Thomas Allison “Tommy” Mont was an American educator, university administrator, college football coach, and National Football League (NFL) player. He played quarterback for the Washington Redskins as a back-up for three seasons. Mont served as the head football coach for three years at the University of Maryland and for eighteen years at DePauw University. He also served as the DePauw athletic director for fifteen years.

Novak is an American football placekicker for the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). He was signed by the Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent in 2005. He played college football at Maryland.

Novak has played for the Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins, Arizona Cardinals, San Diego Chargers, Kansas City Chiefs, and New York Jets of the NFL, as well as the Cologne Centurions and Florida Tuskers of the United Football League (UFL).

Art Demmas served his country in the U.S. Army Counter-Intelligence Corps before starting his career on the other side of the ball as a game official. He started in 1957 as a high school referee, and it became obvious to everyone that he had found his true calling. The next year he was tabbed by the SEC to be an umpire, and by 1967 he was working games for the NFL. A legend in the NFL officials ranks, Art earned the honor of working four Super Bowls (XIII, XVII, XXV & XXVIII). He retired from the NFL in 2006.

A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Art began his football successes as a high school All-American, leading the St. Louis University High School team to the state championship. Art then attended Vanderbilt University and was a four year starting tackle, including playing on the 1955 squad that beat Auburn in the Gator Bowl. In 1956 Art was co-captain of the Commodores and Second Team All-SEC and an Academic All-America. Art has received the Vanderbilt Legend’s Award, and he earned induction into the Tennessee Sport Hall of Fame in 1997.

Bill Graff, who first joined ESPN in 1990, is a senior coordinating producer in ESPN’s studio production department. Graff currently oversees the production of ESPN and ESPN2’s daytime programming that includes, Mike and Mike in the Morning on ESPN2, First Take, Outside the Lines, Scott Van Pelt Radio on TV, Jim Rome is Burning, Around the Horn, Pardon the Interruption and The Sports Reporters.  Graff also oversees the Content Integration Department and the studio wraps department that is responsible for the production of all pre-games, half-times and post-games of live events on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC.

In January 2010, Graff steps away from those duties to devote his full-time efforts to overseeing the studio shows surrounding ESPN’s extensive coverage of the World Cup from South Africa.

Graff served as the ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC Sports coordinating producer for World Cup ’98 in France, the successful 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup in the U.S. and the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan.  He also oversaw the production for the 2003 Women’s World Cup which was moved from China to the U.S.  FIFA used ESPN’s production as the World Feed for this event.

From April 2004 to September 2006, Graff worked at NFL Films as executive in charge of studio and remote production.  He then returned to ESPN.

Graff originally joined ESPN in 1990 as a highlights supervisor for SportsCenter and other news and information programming.  From 1991 to 1993, Graff served as a studio producer for SportsCenter, Baseball Tonight, and studio wraps for college basketball and the National Hockey League.  In 1993, he won an Emmy for his work on ESPN’s coverage of the Stanley Cup.

Graff was previously employed at Madison Square Garden Network as an associate director (1990), at SportsChannel America as producer of Sports Nightly (1987-90), and at WUSA-TV in Washington D.C., as producer of its nightly sports news (1984-87). Graff also worked for NFL Films from 2004 – 2006.

Graff received a bachelor of science degree in journalism from the University of Maryland.

Chris Baker is a 30-year industry veteran with international expertise in multiple facets of the Thoroughbred business.

The 1986 University of Maryland graduate initially worked in the broodmare, stallion and racing divisions at Lane’s End Farm. He then headed overseas, learning the training craft in racing jurisdictions as varied as England, Australia, and New Zealand. Repatriated to California, Chris was an assistant trainer to Hall of Famers Neil Drysdale and Richard Mandella, working with such Champions as A.P. Indy, Kotashaan, and Phone Chatter, before training on his own.

A return to farm management eventually brought Chris to Ned Evans’ Spring Hill Farm in Virginia, where he served as General Manager for 11 years until that operation dispersed in 2011. During his tenure, Spring Hill produced more than 100 stakes winners and was twice honored as TOBA’s National Breeders of the Year. Chris then served as General Manager at WinStar Farm before joining Three Chimneys in December, 2013.

Hearst Randolph “Randy” Duncan, Jr., passed away on September 27, 2016 at age 79 after a nearly five year long battle with brain cancer. Randy was born in Osage, IA, lived in Mason City, IA and grew up in Des Moines, IA. Randy graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School in 1955, the University of Iowa in 1959 and Drake University Law School in 1963. He was a lifelong learner who read extensively with a particular interest in history and politics.

Randy pursued athletics in high school and college, gaining first team all-state honors at quarterback in football and point guard in basketball. He was a member of Roosevelt’s state champion football team and runner-up champion basketball team in 1954. At the University of Iowa he played quarterback on football teams that won two Rose Bowls and a share of the national championship in 1958. After his senior year, Randy was named Iowa’s most valuable player by his team mates and the Big Ten’s most valuable player by the Chicago Tribune and the Cleveland Touchdown Club. In addition, he was a consensus first team All-American, runner-up for the Heisman Trophy, and named the Walter Camp Back of the Year. The Green Bay Packers of the National Football League selected him with the first overall pick in the 1959 draft, but he chose to play two years for the British Columbia Lions in the Canadian Football League. After Canada, Randy played one year for the Dallas Texans (now the Kansas City Chiefs) in the American Football League. Randy is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, the University of Iowa Sports Hall of Fame, the Des Moines Register Sports Hall of Fame and the Theodore Roosevelt High School Hall of Fame.

Randy practiced law for over 40 years and was more proud of being a lawyer than an athlete. He was highly regarded as a practitioner, selected by his peers as a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the Iowa Academy of Trial Lawyers. Always interested in promoting best practices by attorneys, Randy was a charter member of the C. Edwin Moore Chapter of the American Inns of Court, where he mentored young attorneys and promoted civility and decorum in the practice of law. Additionally, he was a member of the American Bar Association, the American Board of Trial Advocates, the Iowa Defense Counsel Association, and the National Association of Railroad Counsel.

Randy was a generous contributor to the Greater Des Moines area and the State of Iowa spending thousands of hours working for the community. Randy was particularly interested in the betterment and well being of at-risk youth, serving several years as President of the Board for Youth Homes of Mid America. He also served on the board of the Des Moines YMCA, raising thousands for their Partner with Youth program and was a member of the Des Moines YMCA Camp Board. Additionally, an avid outdoorsman and conservationist, Randy served as a Iowa Department of Natural Resources commissioner and was a longtime member of Ducks Unlimited and Pheasants Forever.

Randy was devoted to the University of Iowa, as an athlete, and a member of the Letterman’s Club and the National I-Club. His greatest love besides his family was Hawkeye football and he was a season ticket holder for over 50 years. He also gave generously to the University of Iowa Hospitals and other Iowa programs.

All in all, Randy was an incomparably modest and humble person with a wonderful sense of humor. Randy always credited his team mates and coaches for his post-season awards, often saying he was “in the right place at the right time”. He was known as a quiet leader who enhanced the bonds of team work and camaraderie with a healthy dose of fun and frivolity. Perhaps his greatest talent was an ability to treat everyone he met with dignity and respect. Randy made hundreds of friends over the course of his life. He was proud to be an Iowan and he loved the state of Iowa and his hometown, Des Moines. He was also a strong family man who was devoted to Paula, his wife of more than 56 years, and his sons and grandchildren. Besides Hawkeye football games, Randy loved summers at Okoboji, duck blinds in the fall and always having a dog by his side.

Jacob Bell is a former American football guard. He was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the fifth round of the 2004 NFL Draft. Bell also played for the St. Louis Rams. He played college football at Miami University.

 

Wilson was the founder and owner of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills. He was one of the founding owners of the American Football League (AFL), the league with which the NFL merged in 1970, and was the last of the original AFL owners to own his team. At the time of his death, Ralph was the oldest owner in the NFL, at age 95, and the third-longest tenured owner in NFL history (over 54 years, behind the 63 years George Halas owned the Chicago Bears and almost equal to the 55 years Art Rooney owned the Pittsburgh Steelers, although Rooney’s ownership and team operations were interrupted in the 1940s due to some complicated dealings).

He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009. During his tenure the Bills became the only team to ever appear in four Super Bowls.

Albert Alexander “Ox” Wistert was an All-Pro American football tackle in the National Football League for the Philadelphia Eagles. He played his entire nine-year NFL career for the Eagles and became their team captain. He was named to play in the NFL’s first Pro Bowl as an Eagle. During most of Wistert’s career, there were no football All-star games, although he was named to the league All-Pro team eight times.

Wistert played college football at the University of Michigan. He is one of the three brothers–along with Whitey and Alvin– who were named All-American tackles at Michigan and later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. He was the first Michigan alumnus to be selected to the National Football League Pro Bowl. The Wistert brothers all wore jersey No. 11 at Michigan and are among the seven players who have had their numbers retired by the Michigan Wolverines football program.

Wisert was an American football and baseball player. He played college football and college baseball at the University of Michigan. Wistert was the first of the three Wistert brothers–he was succeeded by Albert (Al) and Alvin–who were named All-American tackles at Michigan and later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1967.

During his time at Michigan, Wistert played on three consecutive Big Ten Conference football championships teams, including two that won back-to-back national championships. He was also Big Ten Conference MVP in baseball in college and later played for Major League Baseball’s Cincinnati Reds.

The Wistert brothers all wore jersey No. 11 at Michigan and are among the seven players who have had their numbers retired by the Michigan Wolverines football program.