The University of Georgia and The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame announced Thursday that they will jointly honor Scott Woerner with an NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute on Saturday during the Bulldogs’ game against Tennessee. Coverage of the game will start at 3:30 p.m. on CBS.
“It was really cool,” Woerner told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution after receiving his commemorative football telling him he was a member of the 2016 Class. “The first thing I did was set the football beside my Notre Dame football from 1980.”
The NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute program, which began with the inaugural class in 1951, has become a hallowed tradition, and to this day the singular events remain the first of numerous activities in each inductee’s Hall of Fame experience. During the NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salutes, each inductee returns to his alma mater to accept a Hall of Fame plaque that will remain on permanent display at the institution. The events take place on the field during a home game, and many inductees cite the experience as the ultimate capstone to their careers, providing them one more chance to take the field and hear the crowd roar their name.
“Scott Woerner cemented his name in Georgia history books during his stellar career in Athens,” said NFF President and CEO Steve Hatchell. “He was key to the Bulldogs’ perfect national championship season in 1980, and we are thrilled to honor him at Sanford Stadium.”
A First Team All-America selection as a senior, Woerner made two key interceptions in Georgia’s win over Notre Dame in the 1981 Sugar Bowl for the national title. The 1980 First Team All-SEC selection led the Bulldogs to the conference title, and he was the only defensive player in the conference’s top 10 in all-purpose yardage. Georgia’s Most Valuable Back in 1980, Woerner currently ranks fourth all-time in program history with 13 career interceptions and second with 303 career interception return yards.
Considered the best punt returner in Bulldogs history, he was twice named the school’s Outstanding Special Teams Player, and he set UGA records for career (1,077) and single-season (488) punt return yards and kickoff return yards in a game (190). Woerner played for College Football Hall of Fame coach Vince Dooley and alongside Hall of Famers Terry Hoage and Herschel Walker during his time in Athens.
Chosen in the third round of the 1981 NFL Draft by the Atlanta Falcons, Woerner played one year for the franchise. He played for the Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars of the USFL for three seasons, leading them to consecutive league championships in 1984 and 1985.
After his playing days ended, Woerner spent a career teaching physical education, and he is now semi-retired in Rabun County. He has been very active in the community, volunteering with the American Heart Association, Northeast Georgia Food Bank, Shepherd Spinal Center and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Woerner is a member of the University of Georgia Athletic Association Circle of Honor and the State of Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.
Woerner becomes the 13th Bulldog to be inducted, joining Kevin Butler (1981-84), Bill Hartman (1935-37), Terry Hoage (1980-83), Bob McWhorter (1910-13), John Rauch (1945-48), Jake Scott (1967-68), Frank Sinkwich (1940-42), Vernon Smith (1929-31), Bill Stanfill (1966-68), Fran Tarkenton (1958-60), Charley Trippi (1942, 1945-46) and Herschel Walker (1980-82).
Four coaches with stops in Athens are also in the Hall: Wally Butts (1939-60), Jim Donnan (1996-2000), Vince Dooley (1964-88) and Pop Warner (1895-96).
Including the 2016 class, only 977 players and 211 coaches have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame from the nearly 5.19 million people who have played or coached the game over the past 147 years. In other words, only two ten-thousandths of one percent (.0002) of those who have set foot on the gridiron have earned the distinction. Click here for a complete list of players and coaches in the Hall.
The 2016 College Football Hall of Fame Class will be officially inducted at the 59th NFF Annual Awards Dinner, held at New York City’s historic Waldorf Astoria Hotel on Tuesday, Dec. 6. This year’s College Football Hall of Fame Class includes: Marlin Briscoe (Nebraska Omaha), Derrick Brooks (Florida State), Tom Cousineau (Ohio State), Randall Cunningham (UNLV), Troy Davis (Iowa State), William Fuller (North Carolina), Bert Jones (LSU), Tim Krumrie (Wisconsin), Pat McInally (Harvard), Herb Orvis (Colorado), Bill Royce (Ashland [Ohio]), Mike Utley (Washington State), Scott Woerner (Georgia), Rod Woodson (Purdue) and coaches Bill Bowes (New Hampshire) and Frank Girardi (Lycoming [Pa.]). For more information, please contact Will Rudd at [email protected] or by calling 972.556.1000.
The inductees will also be honored at the National Hall of Fame Salute at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on Dec. 31, and they will also take part in a series of events at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta where their accomplishments will be forever immortalized.
