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Cunningham On The Ballot
March 9, 2006 LAS VEGAS - Former UNLV great and current Las Vegas resident Randall Cunningham is a member of the National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame Ballot for the first time, the New Jersey-based organization announced on Thursday. Nominated by UNLV's sports information department, Cunningham was submitted to one of eight district screening committees, which conducted a vote to determine who would appear on the national ballot. If inducted he would be the first Rebel to make the hall of fame. The 2006 ballot includes 77 players and seven coaches who will vie for college football's ultimate honor. Cunningham, who was a starter at two positions, is the only punter on the list, and leads a stellar class of first-time nominees that includes Ahmad Rashad (Oregon), Bruce Smith (Virginia Tech) and Emmitt Smith (Florida). "Selecting the greatest players and coaches in the history of the game for induction into the Hall of Fame is an awesome responsibility," NFF president Steven J. Hatchell said. "It's our honor to preserve their legacies as an inspiration for future generations of players and fans." The ballot was mailed this week to the more than 12,000 NFF members whose votes will be tabulated and submitted to the NFF's Honors Court, which deliberates and selects the class. The Hall of Fame Class will be announced on May 16 and inducted at The National Football Foundation's 49th Awards Dinner on Dec. 5, 2006, at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. Honorees will be officially enshrined at the hall in South Bend, Ind., in the summer of 2007. 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 collegiate football at least 10 years prior, played within the last 50 years and be retired from playing professional football. The candidate's post-football record as a citizen may also be weighed. While an offensive force on the field, Cunningham earned All-America honors primarily as a punter. He did not start kicking until the middle of his sophomore season at UNLV and fell just eight career attempts short of the NCAA minimum for records for career punting statistics. If he had punted just eight more times during his career, he would have the third-best career punting average in college history (for 150-249 career punts). Still both the career passing and punting leader at UNLV, Cunningham finished his collegiate career by leading the Rebels to their first-ever bowl-game appearance -- a 30-13 victory over Toledo in the California Bowl in 1984. The first quarterback selected in the 1985 NFL Draft when he went No. 37 overall to the Eagles, Cunningham went on to turn in a hall-of-fame-level professional career and remains the NFL's all-time leading rushing quarterback with 4,928 yards. A four-time Pro Bowl invitee, he still ranks in the top 25 in league history for passing yards, touchdowns and completions and was named the 1998 NFL Offensive Player of the Year while with the Vikings. 2006 Division I-A Player Candidates
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