For the second straight year, John “Jumbo” Elliott was added to the National Football Foundation’s list of 77 players who are on the ballott for induction into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Elliott, who graduated from Sachem in 1983, was a two-time First Team All-American (consensus in ’87) at the University of Michigan. He was a two-time All-Big Ten First Team selection and a member of the 1986 Big Ten Co-Champion Michigan team that also lost in the Rose Bowl to Arizona State.
Elliott red shirted his freshman year at Michigan, then started the next four, going to five different bowl games during his career, including the Sugar Bowl (9-7 loss to Auburn early in 1984), Holiday Bowl (24-17 loss to Brigham Young late in 1984), the Fiesta Bowl (27-23 win over Nebraska in 1986), the Rose Bowl and the Hall of Fame Bowl (28-24 loss to Alabama in 1988).
He started as an offensive lineman as a sophomore and improved quickly. As written before, legendary Michigan coach Bo Schembechler took credit for calling him Jumbo first, as Elliott grew to 6-7 while at Michigan. He finished as one of the biggest players ever in program history at 6-7 and 306 pounds, according to the school’s website.
Following college, Elliott was drafted by the Giants and spent more than 10 years in the NFL, all with the G-Men and the New York Jets. He was an integral part of the Giants’ 1990 Super Bowl championship team. Elliott was also an inaugural inductee into Sachem’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003 and has his No. 76 retired at Sachem.
Like last year, there is a strong contingent from Michigan and Michigan State on the ballott. Also from Wolverine country is Erick Anderson, a former Butkus Award winner, and Robert Lytle, who placed third in the Heisman Trophy race in 1976.
Elliott is joined by fellow Long Island native Vinny Testaverde on the ballott. Testeverde, who played quarterback at Sewanhaka High and at Miami, was on the Jets with Elliott and threw him the famed “Monday Night Miracle” touchdown pass against the Dolphins.
The ballot was mailed this week to the more than 12,000 NFF members and current Hall of Famers whose votes will be tabulated and submitted to the NFF’s Honors Court, which deliberates and selects the class, according to a release from the National Football Foundation.
“It’s an enormous honor to just be on the ballot when you think that more than 4.92 million people have played college football,” said NFF President & CEO Steven J. Hatchell. “The Hall’s requirement of being a First-Team All-American creates a much smaller pool of only 1,500 individuals who are even eligible to be on the ballot, so being in today’s group of 77 names means an individual is truly among the greatest to ever have played the game, and we are proud to announce their names today.”
The FBS Hall of Fame Class will be announced live in New York City on May 7 from the NASDAQ OMX Market Site and inducted at the 56th NFF Annual Awards Dinner Dec. 10 at the landmark Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.
To be eligible for the ballot, players must have been named a First Team All-America by a major/national selector as recognized and utilized by the NCAA for their consensus All-America teams; played their last year of intercollegiate football at least ten years prior; played within the last 50 years and cannot be currently playing professional football.
Other notable players on the ballott
- Brian Bosworth, Oklahoma, linebacker
- Ron Rivera, California, linebacker
- Sterling Sharpe, South Carolina, wide receiver
- Vinny Testeverde, Miami, quarterback
- Derrick Thomas, Alabama, linebacker
- Zach Thomas, Texas Tech, linebacker
Related links
- Check out the complete list of players on this year’s ballott
- Read a story in the Detroit News about Michigan’s ballott names
- Read all stories on Sachem Report that mention Jumbo
-Words by Chris R. Vaccaro