Former Cyclone named to Hall of Fame

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By Steve Batterson | Thursday, May 01, 2008 | No comments posted

Former Iowa State football MVP John Cooper, who made his mark in the coaching ranks as the first coach to lead both a Big Ten and Pac-10 team to victories in the Rose Bowl, is one of the 15 individuals named Thursday as 2008 selections to the College Football Hall of Fame from the Football Bowl Subdivision.

The Tennessee native lettered at Iowa State from 1959-61as a tailback. As a senior, he received both the Reuben Miller Award as the player whose conduct on and off the field made the greatest contribution to the ISU team and the Al and Dean Knudson Award for his work as the team's captain that season.

Cooper, who coached teams at Tulsa, Arizona State and Ohio State to a combined 192-84-6 record, was one of two coaches selected Thursday. Lou Holtz, who had a career record of 249-132-7 in stops at William & Mary, North Carolina State, Arkansas, Minnesota, Notre Dame and South Carolina, is the other.

Players named are Troy Aikman, Billy Cannon, Jim Dombrowski, Pat Fitzgerald, Wilber Marshall, Rueben Mayes, Randall McDaniel, Don McPherson, Jay Novacek, Dave Parks, Ron Simmons, Thurman Thomas and Arnold Tucker.

The group will be inducted at the National Football Foundation's annual dinner in New York City in December and enshrined at Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind., in the summer of 2009.

Former Iowa linebacker Larry Station was among 75 players on this year's ballot.

Steve Batterson can be contacted at (563) 383-2290 or sbatterson@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.