May 16, 2006

BLACKSBURG, Va. - Former Virginia Tech great Bruce Smith was one of 13 All-America players in the 2006 College Football Hall of Fame Division I-A Class announced Tuesday by Ron Johnson, chairman of the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame. The selections were made from a national ballot of 77 candidates and a pool of hundreds of eligible nominees.

The 2006 class will be inducted at the 49^th Annual Awards Dinner on December 5, 2006 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. They will be officially enshrined at the Hall in South Bend, Ind., during ceremonies in the summer of 2007.

Smith was a dominating defensive presence at Virginia Tech from 1981-84. Smith used his outstanding agility and speed to register a school career record 71 tackles behind the line, totaling five times the length of a football field (504 yards). He posted a school-record 22 quarterback sacks as a junior in 1983 on the way to first-team All-America honors. He was a consensus A-A as a senior when he added 16 sacks and won the Outland Trophy as the nation's top interior lineman. A member of the Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame, Smith still holds the school record for career sacks with 46.

Selected first overall in the 1985 National Football League Draft by the Buffalo Bills, Smith played 19 years in the NFL, making 11 Pro Bowl appearances. He retired as the NFL's all-time sack leader.

Involved in many community activities through the NFL, Smith holds a yearly charity golf tournament, speaks for the United Way and donates tickets through the National Council of Senior Citizens. A native of Norfolk, Va., he currently lives in Virginia Beach, Va.

Smith will join three other Tech players and two former coaches in the College Football Hall of Fame. Previous inductees from Tech are players Hunter Carpenter, Carroll Dale and Frank Loria, along with coaches Andy Gustafson and Jerry Claiborne.

Joining Smith in this year's class are players Bobby Anderson (RB, Colorado), Bennie Blades (DB, Miami), Carl Eller (T, Minnesota), Steve Emtman (DL, Washington), Thomas Everett (FS, Baylor), Chad Hennings (DT, Air Force), Chip Kell (OG, Tennessee), Mike Phipps (QB, Purdue), Mike Rozier (RB, Nebraska), Jeff Siemon (LB, Stanford), Emmitt Smith (RB, Florida) and Charlie Ward (QB, Florida State); and coaches Bobby Bowden (Samford, West Virginia, Florida State) and Joe Paterno (Penn State).