COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. - The Colorado Mesa University 1982 and 1983 football teams were selected for induction into the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Hall of Fame the league announced Thursday (Jan. 8). Both teams will be inducted during the RMAC Hall of Fame Ceremony Friday, July 8th in Colorado Springs. 

Colorado Mesa enjoyed a dominant stretch in the RMAC during the 1980s, with the peak coming during the 1982 and 1983 campaigns. In back-to-back years, CMU battled all the way to the NAIA National Championship, notching a pair of national runner-up performances. The 1982 team boasted a 9-1-1 overall record, not to mention an RMAC title with a 7-0-1 conference mark. That team also had three All-Americans at season's end (Dean Haugum, Keith Howard and Jeff Tootle). The next season, the team again recorded a 9-1-1 overall mark on its way to another RMAC title and a 7-0-1 league record. Haugum, Howard and Tootle once again earned All-American honors, with the three joined by teammate Russ Hodgson. In the NAIA National Championship, Kenneth Tyson returned a kick 100-yards for a touchdown, a feat that has been repeated just once since.