Collegiate football Hall of Famers

The newest inductees to the College Football Hall of Fame were announced Wednesday.
They include Heisman Trophy winner QB Doug Flutie of Boston College and TV personality Ahmed Rashad, who was known as Bobby Moore at Oregon as a slotback-receiver.
Others going to the College hall are Indiana running back Anthony Thompson, Oklahoma center Tom Brahaney, Clemson linebacker Jeff Davis, Texas defensive back Johnnie Johnson, Ohio State’s legendary quarterback Rex Kern, linebacker Reggie Williams of Dartmouth, USC linebacker Richard Wood, Notre Dame defensive tackle Chris Zorich and Central Michigan coach Herb Deromedi.
Two other names are included with whom I have a personal contact.
I knew Michigan defensive back Dave Brown in college; a quiet guy who did his talking on the field. A GREAT PLAYER!
The official record will list Dave Brown as the 33rd Wolverine to be inducted and just one of 17 Wolverines to be a two-time All-American (1973-74). He had nine interceptions, 173 tackles and was an excellent punt returner – 48 returns for 531 yards (11.7 avg.), and three touchdowns.
Although drafted by the Steelers, he played 11 seasons with Seattle and four with Green Bay. He did get a Super Bowl ring for the lone year in Pittsburgh (1975) and earned All-Pro honors in 1984.
After his playing days, he coached cornerbacks for the Seahawks from 1992-98; retired briefly and then was at Texas Tech from 2001-05 when a heart attack took his life in January, 2006.
He was all of 52 – just a couple of years younger than me, but we were in the same collegiate class as students.
I will always remember Dave Brown for his kinship as a Michigan football player and being part of an unofficial fraternity known as the Den of the Mellow Men. Started by a clique of African-American team members, Brown joined after the likes of Reggie McKenzie and Billy Taylor who proudly walk among the Ann Arbor campus together and lived together in a particular house.
Brown was always seen with HIS running buddy, quarterback Dennis Franklin, two Ohio lads playing for Michigan. They could be seen everywhere in Brown’s golden Oldsmobile convertible with Brown’s prominent Afro hairstyle, one of the more pronounced and buoyant of any team member hairdo, an easy sight to behold.
Their head coach, Bo Schembechler, would often bark (he never scream but barking would be quite common), for Brown and when his defensive star would find him, Bo was actually asking for Franklin’s whereabouts.
“How would I know, coach?” Brown would ask.
“Because you don’t go anywhere without him and vive versa,” Bo would answer.
I’ve also come to learn that Deromedi was a Michigan graduate, posting a 110-55-10 record at Central Michigan (1978-93). He then became athletic director for CMU from 1994-2006.
The late Wilson Whitley came out of Brenham, Texas (as a Cub) and went almost unnoticed to the University of Houston as a defensive tackle, playing for Coach Bill Yeoman at UH.
Whitley was also a great HS pitcher and played on the same football and baseball team as Baylor’s running back Cleveland Franklin.
One of the stories I tell happened when I first arrived in Houston in 1976, and went to the Astrodome to do a feature story on the making of a made-for-TV movie, “Murder in Box 352.” It would later be aired as “Murder at the World Series” and it was a work of complete fiction since it had the Houston Astros (in those old softball, multi-orange uniforms) actually winning one.
(I got to eat lunch with Karen Valentine of “Room 222” fame and the great Michael Parks, who was supposed to be the next James Dean … but wasn’t.).
Actors in A’s uniforms were extras, including two members of the UH football team. Wearing Vida Blue’s uniform (as a right-hander not as the real lefty) was Danny Davis, an unknown quarterback who would shock the Southwest Conference in leading Houston to the Cotton Bowl.
The other was Wilson Whitley, who stayed seated in the Astrodome dugout as the long process of filming took place.
No one talked to Davis, except this brand new sports editor from Conroe (yours truly) and Davis was ready to tell anyone within ear shot that UH was going to win the conference.
“Just ask my man over there,” Davis would say, pointing to a resting Whitley, slightly larger than the average Oakland player. “Whit, are we gonna win?”
Whitley simply shook his head affirmatively, and laughed.
He became an All-American defensive tackle but never made it in the professional ranks.
When I covered UH that season, Davis and Whitley would always remind me of that afternoon in the Dome – of the prediction and the actors they found so fascinating.
Whitley died far too early in life as did Dave Brown.
Don’t we all.