Northwestern University Athletics
Pat Fitzgerald Named a "Big Ten Icon"
9/6/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 6, 2010
CHICAGO -- The Big Ten Network has named Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald as Big Ten Icon number 41, the network announced today (Sept. 6). Big Ten Icons, presented by Discover, is the network's most ambitious multi-platform initiative to date. The program is counting down the top 50 student-athletes in Big Ten history on www.BigTenIcons.com based solely on their collegiate playing careers.
Fitzgerald, a Northwestern linebacker from 1993-96, received just three Division I scholarship offers, but by the time he finished his Northwestern playing career, he was college football's first two-time winner of the Bednarik and Nagurski Awards. As a junior, the native of Orland Park, Ill., helped the Wildcats to their first Big Ten title since 1936 and first Rose Bowl appearance since 1949. In his two years as a starter, Northwestern posted a 15-1 record in Big Ten play. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008. In an essay for www.BigTenIcons.com, former Chicago Tribune sports editor Dan McGrath writes, "Few people have made a more significant impact on their school's football fortunes. Eighteen years later, `Fitz' remains the face of Northwestern football." To read the entire essay and watch a video feature on Fitzgerald, visit his Big Ten Icons locker at www.BigTenIcons.com.
Icons 50 through 21 are being unveiled through Sept. 16 at www.BigTenIcons.com. The website also features essays, videos and other key facts about each student-athletes' career. Viewers also can participate in the "Talk of the Locker Room" contest with a chance to win the $10,000 grand prize. Weekly winners will take home a 55-inch Phillips HD television.
The television show, hosted by legendary college sports broadcaster Keith Jackson, debuts Sept. 18 following a Big Ten Network football telecast in which Icon No. 20 will be revealed. The countdown continues at 8 p.m. CT every Tuesday night through the end of football season and into the spring. The No. 1 Big Ten Icon will be revealed around the 2011 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament.
About the Big Ten Network: A joint venture between the Big Ten Conference and Fox Networks, the Big Ten Network is the first internationally distributed network dedicated to covering one of the premier collegiate conferences in the country. With approximately 350 live sporting events, and nearly all of them in HD, the network is the ultimate destination for Big Ten fans and alumni across the country, allowing them to see their favorite teams, regardless of where they live. The network operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, showcasing a wide array of classic-to-current sports and televising more Olympic sporting events and women's sports than has ever been aired on any other network. Original programming highlights activities and accomplishments of some of the nation's finest universities. Each year, the network offers between 35 and 40 football games, 105 regular season men's basketball games; 55 women's basketball games; dozens of Big Ten Championship events; studio shows; coaches' shows; and classic games. The network is available to more than 75 million homes across the United States and Canada, and currently has agreements with more than 300 affiliates, including AT&T U-Verse, Atlantic Broadband, Cablevision, Charter, Comcast, Cox (Cleveland, Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas, Omaha), DirecTV, DISH Network, Insight, Mediacom, Rogers Cable (Canada), Shaw Cable and Shaw Direct (Canada), Time Warner Cable and Verizon FiOS. For updated information on the Big Ten Network, go to www.BigTenNetwork.com.
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