Northwestern University Athletics
Pat Fitzgerald Inducted into College Football's Hall of Fame
12/9/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 9, 2008
Read veteran NU beat writer Larry Watts' story on Fitz's induction at BigTen.org.
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern head coach and former two-time All-America linebacker Pat Fitzgerald officially was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame Tuesday night (Dec. 9) along with 14 other members of the National Football Foundation's Class of 2008.
Festivities began at 8:30 a.m. CT with the NFF's press conference at the Waldorf=Astoria Hotel in New York, N.Y., which was broadcast live by CBS College Sports Network.
The press conference featured features National Football Foundation Chairman Archie Manning, 2008 Distinguished American Award recipient T. Boone Pickens, NFF Gold Medal recipient John Glenn, NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell and the 2008 College Football Hall of Fame Class, which is comprised of Troy Aikman (UCLA), Billy Cannon (LSU), Jim Dombrowski (Virginia), Pat Fitzgerald (Northwestern), Wilber Marshall (Florida), Rueben Mayes (Washington State), Randall McDaniel (Arizona State), Don McPherson (Syracuse), Jay Novacek (Wyoming), Dave Parks (Texas Tech), Ron Simmons (Florida State), Thurman Thomas (Oklahoma State), Arnold Tucker (Army) and coaches John Cooper and Lou Holtz.
The Hall of Fame Class of 2008 was then honored at 5:30 p.m. CT at the annual Awards Dinner in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria. The following is Fitzgerald's profile taken from the Dinner Program:
Pat Fitzgerald was a reluctant participant in Pee Wee Football, but he quickly learned about putting on his pads, the team concept and the camaraderie born on the field. Those lessons would eventually lead him to star for Northwestern University as a linebacker-tackle machine in the mid 1990s.
"I remember coming home after school and putting our uniforms on and I said I didn't want to go," Fitzgerald said. "That was the first lesson I learned in football from my mother and my father -- you are never going to quit. You persevere and don't quit.
"When I didn't think I could do anything except maybe play in high school, my linebackers coach said, `You have an opportunity and we are going to take advantage of it.' I would come in at 6 a.m., 7 a.m. in the morning and work out before school. I never dreamed I was going to have an opportunity to play college football. And then that opportunity happened for me at Northwestern."
Coming out of Carl Sandburg High School (Ill.), Fitzgerald remembers struggling to become a starter at Northwestern, then a fledgling Big Ten team under Coach Gary Barnett.
"I talked to Coach Barnett after they gave me the call and let him know I was going to be bestowed this honor," Fitzgerald remembered. "I said, `Coach I remember back to spring practice of sophomore year, I just wanted to find a way to get out on the field and start.' And he chuckled and said, `Yeah, you barely made it.' And I thought that was pretty ironic going from a team that hadn't had a winning season since 1971 to going 15-1 (over two seasons in league play) and winning back-to-back Big Ten championships. I sit here today because of the team not because of me. And I mean that with all sincerity."
Northwestern led the nation in scoring defense (12.7 ppg) in 1995, won the Big Ten title and lost to Southern California, 41-32, in the Rose Bowl without Fitzgerald, who suffered a broken leg late in the season.
"He was the heart and soul, nuts and bolts of that Rose Bowl defense," said former Bowling Green head coach Gregg Brandon, a former Northwestern assistant. "He didn't get to play in the Rose Bowl because of his injury. And I remember going into the training room after the game he got hurt in, and I told him, `We'll be OK. We will be alright without you.' He looked up to me and said, `Coach, I'll be there. Of course, he meant in spirit. And he really was."
Fitzgerald returned for his senior season as the Wildcats tied Ohio State for another Big Ten title, copping back-to-back national defensive player of the year honors as Northwestern's Cinderella run continued.
"He was a heady player with great instincts and fundamentally was one of the best linebackers I have ever coached," said Penn State linebacker coach Ron Vanderlinden, who coached Fitzgerald at NU. "Pat played with tremendous passion and a relentless resolve. He also was a natural leader."
After graduation, Fitzgerald worked his way up through the assistant's ranks at several schools, returning to his alma mater in 2001 as an assistant on Randy Walker's staff. Walker died suddenly in July, 2006, and Fitzgerald became the youngest head coach in major-college football.
