Honor the Heroes of the Game, Preserve its History, Promote its Values & Celebrate Excellence EVERYWHERE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE @ProFootballHOF 02/03/16

Contact: Pete Fierle, Chief of Staff & Vice President of Communications [email protected]; 330-588-3622

PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME HONORS NATIONAL CHAMPION MOUNT UNION GOLD JACKET FLOYD LITTLE AND NFL LEGEND CHRIS SPIELMAN INSPIRE PURPLE RAIDERS

CANTON, OHIO – The National Football League will crown the champion of its 96th season on Sunday in Super Bowl 50. The Pro Football Hall of Fame will be on hand that day as the newly elected Class of 2016 will be introduced to the Levi’s® Stadium crowd.

Last Sunday, another celebration of a championship was celebrated at the Pro Football Hall of Fame when the Hall paid tribute to the recent NCAA Division III national football championship won by Mount Union University. An audience that included the players, parents, and others from the Purple Raiders football community jammed into the Hall’s Event Center for a special tribute labeled “Celebrate Excellence EVERYWHERE.” The theme is a key part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Mission Statement.

The program featured a roundtable discussion with a spectacular panel of Gold Jacket Floyd Little, former NFL linebacker and current ESPN/ABC analyst Chris Spielman, Mount Union athletic director and former football coach Larry Kehres and current Mount Union head football coach Vince Kehres. Hall of Fame President David Baker moderated the “chalk talk” that focused on how to sustain excellence by emphasizing the values of the game.

"Our mission statement includes promoting the values of the game and celebrating excellence and Mount Union has done that with a record 12 NCAA championships since 1993," Baker shared.

Little, who was enshrined into the Hall of Fame in 2010 after a spectacular career as a running back with the Denver Broncos from 1967 to 1975, provided this advice to the audience. "I carried the ball over 1,500 times and scored 55 touchdowns which means I was knocked down 1,455 times,” Little said. “It was how I got up doubly determined to fight for more, which got me into the Hall of Fame."

COMMITMENT • INTEGRITY • COURAGE • RESPECT • EXCELLENCE

Spielman who grew up in neighboring Massillon, Ohio was a star linebacker at Ohio State before embarking on a great career in the NFL most notably with the Detroit Lions. He talked about the game on many levels and also shared how it helped him face losing his first wife Stefanie to breast cancer in 2009. Since then, he has led the charge and helped raise, to date, $17 million for the Stefanie Spielman Fund for Breast Cancer Research.

"I had defined my life as a football player, but it is only when I used the lessons of the game which taught me that the more adversity I overcame the stronger I became which helped me overcome life challenges," he explained.

The event is the first of what may be a tradition of celebrating football excellence on all levels. Plans are underway to invite each of this past season’s champions to Canton.

"This is a tradition that we want to continue and we will be extending invitations to Alabama, North Dakota State and Northwest Missouri State to celebrate their excellence at the Hall,” Pro Football Hall of Fame Executive Vice President George Veras stated.

At the conclusion of the event, the Mount Union football team broke into groups by position and received guided tours of the Hall of Fame by museum docents.

"It was a day we will never forget and it has inspired us. It was incredible to hear from Floyd and Chris and to have the Hall honor us," Vince Kehres stated.

About the Pro Football Hall of Fame Located in Canton, Ohio, the birthplace of the National Football League, the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Mission is to Honor the Heroes of the Game, Preserve its History, Promote its Values, & Celebrate Excellence EVERYWHERE.

Hundreds of thousands of fans from across the globe travel to Canton annually to experience the exciting museum that chronicles America’s most popular sport. Millions more are reached through the Hall of Fame’s 100-plus special events held annually outside Canton and through the multiple nationally broadcast programs focused on the selection of the newest Class of Enshrinees and the Enshrinement Weekend. This year, the NFL’s Road to Super Bowl 50 began in Canton during the 2015 Enshrinement Weekend and will continue through the election of the Hall’s new class of enshrinees on the eve of the Super Bowl in San Francisco. Now in its third year of traveling, Gridiron Glory: The Best of the Pro Football Hall of Fame is a large-scale traveling exhibition that presents a panoramic view of pro football’s story and includes hundreds of artifacts from the Hall’s expansive collection. Gridiron Glory will be showcased at the Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara, Calif., site of Super Bowl 50, from Jan. 18-April 3, 2016 and is scheduled for three-month stays at various museums and cultural institutions through 2019. Enshrinees from the Class of 2015 along with numerous other Hall of Fame members received the spectacular Hall of Fame Ring of Excellence by Kay® Jewelers during ceremonies held in NFL stadiums during 13 of the 17 weeks of the 2015 NFL regular season. The Hometown Hall of Famer™ program presented by Ford honors Hall of Fame heroes with a program and permanent plaque to honor the Hall of Famer’s hometown support. Now in its 4th year, the US Army- Pro Football Hall of Fame Award for Excellence honors 20 high school students nationally for excellence in community service, academics and athletics. Construction on HOF Village, a $476 million development project, is under way in Canton to transform the Hall of Fame’s campus.

For more information about the Pro Football Hall of Fame, please visit ProFootballHOF.com; @ProFootballHOF on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

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COMMITMENT • INTEGRITY • COURAGE • RESPECT • EXCELLENCE