Varsity "K" Hall of Famer Gary Pinkel to be Inducted in College Football Hall of Fame
1/12/2022 12:00:00 PM | Football, The Golden Flashes Club
KENT, OHIO- Varsity "K" Hall of Famer and Kent State football great Gary Pinkel is being inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as announced by the National Football Foundation.
Pinkel is a 1997 inductee into the Varsity "K" Hall of Fame.
Pinkel was a standout tight end for the Golden Flashes from 1971-73. He was the leading receiver on the 1972 MAC Championship team and again in 1973, helping the Golden Flashes to a 9-2 record. He earned first team All-MAC honors in both 1972 and '73 and took home All-America honors from the Associated Press in 1973. After a tryout with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Pinkel returned to Kent State to serve as a graduate assistant under head coach Don James in 1974 and 1975.
The rest as they say, is history. Pinkel went on to serve 12 seasons on Don James' staff at Washington before becoming the head coach at the University of Toledo. Pinkel won a total of 191 games in his coaching career at Toledo and the University of Missouri. He was a two-time MAC Coach of the Year (1995 and 1997) and the SEC Coach of the Year in 2014. He led the Rockets to an undefeated 11-0-1 record in 1995 and twice led Missouri to a top-5 end-of-year ranking (2007 and 2013).
The 2022 induction ceremony is scheduled for December 6, 2022, a location has yet to be decided.
