Pitt's Mike Ditka, Bill Fralic, Larry Fitzgerald, Hugh Green named to ESPN's all-time All-America team

Four Pitt greats, all of whom have had their jerseys retired by the university, are first-team selections on ESPN’s All-Time All-America college football team announced Wednesday.

Named to the team were tight end Mike Ditka, offensive tackle Bill Fralic, wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald and defensive end Hugh Green.

Ditka, who played at Aliquippa before becoming the legendary Super Bowl-winning coach of the Chicago Bears and a Pro Football Hall of Famer, caught 45 passes for 730 yards and seven touchdowns from 1958-1960. He also punted and played on the defensive line and participated in baseball, basketball and intramural wrestling in his spare time at Pitt.

During Fralic’s career from 1981-84, Pitt began counting the number of times he put opponents on their back. The pancake block was born.

He was a three-time All-American, getting selected unanimously in ‘83 and ‘84 when he was the first offensive linemen to twice finish in the top 10 of the Heisman Trophy voting (eighth and sixth).

Hugh Green led Pitt to a 39-8-1 record, starting all but one of those games from 1977-80. He was chosen first-team All-America three times and in 1980 won the Maxwell and Walter Camp awards as the nation’s best player and the Lombardi as the best lineman. He also was second to George Rogers in the Heisman voting, a record that still stands as the highest finish for a full-time defensive player.

Unlike the other three, Larry Fitzgerald is not in the College Football Hall of Fame, but only because rules state he can’t be presently playing professional football. Fitzgerald is in his 16^th season with the Arizona Cardinals.

With Pitt in 2002 and ‘03, he recorded 161 receptions for 2,677 yards and 34 touchdowns, a score almost every five times he made a catch.

Fitzgerald set an FBS record with at least one touchdown grab in 18 consecutive games. He was second in the 2003 Heisman voting and set or tied four FBS, eight Big East and 11 Pitt records.

Omitted from ESPN’s team were Pitt’s only Heisman winner, Tony Dorsett, and six others who went on to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame — Curtis Martin, Russ Grimm, Dan Marino, Rickey Jackson, Chris Doleman and Joe Schmidt.

Chosen over Dorsett were first-team running backs Herschel Walker and Jim Brown and second-teamers Bo Jackson and Archie Griffin.

Also not on the list is former Pitt defensive tackle Aaron Donald, who won the Outland, Lombardi, Bednarik and Nagurski awards in 2013.

Former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Jack Ham of Penn State, Joe Greene of North Texas State and Rod Woodson of Purdue were named to ESPN’s second team.

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