NEW YORK -- A Syracuse football legend has achieved one of the highest honors in college football, more than 30 years after he played his last game at SU.
Art Monk, a former Orange wide receiver, was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame Tuesday night in New York City. A 1979 All-American, Monk is ranked in the school's career top ten in several categories, including receptions and yards, and led the team in receiving for three straight seasons in the late 1970s. He is also sixth on the school's career all-purpose yardage list.
"To be honored for my college football career is more of a surprise to me than the Pro Football Hall of Fame because I never expected to go to college, first of all, and never really expected very much," Monk said. "I just wanted to be part of a winning team. Unfortunately in my time there we did not do very well. I don't really expect anything from it, so now, years later, to be recognized for that, I am just really grateful."
Monk was drafted by the Washington Redskins in 1980, and was a part of three Super Bowl champions on his way to enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2008.
"I am still surprised about all of the honors because I grew up just loving the game," Monk said. "I never expected to get anything out of it except playing and having opportunities to move forward. To now look back and see everything that has happened, I am still just amazed by it."
Monk is one of ten players and seven coaches from Syracuse University to be inducted into the college hall, following such luminaries as Jim Brown, Floyd Little, Ernie Davis, Larry Csonka, Don McPherson, Ben Schwartzwalder, and Dick MacPherson.
