Spielman Inducted as 2009 College Football Hall of Fame Class Member – Ohio State Buckeyes
12/8/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
NEW YORK (AP) – Chris Spielman’s wife, Stefanie, was never impressed by all the honors her husband received for being a star linebacker at Ohio State and in the NFL.
The only one that ever got her excited was when she found out in the spring that her husband had been elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.
”There was such a genuine smile on her face and pure joy that she’d gotten out of this, because she understood what my passion for college football is. It’s amazing,” Spielman said Tuesday.
Stefanie Spielman died Nov. 19 at age 42 after a long battle with breast cancer, a few weeks before Chris was to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
”I have no doubt she’s smiling down on us today, and I take great solace and joy in that,” Spielman said during a news conference at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Manhattan.
Spielman was one of a group of 16 players and two coaches to be inducted at the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame’s awards banquet Tuesday night.
Among the others were Heisman Trophy winners Gino Torretta of Miami and Tim Brown of Notre Dame and coaches Dick MacPherson and John Robinson.
Spielman was an All-American linebacker for the Buckeyes, finishing his career in 1987 as the school’s career leader in tackles, a record he still holds.
He played 11 seasons in the NFL, mostly with the Detroit Lions, and made the Pro Bowl six times. He took a year off in 1998 to spend more time with his family as Stefanie dealt with cancer. She was 30 years old and pregnant when she was diagnosed.
He’s been working as a college football game analyst for ESPN since 2001.
The day after Stefanie Spielman died, Chris and his four children, ages 7-15, watched a video she had made for them in anticipation of her death. Chris said her message was: ”’I don’t want any of you ever to use my death as an excuse for anything, but motivation for everything.’ That helped me and that helped our kids.
”Considering the circumstances, I’m doing pretty well.”
Chris Spielman said he met Stefanie in 1982. He was 17 and she was 15. ”She was my only girlfriend,” he said.
Spielman said his wife kept him humble and grounded. ”That was one of the blessings of our marriage,” he said.
Spielman returned to work for ESPN just a few days after Stefanie’s ”celebration of life funeral.”
”My kids were asking to get back to our new normal and that’s what we did,” he said.
Spielman is the 22nd Ohio State player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The others in the latest class were: halfback Pervis Atkins of New Mexico State (1959-60); defensive back Chuck Cecil of Arizona (1984-87); fullback Ed Dyas of Auburn (1958-60); quarterback Major Harris of West Virginia (1987-89); tight end Gordon Hudson of BYU (1980-83); center William Lewis of Harvard (1892-93); linebacker Woodrow Lowe of Alabama (1972-75); wide receiver Ken Margerum of Stanford (1977-80); defensive lineman Steve McMichael of Texas (1976-79); linebacker Larry Station of Iowa (1982-85); defensive end Pat Swilling of Georgia Tech (1982-85); running back Curt Warner of Penn State (1979-82); and defensive end Grant Wistrom of Nebraska (1994-97).
Dyas, who finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1960, said he figured after all these years he had no shot at making the Hall of Fame. He was shocked when he received a package in the mail from the NFF that included a football and notice of his induction.
”This is the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me,” he said.
Also at the banquet, Florida quarterback Tim Tebow won the William V. Campbell Trophy, given to the top senior scholar-athlete in college football. He received $25,000 postgraduate scholarship money.
Texas quarterback Colt McCoy also was one of the 16 finalists from all divisions of college football. The others were: Illinois offensive lineman Jon Asamoah; BYU linebacker Matt Bauman; Minnesota receiver Eric Decker; Fresno State safety Moses Harris; Western Michigan quarterback Tim Hiller; Brown tackle Paul Jasinowski; Morningside College receiver Beau Kildow; Northern Iowa linebacker Josh Mahoney; Tusculum tight end Jarrell NeSmith; Baylor linebacker Joe Pawelek; Kansas quarterback Todd Reesing; Hardin-Simmons receiver ZaVious Robbins; Augustana College tackle Blaine Westemeyer; and West Virginia linebacker Reed Williams.
Press Conference Transcript:
THE MODERATOR: From 1984 to 1987 at Ohio State linebacker, Chris Spielman, was a two-time first team All American. Won the 1987 Lombardi Trophy and holds the school records for unassisted tackles, 283, Chris Spielman.
CHRIS SPIELMAN: Thank you. I’d like to thank the National Football Foundation for this weekend or this week. It’s just been amazing. I’d echo the thoughts of everybody here that certainly every guy would tell you that in football you’re only as good as the people around you. And you can accomplish nothing by yourself, and that’s why it’s the greatest game in the world.
For me it means I get text messages from my ex-teammates and the joy they get out of my honor, which is humbling to no end. And I guess I lost my father last year in October, and he was a high school football coach. That’s where my passion for the game comes from. And I know today he’s smiling because this is right up his ally. He would absolutely love it.
But the best way to describe it for me is my wife always looked down on individual awards. Whether we were dating in college or whether it was All-America or Lombardi Trophy. She just kind of says, yeah, yeah, whatever.
Even to the point of I was like in the top 250 finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame one year. I ran it off on the internet and hung it up on the refrigerator and grabbed her and said, hey, come look at this. She looked at it and she read it. She said, that’s great. Can you get it off the kids’ artwork?
But this was different. When I shared this with her, there was such a genuine smile on her face and pure joy that she got out of this, because she understood where my passion and what my passion for college football is. It’s amazing. I have no doubt that she’s smiling down on us today. I take great solace and joy in that. But football — nothing can be accomplished without people. And God has given me some ability and blessings through that. I’m humbled and I’m honored. And more importantly I was able to give my wife a genuine joy through football, maybe the first time she ever had it, but she got it. Thank you.
THE MODERATOR: If I might, I’d like to go back and Chris Spielman, you have not only played the game, but you have also commentated. Tell us what you see in the young men playing college football today and how the game has changed since the time you played and what you see today?
CHRIS SPIELMAN: I see more bad tackling today. I’m sorry, did I say that out loud? I’m sorry.
THE MODERATOR: Now you’ve become the analyst.
CHRIS SPIELMAN: I see the same emotion and the same passion that when we played. And there is something to be said about playing for your university to me, that is so honorable when you do that. For example, I had the privilege of playing at the Ohio State University. And that responsibility meant that you not only played for your university, your teammates and your coaches. But you played for your state. Everybody in Ohio is an Ohio State fan. To me that was something that I embraced and went after. I see that in kids today. They play hard. They play for the love of the game. I can honestly say traveling around the country along with Todd and other guys, that what I see is the same passion and the same love of the game that I had and that all of these men have up here.
