Lakeland College football great Pat Curran was selected on Sept. 5 to be one of thirteen inductees into the prestigious National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame in the Football Category. This distinguished honor is given every year to several individuals in recognition of their great contributions to a specific collegiate sport.
Curran graduated from Lakeland College in 1972 after being named to the NAIA All-American team and was drafted in the sixth round of the 1969 NFL Draft. He would spend the next ten seasons in the NFL playing for both the Los Angeles Rams and San Diego Chargers.
During his time playing running back for the Muskies, Curran managed to break every single scoring record, and many of his records remain unbroken some 40 years later. Among these outstanding records were six touchdowns in a single game and 51 career touchdowns, as well as 1,025 yards gained in a single season and 2,502 yards gained during a career.
Following his long career in the NFL, Curran began working for the Chargers organization as both a business manager and an analyst. After many years surrounded by professional football, Curran made the transition into the business world as an employee of the international tool company Snap-on. He has found success in the business world and is still employed at the same company.
Curran was not the only Lakeland College Muskie elected to the hall of fame, as the legendary Basketball coach Duane “Moose” Woltzen was also elected to the NAIA hall of fame this year. Woltzen won over 11 conference championships in men’s basketball and posted a total record of 536 wins to just 229 losses. After a long and distinguished career as a coach at Lakeland, Woltzen would go on to become the Athletic Director at Lakeland.
Lakeland College has housed a plethora of athletic greats over the course of its existence and the induction of these two alumni is just one of many ways their legacies are celebrated and live on in the hearts of the Lakeland community and beyond.
All of the information for this article was gathered off of the NAIA National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics 2013 Hall Of Fame Inductees website.