Twenty years after only given a partial scholarship to play at Portland State University, Neil Lomax was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Neil began his college career in 1977 as a fifth-string afterthought freshman only after Lake Oswego coach Boyd Crawford persuaded PSU coach Mouse Davis to take a look at Lomax. "I had nowhere else to go" said Lomax "But I wanted to play football." By the ninth game of his freshman season, with his other quarterbacks injured, Davis gave Neil the nod...and realized he was the coach of a real talent. Two games later, Neil completed 41 of 59 passes for 469 yards and six touchdowns, to begin a rise to fame that would secure him 90 NCAA records. By the end of his senior season, he had thrown for 13,220 yards and 106 touchdowns, more than any player in college football history.

Neil Lomax was seated at the head table of the 1996 induction banquet, with such greats as Terry Bradshaw, Billy "White Shoes" Johnson, Walter Payton, and Grambling head coach Eddie Robinson. These five college legends were all from Division 1-AA schools, an unlikely path to such recognition. "Thats when it hit me" remembers Lomax "I'm sitting up there with legends of the game of football. I realized what an honor it was to be there."