Indiana Football Hall of Fame to induct new members

From the Ball State Athletic Department:

The Indiana Football Hall of Fame will induct three members on Sunday, Feb. 26, at Primo’s Banquet Hall in Indianapolis.

Eric DeBord, Paul Schudel and Mark Surface will each be inducted with festivities beginning at 1:15 p.m. A social will take place from 1:15 to 2 p.m., followed by dinner and the induction ceremony. Tickets for the event cost $30 and can be purchased from Dave Land of the Indiana Football Coaches Association. Land can be contacted at delifca@comcast.net.

DeBord is a 1977 graduate of Wes-Del High School and a 1981 graduate of Indiana University. He was a four-year starter in football, wrestling and baseball at Wes-Del and was the first student-athlete to ever earn 12 letters for the school. At Indiana, DeBord was a four-year letterman and two-year starter. He was a starter on the 1979 Holiday Bowl Championship Team.

Schudel was Ball State’s head football coach from 1985-94 and led the Cardinals to the 1989 and 1993 Mid-American Conference Championship. He completed his Ball State career ranked second in career wins with 60 for the Cardinals and fifth in MAC career wins with 47. A 1966 graduate of Miami University, Schudel served stints as an assistant coach at a variety of schools, including 10 years at Michigan from 1975-84 where he helped the Wolverines to five Big Ten Championships and five Rose Bowl appearances.

Mark Surface, a 1968 graduate of Ball State, spent his entire career as a high school coach in the state of Indiana, including from 1985-2006 at Marion High School. An alum of Lafayette Jefferson High School, Surface played on two Grantland Rice Bowl teams at Ball State. He earned conference coach of the year honors eight times in his career and led Marion to a runner-up finish in the 1988 Indiana High School Athletic Association State Championships.