Tressel will be honored during YSU game Saturday

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Youngstown State President Jim Tressel — a member of the 2015 induction class of the College Football Hall of Fame — will be honored Saturday night during the Penguins’ game against Illinois State.

Tressel, who coached at YSU from 1986-2000 and at Ohio State from 2001-10, will be honored between the first and second quarters of Saturday night’s game, which will begin at 7 p.m. at Stambaugh Stadium.

YSU and the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame announced the NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute, presented by Fidelity Investments, on Wednesday.

“It is an extraordinary honor to have been selected by the National Football Foundation as a member of the 2015 class of the College Football Hall of Fame,” Tressel said after the original announcement in January. “To be inducted alongside such a distinguished group of players and coaches, and to join the previously elected members, is certainly humbling. I am forever indebted to the outstanding student-athletes and coaches that have made this moment possible.”

Tressel’s YSU teams won four Division I-AA national championships (1991, ’93, ’94 and ’97) and the Penguins twice were runners-up under his leadership. Tressel’s 2002 Ohio State won a BCS national championship and two other Buckeyes teams played in BCS title games during his 10 years in Columbus. Tressel’s career record is 229-79-2 (.742). He is the College Football Hall of Fame inductee — player or coach — from YSU.

“Coach Jim Tressel’s name will always be synonymous with Youngstown State,” said NFF President and CEO Steve Hatchell. “He led the Penguins to their most successful period in history, including an extraordinary four FCS national championships in six appearances in the title game. We are thrilled to honor him in front of the Penguin faithful at Stambaugh Stadium.”

Tressel’s late father Lee — the long-time coach at Baldwin-Wallace — is also a College Football Hall of Famer. Jim Tressel’s induction will make them the first father-son coaching combination in the history of the Hall. A member of the YSU Hall of Fame, Jim Tressel is also enshrined in the Greater Cleveland Sports and Baldwin-Wallace Athletics Halls of Fame. After his coaching days, Tressel served as a consultant for the Indianapolis Colts and as vice president of Strategic Engagement for the University of Akron before becoming president at YSU in July 2014.

In addition to Tressel, the 2015 College Football Hall of Fame Class will be officially inducted at the 58th NFF Annual Awards Dinner, held at New York City’s historic Waldorf Astoria Hotel on Dec. 8. This year’s College Football Hall of Fame Class includes: Trev Alberts (Nebraska), Brian Bosworth (Oklahoma), Bob Breunig (Arizona State), Sean Brewer (Millsaps [Miss.]), Ruben Brown (Pittsburgh), Wes Chandler (Florida), Thom Gatewood (Notre Dame), Dick Jauron (Yale), Clinton Jones (Michigan State), Lincoln Kennedy (Washington), the late Rob Lytle (Michigan), Michael Payton (Marshall), Art Still (Kentucky), Zach Thomas (Texas Tech), Ricky Williams (Texas) and coach Bill Snyder (Kansas State).