FROM UCLA:
Former UCLA and NFL football standout Randy Cross has been selected to the National Football Foundation College Football Hall of Fame, it was announced today. The 2010 class includes 12 players and two coaches from the Football Bowl Subdivision. Cross is the 13th Bruin to be selected for the NFF Hall of Fame. The list includes nine other players (Troy Aikman, 2008; Gary Beban, 1988; Kenny Easley, 1991; Tom Fears, 1976; Bill Kilmer, 1999; Donn Moomaw, 1973; Jerry Robinson, 1996; Al Sparlis, 1983; and Kenny Washington, 1956) and three coaches (Terry Donahue, 2000; Tommy Prothro, 1991; and Red Sanders, 1996).
Cross lined up at both center and guard for UCLA in the 1973-74-75 seasons for coaches Pepper Rodgers (’73) and Dick Vermeil (’74-75). He started 28 of his 34 career games for the Bruins, including his final 23 straight, and was named a first-team All-American in 1975. UCLA posted a record of 24-7-3 during his career. Cross was a member of the 1976 UCLA Rose Bowl team that defeated top-ranked Ohio State in Pasadena by a score of 23-10.
Cross went on to be selected in the second round of the 1976 NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers. He played guard and center for 13 seasons with San Francisco, from 1976-88, and was on teams which captured the 1982, 1985 and 1989 Super Bowl Championship. Cross was selected to three Pro Bowls (1982, 82, 84) in his career and earned All-Pro honors in six seasons. He was a four-time first-team All-NFC performer and played his final NFL contest during a 20-16 win over the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1989 Super Bowl. Cross was voted the 49ers’ Man of the Year in 1985 for his extensive work in the community.
Cross has continued his association with the game of football as an announcer for college and NFL games. He worked from 1989-93 as an analyst on CBS Sports’ coverage of the NFL. He then covered NFL games for NBC before going back to CBS in 1998 as one of the studio analysts on The NFL Today show. Cross returned to the CBS broadcast booth in 2002 for its coverage of the NFL. He currently co-hosts a program which airs on Sirius Radio’s NFL Network. In 2009, Cross began work as an analyst for CBS College Sports TV in its coverage of the U.S. Naval Academy’s football games.
Cross was chosen from the national ballot of 77 candidates and a pool of hundreds of eligible nominees. A player must have received first-team All-America honors by an NCAA recognized selector and becomes eligible for consideration ten years after his final year of intercollegiate football has been played. While each nominee’s football achievements in college are of prime importance in the selection process, his post football record as a citizen is also weighed.
“I’m extremely proud and humbled to be selected and to be part of such a special College Football Hall of Fame class,” said Cross. “My teammates at UCLA share in this honor, for without their help and influences, this would not be possible. To them, I say thank you.”
“My late father, Dennis Cross, raised me to be a Bruin and my mother, Rita, was manager at Dykstra and Sproul Residence Halls on campus, so UCLA has been a part of my life ever since I can remember. Joining some of the legendary Bruins in the College Football Hall of Fame is a dream come true for a young boy who grew up in Tarzana. ”
“Coaches from UCLA shaped me as a young man, taught me lessons, on and off the field, and helped in life well after I left Westwood. I owe those men — Steve Butler, Moe Freedman, Terry Donahue, Pepper Rodgers, Dick Vermeil and Bobb McKittrick — more than I can ever repay.”
The new class of NFF Hall of Famers, which features players Dennis Byrd,dt-NC State, Ronnie Caveness,c-Arkansas, Ray Childress,dl-Texas A&M, Cross,ol-UCLA, Sam Cunningham,rb-Southern California, Mark Herrmann,qb-Purdue, Clarkston Hines,wr-Duke, Desmond Howard,wr-Michigan, Chet Moeller,db-Naval Academy, Jerry Stovall,hb-LSU, Pat Tillman,lb-Arizona State, Alfred Williams,lb-Colorado and coaches Barry Alvarez-Wisconsin and Gene Stallings-Texas A&M/ Alabama, will be honored at an induction dinner on Dec. 7, 2010 in New York City. The induction ceremony will be held at the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, IN in July of 2011.