Fred McAfee Named to Division II Football Hall of Fame

Fred McAfee

The honors keep coming for former Mississippi College star and ex-New Orleans Saints standout Fred McAfee.

This week, McAfee was selected to join the NCAA Division II Football Hall of Fame in Florence, Alabama. The induction ceremony will be December 16 at the 26^th annual Harlon Hill Trophy and Division II Football Hall of Fame banquet.

“We are proud of Fred and happy for his family as well as the Mississippi College family,” said MC Choctaws Head Football Coach Norman Joseph. “He had a great career and is very deserving of this honor and recognition.”

McAfee was an All-American running back at Mississippi College where he rushed for 4,416 yards and scored 38 touchdowns for the Choctaws from 1987-90. He scored 17 touchdowns in his senior year and finished third in the Harlon Hill Trophy voting. In 2002, McAfee was inducted into the Mississippi College Sports Hall of Fame, the same year he was an All-Pro selection in the NFL.

McAfee played 16 seasons in the NFL from 1991 until 2006 and is a member of the New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame. He also played with the Arizona Cardinals, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He scored a touchdown on his final NFL carry. McAfee played with the Steelers in Super Bowl XXX in a losing effort to the Dallas Cowboys.

Since 2006, the Mississippian has served the Saints as director of player development. Among other things, McAfee helps rookies make the transition to the NFL and helps players adjust to the real world after their playing days are over. Proudly wearing No. 25 with the Saints, he was named to the team’s Hall of Fame in 2010. Other players getting the honor included former star quarterback Archie Manning and Saints coach Jim Mora.

A high school star in Philadelphia, Mississippi, McAfee will join a Division II Football Hall of Fame is housed at Braly Municipal Stadium, which has hosted the Division II Football Championship game since 1996.

McAfee visited Mississippi College in late January 2011, the day he brought the Saints’ Vince Lombardi Trophy for winning the Super Bowl to BankPlus of Clinton.

After visiting with fans and posing for photos in Clinton, McAfee said attending Mississippi College “was one of the best experiences I ever had.”

Players, fellow students and coaches, he said, “treated me like I was at home.”

McAfee will join other stellar players in the Division II Hall of Fame. They include the late Walter Payton, a Jackson State University great and a star with the Chicago Bears. Payton was among the initial inductees in 1999. Others to be inducted on Dec. 16 are Larry Allen and Coach Bill Burgess. The banquet will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Marriott Shoals Conference Center in Florence.

For ticket information, call the University of North Alabama Sports Information Office at 256.765.4595 or the Shoals Chamber of Commerce at 256.764.4661.