FanPost

Let's get Pat Killorin inducted into the College Football HOF

Hello all. A friend of mine if working hard to get her father inducted into the College Football HOF. It's long overdue. I figured everyone on this board would love to lend a hand. These are her words...

FRIENDS! I need your help with a letter-writing campaign to inspire Syracuse University to advocate and nominate my dad for the National Football Foundation COLLEGE FOOTBALL Hall Of Fame. My father, Patrick Killorin, this week was selected to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame "Semi-Pro Division" on June 29..., 2014 in Canton, OH.

HERE'S HOW YOU CAN HELP:
PLEASE COPY AND PASTE THE LETTER AT THE END OF THIS AND SEND TO BOTH SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY ATHLETIC DIRECTOR DARYL GROSS, AND UNIVERSITY CHANCELLOR KENT SYVERUD AT: DJGROSS@SYR.EDU AND CHANCELLOR@SYR.EDU

MORE ABOUT THE INDUCTION:

It's an amazing honor, and may seem a bit out of sequence because he ALSO deserves to be inducted into the National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame. This has not happened yet, and he only has one more year of eligibility (50 years after his last NCAA Collegiate football game, which was in 1966). THE ONLY way to get inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame is for the nomination and strong advocacy to come from a "DUES-PAYING MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL FOUNDATION OR BY ATHLETICS DIRECTORS, COACHES OR CoSIDA MEMBERS REPRESENTING DUES-PAYING COLLEGES/UNIVERSITIES."

Floyd Little has been an incredible friend and huge advocate for my dad to be inducted. Now we need to get Syracuse University and Athletic Director Daryl Gross to put some real muscle behind the nomination.

WILL YOU PLEASE HELP ME ENCOURAGE DARYL GROSS AND THE CURRENT S.U. CHANCELLOR KENT SYVERUD TO HELP MAKE THIS HAPPEN????

Patrick meets every criteria and then some:

Hall of Fame Criteria From the NFF website:

"FIRST AND FOREMOST, A PLAYER MUST HAVE RECEIVED FIRST TEAM ALL-AMERICA RECOGNITION BY A SELECTOR RECOGNIZED BY THE NCAA AND UTILIZED TO COMPRISE THEIR CONSENSUS ALL-AMERICA TEAMS.

A player becomes eligible for consideration by the NFF's Honors Court ten years after his last year of intercollegiate football played.

While each nominee's football achievements in college are of prime consideration, his post-football record as a citizen is also weighed. He must have proven himself worthy as a citizen, carrying the ideals of football forward into his relations with his community. Consideration may also be given for academic honors and whether or not the candidate earned a college degree.

In accordance to the 50-year rule*, players must have played their last year of intercollegiate football within the last 50 years. For example, to be eligible for the 2013 ballot, the player must have played his last year in 1961 or thereafter. In addition, current professional players and / or coaches are not eligible until retirement.

A coach becomes eligible three years after retirement or immediately following retirement provided he is at least 70 years old. Active coaches become eligible at 75 years of age. He must have been a head coach for a minimum of 10 years and coached at least 100 games with a .600 winning percentage*."


HERE'S THE LETTER. IF YOU DO NOT KNOW ALL THE INCREDIBLE WORK MY FATHER HAS DONE FOR THIS COMMUNITY, FOR THIS WORLD, FOR HIS FELLOW MEN AND WOMEN, AND FOR SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL, YOU WILL AT THE END OF THIS LETTER. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR HELPING ME ENSURE THAT HIS LEGACY WILL BE REMEMBERED IN PERPETUITY!!

Those emails again:DJGROSS@SYR.EDU AND CHANCELLOR@SYR.EDU
HELP ME FLOOD THEIR INBOXES!

May 15, 2014

Dear Mr. Gross and Mr. Syverud,

Please accept this letter as resounding advocacy for Patrick Killorin’66 (Syracuse University) to be inducted into the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame.

As a two-time All-American Center who was immediately drafted into the NFL upon graduation, Killorin achieved the pinnacle of athletic success. Most would consider that a lifetime achievement; for Killorin it was just the beginning. He earned success in its highest forms as a businessman, a humanitarian and a family man. This Hall of Fame induction is both well-deserved and long overdue.

Killorin represents the tradition of Syracuse’s best football players as a leader on the offensive line, blocking for Floyd Little, Larry Csonka and Jim Nance. During his college career, Killorin was selected as First Team All-East and First Team All-American Center in 1964 AND 1965, won the Bill Horr MVP player in 1965, played in the ’65 Sugar Bowl, the Hula Bowl, the East-West Shrine Game and the College All-Star Game. He won the Letter Winner of Distinction Award and served as Vice President of his Senior Class. Hall of Fame Coach Ben Schwartzwalder called Killorin the best center he ever coached. Syracuse University voted him the top center in Syracuse’s first 100 years of football.

In 1966, Killorin was a third round draft pick to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers. When a knee injury forced retirement in 1968, Killorin helped reorganize the Watertown Red and Black semi-professional football team where he served as Head Coach and Defensive Tackle until 1973. He led the team to an undefeated season in 1971. Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watertown_Red_&_Black

Meanwhile, from 1971 to 1985, Killorin rose in the business ranks at Syracuse Key Maintenance Products to become Vice President. In 1985, Killorin went solo and formed Patco Food Safety Inc., a nationally known Food Safety Consultancy. As President and CEO, he grew Patco into a multi-million dollar company servicing more than 20,000 retail food stores throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico. He then built a second company, Prosan Inc., a professional Food Safety Audit and Training Company which addressed sanitation issues in the Retail Food and Restaurant Industry. Killorin sold the whole company in 2008 to BHC Holding Company.

As a humanitarian and volunteer, Killorin is unsurpassed. He won the Presidential Call To Service Award for Civic Participation in 2004, and in 2007, the United Way of Central New York Exceptional Community Volunteer Award for more than ten years of service at Hospice of Central New York. Susan Conover, manager of the Hospice Volunteer Program, said that Patrick "has provided emotional support and unconditional care and concern for those he has visited and has, in every assignment, gone above and beyond the expected role of the patient care volunteer….there is no one in our volunteer group (140 strong) that I could speak more highly of than Pat."

He also volunteers for the American Cancer Society driving patients to chemotherapy treatment, and helps deliver food to shut-ins via Meals on Wheels. He’s a former softball coach to his daughter’s team, a past member of the Christ The King Church’s Board of Directors and a former local high school and college lacrosse official.

Today, you can still find Killorin devoting tremendous energy and time to his Alma Mater as a Board Member of the Syracuse University Football Club. He and his wife of 48 years have three happy, healthy adult children (Christen Maureen Killorin Cosgrove, Jessica Susan Killorin Keating, and Matthew Patrick Killorin) and eight grandchildren (Delanie, Richie, Maggie, Lila, Patrick, Eli, Vera and Galillee).

As Athletic Director at Syracuse University, I recommend without reservation that the Syracuse University, Athletic Director Daryl Gross, and Chancellor Kent Syverud fully and wholeheartedly and forcefully endorse Patrick Killorin to be nominated to the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, and give Patrick Killorin his due before the time limitation of 2016. It’s time to honor the man who has lived a life defined by honor - for the game of football, for Syracuse University, and for this community.

Thank you.

Sincerely,