Hall of Fame
The first athlete in Southern Conference history to be named player of the week in both football and basketball, Cliff Washburn was a 1,000-point scorer for coach Pat Dennis then played one season at defensive end for Coach Ellis Johnson. In basketball, he was the college’s 21st member of the 1,000-point club (1,024 total) and is one of only five players in program history to lead the team in rebounding for three consecutive seasons. As a football standout, he set the single-season record of 12 sacks, recorded 56 tackles and 20 tackles for loss. He participated in the 2002 East-West Shrine Game and the Hula Bowl, and is the lone Bulldog ever to play in both bowls. He signed a free agent contract in 2003 with the New York Giants and played in the Chicago Bears, Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings, Toronto Argonauts, Denver Broncos, Green Bay Packers, Houston Texans, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Las Vegas Locomotives and Edmonton Eskimos organizations as an offensive lineman.
