KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee football legend Johnny Majors will receive the PwC Doak Walker Legends Award on Feb. 16 during the Doak Walker Award Presentation Banquet in Dallas, Texas.
Majors and Stanford running back Bryce Love, the 2017 Doak Walker Award winner, will be honored at the annual banquet. ESPN’s Lee Corso and Chris Fowler will host the presentation.
The PwC Doak Walker Legends Award was created in 1998 as a tribute to former SMU All-American and 1948 Heisman Trophy winner Doak Walker. The Award recognizes an individual whose extraordinary collegiate football career has been bolstered by an exemplary record of leadership in the community. Candidates are nominated by the Doak Walker Award National Selection Committee, and the recipient is selected by the Athletic Forum Board of Directors. Majors will join an exclusive group of NCAA legends that have already earned the award, including last year’s winner Herschel Walker, Jim Brown in 2012, and Walter Payton in 2006.
Majors, who was inducted in to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1987, was a triple-threat tailback for the University of Tennessee from 1953-56. He was the centerpiece of Tennessee’s single-wing formation and finished his collegiate career ranked in the top 10 in total offense (2,757 yards) and rushing yards (1,622). He also finished his career as the single-season record holder for pass completion percentage (61 percent in 1956).
Majors earned back-to-back SEC Player of the Year honors in 1955 and 1956 and was a Consensus All-American and Heisman Trophy runner-up as a senior in 1956.
Following his playing career, he enjoyed an incredible 29-year career (1968-96) as a college football head coach, compiling a 185-137-10 career record (9-7 in bowl games) at Iowa State, Pittsburgh and Tennessee with 116 of those wins as UT’s head coach from 1977-92. In 1976, Majors coached Heisman Trophy winner Tony Dorsett led Pittsburgh to a national title, a 12-0 record and the No. 1 ranking.
He led UT to a 7-4 record in bowl games, including two Sugar Bowl (1985, 1990) victories, one Cotton Bowl (1989) win and one Peach Bowl (1987) win. In 1985, he Majors led UT to its first SEC title in 16 years while garnering SEC Coach of the Year accolades. His teams won back-to-back conference championships in 1989 and 1990. He coached six All-Americans in Knoxville, including the 1983 SEC Player of the Year, Reggie White.
In December, Majors was named to the inaugural class of the Sugar Bowl Hall of Fame.
