Knoxville...ESPN Regional Television will debut the second season of the live SEC Studio Show one week before the season starts. The show will be hosted by Dari Nowkhah while former University of Georgia and NFF 1998 William V. Campbell Trophy winner Matt Stinchcomb will return as an analyst...Hall of Fame QB Andre Ware (Houston) will return as an analyst on the SEC Network Game of the Week...

Conference USA’s 2010 telecast schedule released last week includes 50-plus games over 11 national and regional networks... ESPN’s Rece Davis will emcee the Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon Aug. 3 in Chicago... Navy and Penn State will meet in State College on Sept. 15 in 2012... SoCon Saturday’s, the Southern Conference TV football schedule on SportsSouth, will feature eight games this fall...

Facilities

East Carolina has added 10,200 purple chairback seats at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium as part of the facility’s updates and expansion… Washington State’s Cougar Mania Strength and Conditioning Complex has finished a complete renovation…

People

Pat Haden, former 1974 NFF National Scholar-Athlete, has been named director of athletics at Southern California... California Athletics Director Sandy Barbour was selected to represent the Pac-10 Conference on the NCAA Division I Leadership Council...

Awards

The National College Football Awards Association and its members awards released their master calendar. For more information go to www.ncfaa.org... Tennessee Associate Athletics Director for Media Relations Bud Ford was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Writers Association Hall of Fame... The watch list for The Fred Mitchell Outstanding Place-Kicker Award (www.fredmitchellaward.com) will be announced in Mid-August, comprised of candidates from the 600 FCS, Division II, Division III and NAIA college football teams.

Community Service

Penn State football’s summer Lift for Life weightlifting and conditioning competition helped raise money for research against kidney cancer… More than 95 members of the Maryland football team joined Uplifting Athletes to participate in their first ever "Lift For Life" event Thursday, July 22, raising $3,700 for Boomer Esiason Foundation, which is dedicated to fighting cystic fibrosis...The Southland Conference will host an NCAA Football Youth Day Clinic at Pizza Hut Park (home of the 2010 FCS National Championship game) in Frisco, Texas Saturday, July 31...

Marketing

Nike has introduced the Tim Tebow athletics shoes line with Florida’s orange and blue colors and the traditional swoosh for the 2009 NFF William V. Campbell Award recipient, who signed with the NFL Denver Broncos...

Obituaries

2010 NFF Collage Hall of Fame inductee Dennis Byrd, 63, died last Friday in Charlotte, N.C. (see detailed obituary above)… Longtime Oberlin director of athletics and coach Joe Gurtis, 84, died in Oberlin, Ohio…New York Post award-winning sportswriter Vic Ziegel, 72, died in Bronx. N.Y...Former Oklahoma linebacker Daryl Hunt passed away at age 53... John Caine, former Oregon and San Jose State athletics director, recently passed away at age 85...

Notes

The NFF would like to thank correspondent Bo Carter for his contributions to this report. The NFF would also like to give a special thank you to correspondent Henry Benton for his contributions to Chalktalk this past year, wishing him well as he enters law school this fall at the University of Oklahoma.

NFF Chalktalk items are welcome, and should be submitted to news@footballfoundation.com.


2010 NFF On-Campus Hall of Fame Salute Dates

September 18, 2010- Alfred Williams, Colorado vs. Hawaii, Boulder, Colo. (Fox College Sports)

September 25, 2010- Ronnie Caveness, Arkansas vs. Alabama, Fayetteville, Ark.

October 16, 2010 – Chet Moeller, Navy vs. SMU, Annapolis, Md. (CBS College Sports Network)

November 6, 2010- Jerry Stovall, LSU vs. Alabama, Baton Rouge, La.

November 6, 2010- Mark Herrmann, Purdue vs. Wisconsin, West Lafayette, Ind.

November 13, 2010- Pat Tillman, Arizona State vs. Stanford, Tempe, Ariz.



2010 Key NFF Dates

Tuesday, December 7, 2010- Annual Awards Dinner Press Conference. New York City, New York

Tuesday, December 7, 2010- 53rd Annual Awards Dinner, New York City, New York

Tuesday, December 7, 2010- Presentation of the William V. Campbell Trophy, New York City, New York

Friday, December 17, 2010- NCAA Division II Football Championship Game, Florence, Ala. (ESPN)

Saturday, December 18, 2010- NCAA Division III Football Championship Game, Salem, Va. (ESPN)

Saturday, December 18, 2010- NAIA Football Championship Game, Rome, Ga. (CBS College Sports Network)

Friday, January 7, 2011- FCS National Championship Game, Frisco, Texas (ESPN)

Monday, January 10, 2011- Tostitos BCS National Championship, Glendale, Arizona (ESPN)

Tuesday, January 11, 2011- Presentation of the MacArthur Bowl, Scottsdale, Arizona

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