2021 Official Announcement 

HOUSTON – The Texas Bowl Committee has selected the 2021 class of Gridiron Legends inductees, the committee announced today. The honorees will be introduced at the 2021 Texas Kickoff game on Sept. 4 and will be inducted into the Gridiron Legends at a special pregame ceremony during the Texas Bowl game at NRG Stadium on Jan. 4.

The class of 2021 features Lubbock, Texas native and Baylor standout Dennis Gentry, 17-time Texas state champion high school coach Keith Kilgore, Seven-time Pro Bowl and nine-time All-Pro punter Shane Lechler, Baylor All-American and eight-time NFL All-Pro Mike Singletary, the winningest coach in Texas A&M history R.C. Slocum, five-time Pro Bowl and four-time All-Pro cornerback Emmitt Thomas, Beaumont native and three-time Pro Bowl nose tackle Jerry Ball, University of Houston alumna and 2011 PFWA Assistant Coach of the Year Wade Phillips, Texas High School Hall of Fame and Texas Longhorn Hall of Fame inductee Steve Worster, University of Texas All-American and 2006 Associated Press NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Vince Young, and the patriarch of 7-on-7 football and co-creator of the Bayou Bowl Dick Olin.

Jerry Ball hails from Beaumont, Texas and attended Hebert High School, then after integration graduated from West Brook High School, where he was a two-way football star as a fullback on offense and defensive end and linebacker on defense. He rushed for 1,000 yards as a senior and helped lead his team to the 1982 5A State Championship. Ball was a first-team all-state selection on defense while earning All-District honors at three positions. He played college football at Southern Methodist University (SMU), where he switched to nose tackle, became a four-year letter-winner and ranks fourth on the school's all-time sack list. Ball was a four-year starter, three-time first-team All-SWC and two-time finalist for the Lombardi and Outland Trophies. Ball was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the third round of the 1987 NFL Draft. After an outstanding first year in the league, Ball posted 68 tackles and 18.5 sacks in his second season, including the one and only safety in the 10-year career of legendary running back, Eric Dickerson. He played in the NFL for 13 seasons, amassing 32.5 sacks, most of which came during his time as a nose tackle for the Lions. Ball spent his entire career being double-teamed and often triple-teamed by opposing teams due to his dominant presence on the defensive line. He earned Pro Bowl honors in 1989, 1990 and 1991. In 1991, Ball was injured by a "chop block," which was, at that time, legal. As a result, the NFL instituted the "Jerry Ball Rule," which outlawed blocks of that type. Ball remained on the injured list through the end of that season and into 1992 as well. The following year, he was traded to the Cleveland Browns, and then to the Oakland Raiders. From 1997 to 1999, he played for the Minnesota Vikings. He anchored the 1998 Vikings defense when he re-emerged as a leader and dominant force on the Vikings' record-setting team that finished with a 15-1 record. Ball has three daughters and now has his own Detroit-based clothing company licensed by the NFL, called Ice Box Sportswear.

Courtesy of for Lone Star Sports & Entertainment