Fitzgerald, 4 other Pitt alum named to 75th Anniversary...

PITTSBURGH — The Football Writers Association of America released its 75th Anniversary All-America Team on Thursday -- and Pittsburgh is well-represented.

The FWAA put together a first, second and third team of 25 players. To be considered for the 75th Anniversary All-America Team, a player had to previously be named an All-American.

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"This was one of the most fun, yet most difficult exercises I've had in life – next to parallel parking, that is," said FWAA 75th All-America Committee chairman Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman. "Truly, it was an exciting – if not impossible – task to find the best 75 college football players ever. Please save your hate mail, but feel free to weigh in and tell us how we messed up. And I'm sure we did, but no one should argue that it wasn't a great idea to honor the best who have ever played the game. Let the debating begin."

The University of Pittsburgh was represented by:

WR Larry Fitzgerald (1^st team)
RB Tony Dorsett (2^nd team)
TE Mike Ditka (2^nd team)
OL Bill Fralic (2^nd team)
DE Hugh Green (2^nd team)

In fact, Fitzgerald was one of only two players to play in the 21^st century to make the first team. The other was Nebraska DT Ndamukong Suh.

Penn State University had only one player selected. Linebacker Jack Hamm was named to the third team.

In addition, former Steelers safety Troy Polamalu (USC) was named to the third team.

Nebraska led the list with six players on the three teams. Pitt and Ohio State each had five. Alabama, Oklahoma and Texas had four. Florida State, Michigan, Georgia and USC each had three players named to one of the teams.

Based on current conference alignment, the Big 10 has the most players to the make the list with 19. The ACC comes in second with 15.

OFFENSE
POS	FIRST TEAM	SECOND TEAM	THIRD TEAM
QB	Roger Staubach, Navy	Tim Tebow, Florida	Tommie Frazier, Nebraska
RB	Archie Griffin, Ohio State	Tony Dorsett, Pittsburgh	Bo Jackson, Auburn
RB	Herschel Walker, Georgia	Barry Sanders, Oklahoma State	Doak Walker, SMU
WR	Larry Fitzgerald, Pittsburgh	Fred Biletnikoff, Florida State	Anthony Carter, Michigan
WR	Jerry Rice, Mississippi Valley State	Randy Moss, Marshall	Calvin Johnson, Georgia Tech
TE	Keith Jackson, Oklahoma	Mike Ditka, Pittsburgh	Gordon Hudson, BYU
OL	John Hannah, Alabama	Bill Fralic, Pittsburgh	Barrett Jones, Alabama
OL	Orlando Pace, Ohio State	John Hicks, Ohio State	Willie Roaf, Louisiana Tech
OL	Will Shields, Nebraska	Calvin Jones, Iowa	Jerry Sisemore, Texas
OL	Ron Yary, USC	Jonathan Ogden, UCLA	Dean Steinkuhler, Nebraska
C	Dave Rimington, Nebraska	Chuck Bednarik, Penn	Jim Ritcher, N.C. State
DEFENSE
POS	FIRST TEAM	SECOND TEAM	THIRD TEAM
DT	Lee Roy Selmon, Oklahoma	Merlin Olsen, Utah State	Steve Emtman, Washington
DT	Ndamukong Suh, Nebraska	Randy White, Maryland	Reggie White, Tennessee
DE	Leon Hart, Notre Dame	Hugh Green, Pittsburgh	Bubba Smith, Michigan State
DE	Ted Hendricks, Miami (Fla.)	Bruce Smith, Virginia Tech	Jack Youngblood, Florida
LB	Tommy Nobis, Texas	Brian Bosworth, Oklahoma	Jack Ham, Penn State
LB	Mike Singletary, Baylor	Dick Butkus, Illinois	Lee Roy Jordan, Alabama
LB	Derrick Thomas, Alabama	Luke Kuechly, Boston College	Chris Spielman, Ohio State
DB	Ronnie Lott, USC	Champ Bailey, Georgia	Dré Bly, North Carolina
DB	Deion Sanders, Florida State	Kenny Easley, UCLA	Dave Brown, Michigan
DB	Jack Tatum, Ohio State	Jerry Gray, Texas	Troy Polamalu, USC
DB	Charles Woodson, Michigan	Ed Reed, Miami (Fla.)	Roy Williams, Oklahoma
SPECIALISTS
POS	FIRST TEAM	SECOND TEAM	THIRD TEAM
P	Ray Guy, Southern Miss	Russell Erxleben, Texas	Rohn Stark, Florida State
K	Kevin Butler, Georgia	Mason Crosby, Colorado	Tony Franklin, Texas A&M
RS	johnny Rodgers, Nebraska	Raghib Ismail, Notre Dame	Derek Abney, Kentucky

The quarterbacks of the top two teams are both Heisman Trophy winners: Staubach and Tebow. Frazier was selected to the third team after leading Nebraska to back-to-back national titles and finishing runner-up in the Heisman Trophy his senior season.

All six of the running backs are Heisman Trophy winners.

Whenever there’s a list like this, there’s sure to be debate.

Is there a player you think made one of the teams that shouldn't have? Who do you think was the biggest snub? Share your thoughts on our official WPXI-TV Facebook page.

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