Former OU, OSU Stars Announced As Members Of 2024 College Football Hall Of Fame Class

Former star athletes for both the Sooners and the Cowboys will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

The National Football Foundation (NFF) announced the 2024 class on Monday, which includes Oklahoma State wide receiver Justin Blackmon and Oklahoma nose guard Dewey Selmon.

Justin Blackmon Part Of 2024 College Football Hall of Fame Class

STILLWATER – Former Oklahoma State wide receiver Justin Blackmon is one of 19 first team All-America players included in the 2024 College Football Hall of Fame Class, the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame announced Monday live on ESPN.

One of only two players in history to win two Fred Biletnikoff Awards, Blackmon is one of the most dominant wide receivers to ever play college football.

Blackmon was unquestionably the best receiver in America in both 2010 and 2011, winning the Biletnikoff Awards after both his sophomore and junior seasons. His 1,782 receiving yards in 2010 set an NCAA sophomore record, and his 20 touchdown receptions in 2010 were the seventh-most ever recorded.

In addition to his Biletnikoff honors, Blackmon is the only two-time unanimous All-America selection in Oklahoma State history. He was the 2010 FBS leader in receiving yards per game and receiving touchdowns and named the 2010 Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year.

As a junior in 2011, Blackmon was the primary focus of every defense that OSU faced, but he still made 122 catches for 1,522 yards with 18 touchdowns. His 122 receptions set the 13th-highest total in NCAA history and he was named offensive MVP of both the 2010 Alamo Bowl and the 2012 Fiesta Bowl. Following his collegiate career, he was the No. 5 overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft.

Oklahoma State now has eight representatives in the College Football Hall of Fame – coach Lynn "Pappy" Waldorf (inducted in 1966), Bob Fenimore (inducted in 1972), Barry Sanders (inducted in 2003), Thurman Thomas (inducted in 2008), coach Jimmy Johnson (inducted in 2012), Leslie O'Neal (inducted in 2020), Terry Miller (inducted in 2022) and Blackmon.

A 2023 inductee into the OSU Athletics Hall of Honor, Blackmon was selected as part of the 2024 College Football Hall of Fame Class from the 78 All-America FBS players who were included on the ballot.

Of the 5.71 million individuals who have played college football since Princeton first battled Rutgers on November 6, 1869, only 1,093 players and 233 coaches (including the 2024 electees) have been immortalized in the Hall. In other words, only two one-hundredths of a percent (.02%) of those who have played or coached the game have earned this distinction.

The 2024 College Football Hall of Fame Class will be officially inducted during the 66th NFF Annual Awards Dinner Presented by Las Vegas on December 10 at Bellagio Resort & Casino. They will also be honored at their respective schools with an NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute, presented by Fidelity Investments, during the 2024 season, and subsequently immortalized at the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame, which is celebrating its 10th Anniversary in Atlanta in 2024.



Dewey Selmon Selected For College Football Hall of Fame

NORMAN — Part of the famed and feared Selmon brothers defensive line trio for Oklahoma's vaunted defenses of the early and mid-1970s, Dewey Selmon was named Monday to the 2024 College Football Hall of Fame Class by the National Football Foundation (NFF) and College Hall of Fame.

Selmon will become Oklahoma's 24th former player in the College Hall of Fame and fifth straight defender (defensive backs Roy Williams in 2022 and Rickey Dixon in 2019 and linebackers Brian Bosworth in 2015 and Rod Shoate in 2013). He will be one of 19 former players and three former coaches inducted as part of the 2024 class during the 66th NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 10 in Las Vegas. This year's group was named from a national ballot of 78 players and nine coaches from the Football Bowl Subdivision and 101 players and 32 coaches from the divisional ranks.

Selmon starred at both defensive tackle and nose guard for the Sooners. In his four years on campus, OU posted a 43-2-1 record (the .946 winning percentage was best in the country), won four straight Big Eight championships and captured national titles his junior and senior seasons of 1974 and '75. He earned first-team All-America honors in 1974 and was named a consensus All-American in 1975.

A native of Eufaula, Okla., who is a longtime Norman resident, Selmon finished his OU career with 325 tackles, 25 tackles for loss (for 109 yards), three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. In a 16-13 win over Texas in 1974, he registered 22 tackles, which still stands as the single-game school record by a defensive lineman. He also holds the OU bowl record for tackles by a defensive lineman (13) in a 14-6 Orange Bowl win over Michigan that gave the Sooners the national title. And Selmon is one of just five OU defensive linemen with 100-plus single-season tackles twice (104 in 1974 and 123 in 1975).

With Selmon as a starter from 1973-75, OU went 32-1-1. The Sooners allowed just 12.1 points per game in 1973, 8.4 in 1974 and 12.8 in 1975. His 34 career starts were the second most by an OU defensive lineman at the end of his career.

Each of Selmon's OU squads finished in the top three of the AP rankings, winding up at No. 2 in 1972, No. 3 in 1973 and No. 1 in 1974 and '75. The Sooners were ranked in the AP Top 5 in 48 of 60 weeks during his career (13 weeks at No. 1 and 19 weeks at No. 2).

Selmon was selected in the second round of the 1976 NFL Draft by Tampa Bay. After a seven-year NFL career between the Buccaneers and San Diego Chargers, he returned to Oklahoma to work as an oil and gas consultant, later opening his own construction business.

He was inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in 2012 and the Orange Bowl Hall of Fame in 2022, and was preceded in induction into the College Football Hall of Fame by his younger brother, Lee Roy Selmon, in 1988. Older brother Lucious Selmon, like Dewey and Lee Roy, was an All-American defensive lineman at OU. All three were members of the Sooners' 1972 and '73 teams and were starters on the '73 squad. A statue was dedicated in their honor in 2022 outside Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

Selmon has devoted his life to youth and to service, both locally and abroad. He has passed that tradition on to his children, who are the founders of the Shine Foundation, a group that serves to meet the needs of people around the world. Selmon has served on the Board of Directors for the Shine Foundation since 2005. He has also worked with a group focused on war-torn areas of West Africa and has made several trips to build a school for the orphanage that serves as home for the hundreds of children left without parents after years of conflict in that part of the world.

Closer to home, Selmon chaired local fund-raising campaigns that helped with the construction of the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History and that benefited homeless shelter Food and Shelter for Friends, the American Lung Association, Ronald McDonald House and Children's Miracle Network. He has also served as a United Way volunteer, was a basketball coach at Community Christian School and served as a Sunday School teacher.

Statement From Dewey Selmon:

"First of all, a big thank-you to all of my coaches and teammates, and all the players on opposing teams, who made this possible. I want to also thank the College Football Hall of Fame committee. This is a great blessing, and quite humbling, for a little kid to come from Eufaula, Okla., play at the University of Oklahoma and now get to go into one of the most prestigious halls in college football. I really take it with a whole lot of honor and humility. It brought tears to my eyes, it really did. It's just because of the love of the people. It's not exactly me winning the award, it's the people surrounding the award who felt that way and wanted to do that for me at this time of my life. It's truly a blessing." 

Statement From Former OU Head Coach Barry Switzer:

"I'm thrilled to death for Dewey, who's now the second Selmon to go into the College Football Hall of Fame. All three of the Selmon brothers had a tremendous impact on the University of Oklahoma and on college football, as they were the only three brothers to start side by side on the defensive line. They accomplished so much. We went 54-3-1 when a Selmon played at Oklahoma. They had a definite impact during their careers. They were all All-Americans and all graduated with honors. There couldn't have been better representatives for the University of Oklahoma than the Selmons."