IRVING, Texas (Oct. 4) – California (PA) and The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame announced today that they will jointly honor 2022 College Football Hall of Fame electee Coach John Luckhardt with an NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute, presented by Fidelity Investments®. The Salute will take place this Saturday, Oct. 8, during the Vulcans' home football game against IUP. The game will kick off at Noon ET on the PSAC Sports Digital Network.
 
"This is a tremendous career accomplishment for Coach Luckhardt and we are excited for him and his family," said Cal athletics director Dr. Karen Hjerpe. "The impact he had on our football program, and entire athletic department, cannot be overstated. In addition to all the victories, Coach Luckhardt was a true developer of young men throughout his entire coaching career."
 
The NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute program, which began with the inaugural College Football Hall of Fame Class in 1951, has become a hallowed tradition, and to this day the singular events remain the first of numerous activities in the Hall of Fame experience.
 
During the NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salutes, each electee returns to his respective school to accept a Hall of Fame plaque that will stay on permanent display at the institution. The events take place on the field during a home game, and many Hall of Famers cite the experience as the ultimate capstone to their careers, providing them one more chance to take the field and be recognized in front of their home crowd.
 
The 2022 College Football Hall of Fame Class will be officially inducted during the 64th NFF Annual Awards Dinner Presented by Las Vegas on Dec. 6 at the Bellagio Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Click here for more information on the Awards Dinner, including options to purchase tickets online, special travel rates to the event from Delta Air Lines and Bellagio and a concierge service provided by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
 
"Coach John Luckhardt was a major presence in Western Pennsylvania football, and he remains Cal's all-time winningest head coach," said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. "We are thrilled to honor him at Adamson Stadium for his upcoming College Football Hall of Fame induction."
 
Coach Luckhardt turned two programs into perennial national contenders, winning an astounding 76.1 percent of his combined games at Washington & Jefferson College and California University of Pennsylvania.
 
Luckhardt led the program at Cal U from 2002-11. His tenure with the Vulcans witnessed the best 10-year stint in school history, and he exited as the school's all-time winningest coach with an 88-33 overall record. He led Cal U to the NCAA Division II Semifinals in three consecutive seasons after capturing NCAA Regional titles in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
 
The 2008 season marked the program's first Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) championship since 1984. Two more playoff appearances in his final two years at Cal U gave him five consecutive seasons of double-digit victories and five NCAA Division II Playoff appearances along with seven consecutive PSAC West titles.

Prior to his time at Cal U, Luckhardt led the program at Washington & Jefferson from 1982-98. When he arrived at W&J in 1982, he inherited a team that had only produced four winning campaigns in the previous 17 seasons. By 1984, Luckhardt had turned the Presidents into a 9-2 team, winning the team's first Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) title and earning the school's first trip to the NCAA Division III playoffs.
 
The program never looked back, amassing winning records every season under his watch, culminating in 1998 with a 137-37-2 record during his 17-year tenure.
 
Under Luckhardt's guidance, W&J claimed 13 PAC championships and made 11 appearances in the NCAA Playoffs, including two trips to the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl (1992 and 1994). In 1992, he was named the AFCA National Coach of the Year, and CNN named him the Division III Coach of the Year in 1994.
 
Overall, Luckhardt's teams appeared in 16 NCAA playoffs during his 27-year coaching career, and he coached 13 AFCA First Team All-Americans, 11 Academic All-Americans and two NFF National Scholar-Athletes. He was named the PAC Coach of the Year 11 times and the PSAC West Coach of the Year once.
 
A native of Western Pennsylvania, Luckhardt played at Purdue for College Football Hall of Fame Coach Jack Mollenkopf, and he was the center on the 1967 Rose Bowl team that beat USC. He began his coaching career at Northern Illinois and then Lehigh.
 
Luckhardt has been inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports, the Washington & Jefferson College Athletics and the California University of Pennsylvania Athletic halls of fame. From 1994-98, he served on the AFCA Board of Directors. From 1996-98, Luckhardt also served as Washington & Jefferson's Director of Athletics.
 
Luckhardt becomes the first ever College Football Hall of Fame inductee from Cal U.
 
The 2022 College Football Hall of Fame Class includes LaVar Arrington (Penn State), Champ Bailey (Georgia), Michael Crabtree (Texas Tech), Sylvester Croom (Alabama), Mike Doss (Ohio State), Chuck Ealey (Toledo), Kevin Faulk (LSU), Moe Gardner (Illinois), Boomer Grigsby (Illinois State), Mike Hass (Oregon State), Marvin Jones (Florida State), Andrew Luck (Stanford), Mark Messner (Michigan), Terry Miller (Oklahoma State), Rashaan Salaam (Colorado), Dennis Thomas (Alcorn State), Zach Wiegert (Nebraska), Roy Williams (Oklahoma) and coaches John Luckhardt (Washington & Jefferson [PA], California [PA]), Billy Jack Murphy (Memphis) and Gary Pinkel (Toledo, Missouri).
 
The accomplishments of the 2022 Class will be forever immortalized at the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, and each inductee will receive a custom ring created by Jostens, the official and exclusive supplier of NFF rings.
 
Including the 2022 Hall of Fame Class, only 1,056 players and 226 coaches have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame from the nearly 5.62 million who have played or coached the game during the past 153 years. In other words, less than two one-hundredths of a percent (.02%) of the individuals who have played the game have earned this distinction.
 
   
Date – Honoree – School (Opponent)

• Oct. 8 – Coach John Luckhardt – California [PA] (vs. Indiana [PA])
• Oct. 15 – Mike Hass – Oregon State (vs. Washington State)
• Oct. 15 – Coach John Luckhardt - Washington & Jefferson [PA] (vs. Carnegie Mellon [PA])
• Oct. 22 – Sylvester Croom – Alabama (vs. Mississippi State)
• Oct. 22 – Mike Doss – Ohio State (vs. Iowa)
• Oct. 22 – Kevin Faulk – LSU (vs. Mississippi)
• Oct. 29 – LaVar Arrington – Penn State (vs. Ohio State)
• Oct. 29 – Mark Messner – Michigan (vs. Michigan State)
• Nov. 5 – Champ Bailey – Georgia (vs. Tennessee)
• Nov. 5 – Moe Gardner – Illinois (vs. Michigan State)
• Nov. 5 – Coach Billy Jack Murphy* – Memphis (vs. UCF)
• Nov. 5 – Roy Williams – Oklahoma (vs. Baylor)
• TBD – Michael Crabtree – Texas Tech
• TBD – Marvin Jones – Florida State

* Deceased
 
Fidelity Investments has served as the national presenting sponsor of the NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salutes since 2010. The salutes are one component of a multi-year initiative between the two organizations to celebrate the scholar-athlete ideal and a joint commitment to higher education. Fidelity is also the presenting sponsor of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards, and it helped launch the NFF Faculty Salutes in 2011, which recognize the contributions of the faculty athletics representatives around the country.
 
 
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About The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame
Founded in 1947 with early leadership from General Douglas MacArthur, legendary Army coach Earl "Red" Blaik and immortal journalist Grantland Rice, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame is a non-profit educational organization that runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in young people. With 120 chapters in 47 states, NFF programs include the selection and induction of members of the College Football Hall of Fame; the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta; Future For Football; The William V. Campbell Trophy®; the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class Presented by Fidelity Investments; the NFF National High School Academic Excellence Award; and a series of initiatives to honor the legends of the past and inspire the leaders of the future. NFF corporate partners include Catapult, Delta Air Lines, Fidelity Investments, Jostens, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, the New York Athletic Club, the Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation and the Sports Business Journal. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @NFFNetwork and learn more at footballfoundation.org.