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Senior Bowl Announces 2008
Hall Of Fame Class
Football greats Kevin Mawae and Brian
Urlacher will be honored with induction into prestigious group.
[Complete
List of Senior Bowl Hall of Fame Members]
MOBILE, Ala. (January 15, 2008) --
Senior Bowl officials announced on Tuesday that two of the NFL’s biggest
current stars – linebacker Brian Urlacher, the 2005 NFL Defensive Player
of the Year, and six-time Pro Bowl offensive lineman Kevin Mawae -- will
make up the 2008 class of inductees into the Senior Bowl Hall of Fame,
sponsored by Regions Bank and Mobile Gas.
In addition to the two-member 2008 class,
game officials also announced that the NFL stars would be formally
inducted during a reception at The Country Club of Mobile on Friday,
January 25.
Both inductees will also be introduced to
the crowd during pre-game ceremonies prior to the 2008 Under Armour
Senior Bowl game set for Ladd-Peebles Stadium on January 26.
Kevin Mawae
“When you consider that our Hall of Fame
represents just the top two percent of the over 4,000 outstanding
collegiate and NFL stars who have played in the Senior Bowl since 1950,
it puts into perspective just how special this group really is,” said
Senior Bowl President Steve Hale. “We have an outstanding pair of
inductees this year in Brian and Kevin, two of the biggest stars in the
NFL today.”
Established in 1988, the Senior Bowl Hall
of Fame, sponsored by Regions Bank and Mobile Gas, seeks to pay tribute
to the many former Senior Bowl players, coaches and administrators who
have made lasting contributions to the game of football.
A total of 89 of the most recognizable
names in football history have been inducted into the Hall of Fame since
its inception, and the list includes players such as Joe Namath, Walter
Payton, Sam Huff, Bo Jackson, Dan Marino and Brett Favre, just to name a
few.
Urlacher, the 2005 NFL Defensive Player of
the Year and Chicago Bears linebacker, has been one of the game’s
premier defensive players since entering the NFL eight seasons ago.
Urlacher brought his unique talents to the
2000 Senior Bowl following an All-American career at the University of
New Mexico where he played safety, wide receiver and also returned
kickoffs and punts. After playing linebacker for the first time in his
career during Senior Bowl Week 2000, he became the ninth overall
selection in the first-round of the NFL Draft by the Bears.
Brian Urlacher
He has now been selected to six NFL Pro
Bowl squads in eight seasons, while registering 965 career tackles, the
most ever for a Bears player in his first eight years.
Named the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the
Year in 2000, he was also the Bears’ first rookie Pro Bowler since 1990.
During the 2006 season, he recorded 185 total tackles and helped lead
the Bears to an appearance in Super Bowl XLI.
A four-time All-SEC selection at LSU who
played guard, center and tackle during his collegiate career, Mawae
starred in the 1994 Senior Bowl before becoming a second-round selection
in the 1994 NFL Draft by the Seattle Seahawks.
He quickly developed into one of the NFL’s
premier centers, earning first-team All-Rookie honors in 1994, and would
start for the next four seasons with the Seahawks. He spent the next
eight years with the New York Jets, for whom he enjoyed six straight NFL
Pro Bowl seasons from 1999-2004.
In 2005, he took his talents to the
Tennessee Titans, where his leadership, veteran savvy and athleticism
has played a pivotal role in the development of the Titans’ offense and
second-year quarterback Vince Young, enabling the Titans to make the
playoffs for the first time in four seasons in 2007.
Tickets to the 2008 Under Armour Senior
Bowl sell for $24, $18 and $12 each and can be purchased online through
the bowl’s website at
www.seniorbowl.com or by calling the ticket office at 251-432-4109.
[Complete
List of Senior Bowl Hall of Fame Members]
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