TOLEDO, Ohio – When the University of Toledo Athletic Department decided to commission an artist to paint portraits of its three members of the College Football Hall of Fame, they sought the services of another Rocket Hall of Famer.
 
Aaron Bivins, the Toledo football team's all-time leading tackler and 2006 inductee into the school's Varsity T Hall of Fame, was chosen to paint water-color portraits of Rocket greats Chuck Ealey, Mel Long, Sr. and Gary Pinkel. Ealey and Pinkel are being officially inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in Las Vegas on Dec. 6. Long was inducted into the prestigious group in 1998.
 
The Rockets will honor all three inductees at their game vs. UMass on Sept. 10.  A special dinner reception in their honor will also be held at the Pinnacle in Maumee on Friday, Sept. 9. Details for purchasing tickets to the dinner will be announced later this summer.
 
Bivins is a well-known artist in the Toledo area. Many years before he made his living with a paint brush, he created artistry of a different kind on the football field. Bivins played defensive line for the Rockets from 1974-77, earning Mid-American Conference Defensive Player of the Year honors in 1976. He twice was awarded Toledo's Nicholson Award as the team's most valuable player, and earned second-team All-MAC accolades in 1976 and 1977. He still holds the Toledo record for career tackles with 508.
 
"When we decided we wanted to create portraits for our College Football Hall of Fame inductees, we naturally thought of Aaron," said Toledo Deputy Director of Athletics Dave Nottke. "He is not only an accomplished artist, but also one of our all-time great football players. Having one of our own Varsity T Hall of Famers paint these portraits makes them extra-special."
 
Bivins agreed that there is something appropriate about a former Rocket to bring the three Toledo Hall of Famers to life on the canvas.
 
"I am just truly honored to be asked to do something like this," said Bivins. "Being a Varsity T Hall of Famer keeps it all in the family, so to speak. It was almost like it was meant to be. I just hope everybody likes the end result."
 
The portraits will be officially presented to Ealey, Long and Pinkel at the reception on Sept. 9 and again at the football game on Sept. 10. Those attending the reception, as well as a limited number of fans attending the football game, will receive commemorative football cards that replicate the paintings.
 
About Toledo's College Football Hall of Fame Members
 
Chuck Ealey (2022 Induction)
 
The quarterback during the best run in Toledo football history, Chuck Ealey never lost a game in his three seasons as the Rockets' starting quarterback.
 
Named a 1971 First Team All-American, Ealey went a remarkable 35-0 as Toledo's starting quarterback. The three-time MAC Back of the Year became the first player in conference history to receive votes for the Heisman Trophy, tallying 168 points for an eighth-place finish in 1971. A three-time First Team All-MAC selection, Ealey led the Rockets to three consecutive conference titles. While guiding the team to three-straight Tangerine Bowl victories, he earned MVP honors following standout performances in the 1969 and 1971 editions.

 A 1971 team captain, Ealey finished his career as Toledo's all-time leader with 5,275 passing yards and 45 touchdown passes, both marks that still rank in the top 10. In both 1970 and 1971, he received the team's Jim Nicholson Award as the team's most valuable player. Voted No. 1 on Toledo's All-Century Football Team in 2017, the Portsmouth, Ohio, native is one of just four players to have his number retired by the Rockets. He was inducted into the University of Toledo Varsity T Hall of Fame in 1978.
 
After going undrafted by the NFL, Ealey signed with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League. He went on to win the CFL's Most Outstanding Rookie Award and led the Tiger-Cats to a victory in the Grey Cup, where he earned MVP honors. In total, Ealey played seven seasons in the CFL with Hamilton, Winnipeg and Toronto.
 
Following his professional football career, Ealey served as a financial advisor in the Toronto area. He founded the Chuck Ealey Foundation, which annually awards academic scholarships to college and high school recipients of The Chuck Ealey Undefeated Spirit Award. The Chuck Ealey Foundation also provides opportunities to high school students to help build their mentoring skills while guiding underprivileged youth to discover and embrace their sense of self-worth and "undefeated spirit."
 
Gary Pinkel (2022 Induction)
 
Toledo's all-time leader in victories with 73 from 1991-2000, Gary Pinkel, is being inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as the winningest head coach at both the University of Toledo and the University of Missouri.
 
Pinkel began his head coaching career at Toledo in 1991 and during the next 10 years he would take the Rockets to new heights, winning 65.9 percent of his games and amassing a 73-37-3 record. His nine winning seasons at Toledo included the 1995 MAC championship, with the Rockets going 11-0-1 and finishing at No. 24 in the final polls. Pinkel would lead Toledo to three other MAC West Division titles.
 
In 1997, the Rockets finished 9-3, climbing as high as No. 18 in the national rankings. They repeated as division champions again in 1998 with a 7-5 record. In his final season with the Rockets in 2000, the team went 10-1, including a 24-6 win at Penn State. The team finished the regular season with a share of the MAC West Division title and ranked No. 25 in the AP Poll. Pinkel was named the MAC Coach of the Year in 1995 and 1997.
 
Pinkel was inducted into the University of Toledo Varsity T Hall of Fame in 2009.

Pinkel took over at Missouri in 2001, leading the Tigers to 10 winning seasons, five conference division titles, 10 bowl appearances and six bowl victories. He finished his career at Missouri with an overall record of 118-73. Pinkel's Missouri teams posted final top-20 national rankings five times, including AP rankings of No. 4 in 2007 and No. 5 in 2013. In 2007, he was named the National Coach of the Year by FieldTurf, and he won conference coach of the year honors in 2007 (Big 12) and 2014 (SEC). In 2007, Mizzou claimed the school's first No. 1 national ranking since 1960.  In 2011, the Tigers were SEC East Division champs, won the Cotton Bowl and finished with a final No. 5 ranking in the national polls.
 
Pinkel is one of only three coaches in history to be the winningest coach of two college football programs, joining Bear Bryant (Kentucky, Alabama) and Steve Spurrier (Florida, South Carolina). He retired from coaching in 2015 due to a diagnosis of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
 
Active in the community, Pinkel created the GP Made Foundation to help youth facing difficult challenges and has raised more than $10 million for charitable causes. In 2017, Pinkel released an autobiography "The 100-Yard Journey: A Life in Coaching and Battling for the Win."
 
 
Mel Long (1998 Induction)
 
Mel Long was a three-time, first-team All-Mid-American Conference selection from 1969-71 as a defensive tackle. He was first-team Newspaper Enterprise Association All-America, second-team AP All-America and third-team Central Press All-American in 1970.
 
In 1971 he was a first-team pick of the AP, UPI, NEA, Football Writers Association and several others, thus becoming the first consensus All-America in Mid-American Conference history. He was MAC "Defensive Player of the Year" in 1971 and played in the All-America Bowl Game in Tampa.
 
Long was tri-captain of the 1971 team that concluded a 35-game unbeaten, untied streak. He helped UT win three consecutive MAC and Tangerine Bowl crowns and earn top-20 rankings each season.
 
Long was drafted by Cleveland in the 1972 NFL Draft and spent the 1972-75 seasons with the Browns. He was inducted into the University of Toledo Varsity T Hall of Fame in 1982. He was voted the No. 4 all-time player  on Toledo's All-Century Football Team in 2017