How this Canton native reacted to getting the call to the College Football Hall of Fame
PEORIA — Boomer Grigsby has joined one last college football lineup.
Now 40, the Canton native and Illinois State University legend has earned a place in the 2022 College Football Hall of Fame class, which was announced Monday by the National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame. He is the first ISU player to be named to the Hall. The school will honor him Saturday during its game against Southern Illinois.
"I'm hoping this can inspire someone in Canton," Grigsby said. "It's a special place for me. My parents are still there. My family was there. It has so much history and I'm proud of where I'm from.
"I hope they will cherish this. I was a small town blue-collar dreamer ... first time I went to Bloomington I thought it was Chicago in a way. ... We were humble small-town people. I got there and it was a brand new experience.
"Looking back as far as I can remember I always wanted to be something more. That motivated me to get to college and be around so many great players from all over the country."
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Grigsby went from the Canton gridiron to Illinois State, where he was a star linebacker. Drafted in the fifth round of the 2005 NFL Draft by Kansas City, he went on to play four seasons and 45 games in the NFL with the Chiefs and Dolphins.
"Everyone who plays college football dreams of playing in the National Football League, but sometimes you don't know if that dream is realistic," Grigsby said. "It's important to have realistic dreams and unimaginable ones. You kind of hope the realistic goals make the unimaginable possible.
"Seeing someone getting drafted in the fifth round out of Illinois State ... helped let people know this is possible."
Grigsby was a three-time first-team all-American (2002-04) and the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) career leader in total (550) and solo (325) tackles.
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He was a three-time Missouri Valley Football Conference Defensive Player of the Year, making him the only player in league history to accomplish the feat. He also was also a three-time finalist in the Buck Buchanan Award voting as the nation's top FCS defensive player. He is the only player in the history of the award to finish in the top three for three consecutive years.
"It wasn't something that was owed to me," Grigsby said of his Hall of Fame selection. "When you are not a major name at a power football conference you just don't know if the country is going to recognize you or know who you are.
"As time passes you believe you can become out of sight, out of mind. I hoped it wouldn't just fade away forever. My concern was it would fade away for so long that some of the people in my life that I would want to be a part of it might not be here anymore. That's the nature of age."
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The 2022 College Football Hall of Fame class will be officially inducted during the 64th NFF annual awards dinner on Dec. 6 in Las Vegas. Illinois State will recognize Grigsby with an on-campus salute during its Saturday, Oct. 1 game against Southern Illinois.
"I am completely overwhelmed by this honor ... This award is so much more than only me," Grigsby said. "This is for my family, my hometown of Canton, my alma mater Illinois State, my friends, my teammates, my coaches, and all the people who helped me along the way. This never would have been possible without all of them. They helped me earn this; we earned this."
Grigsby is among 18 players and three coaches in the 2022 class. Among those players are LaVar Arrington, Champ Bailey, Michael Crabtree and Andrew Luck.
"It's wonderful," Grigsby said. "It's been so long since I played that as much as it's an absolute honor I wasn't sure how much it would mean to me.
"But I know now that it means everything."
Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. Reach him at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @icetimecleve.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Canton, ISU grad Boomer Grigsby into College Football Hall of Fame
