College Football Hall of Fame to induct Dat Nguyen '98

"Aggies’ Dat Nguyen, now Fort Worth restaurateur, elected to College Hall of Fame," from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

Former Texas A&M All-America linebacker Dat Nguyen is part of a class of 13 players and coaches announced Monday as the newest inductees for the College Football Hall of Fame.

Nguyen starred for Texas A&M from 1995 to 1998 before a seven-year NFL career with the Dallas Cowboys. Born in a refugee center at Fort Chaffee, Ark., in 1975, he was the first Vietnamese-American to be drafted and play in the NFL.

He was an assistant coach with the Cowboys for three years (2007-09) and two years with Texas A&M (2010-11).

Since March, Nguyen has been the owner/operator of the Chick fil-A franchise at Montgomery Plaza in Fort Worth. His family, which had worked as shrimpers on the Texas Gulf Coast, began a restaurant business in the 1980s as he grew up in Rockport in South Texas. He was a high school star at Rockport-Fulton.

As an Aggie business leader, Nguyen also received a 2013 Aggie 100 award for his work with AgsReward, a real estate and insurance company in Austin.

His Hall of Fame induction will be in December 2017 in New York.

During his days in Aggieland, Nguyen was active in the community, speaking to various schools and groups about the importance of education and doing your best in all walks of life. As part of Aggie Athletes Involved, Nguyen befriended a Vietnamese student having a hard time transitioning and remained a mentor to the young man until he graduated from Bryan High School. As a member of the Dallas Cowboys, Nguyen volunteered and served as a role model for the Asian community and the overall Metroplex. He currently serves on several boards around the San Antonio area and works with the Hill Country Daily Bread organization which provides physical, emotional and spiritual support to the impoverished.

AGGIES IN THE NFF & COLLEGE FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME:

Inducted - Name - (Years)

PLAYERS:
1954 John Kimbrough (1939-40)
1962 Joe Routt (1935-37)
1967 Joel Hunt (1925-27)
1974 Joe Utay (1905-07)
1976 John David Crow (1955-57)
1983 Charlie Krueger (1955-57)
1986 Jack Pardee (1954-56)
1996 Dave Elmendorf (1968-70)
2010 Ray Childress (1981-84)
2017 Dat Nguyen (1995-98)

COACHES:
1951 Dana X. Bible (1917; 1919-28)
1955 Madison Bell (1929-33)
1971 Homer Norton (1934-46)
1986 Paul "Bear" Bryant (1954-57)
2010 Gene Stallings (1965-71)
2012 R.C. Slocum (1989-2002)