This past Saturday night was a memorable one for Lloyd Carr.
First, the former Michigan football coach found out that he'll be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Former Wolverines quarterback Brian Griese made the announcement during Saturday's gala dinner for the Griese/Hutchinson/Woodson Champions for Children's Hearts Weekend. (The event raised $2 million for C.S. Mott Children's Hospital.)
This was Carr's first year on the ballot, which was released March 7 and included 79 players and nine coaches. The official announcement of this year's Hall of Fame class will be made on Tuesday in New York City. Induction will take place at the National Football Foundation’s Annual Awards Dinner on December 6.
Carr compiled a 122-40 record at Michigan from 1995 to 2007, winning five Big Ten titles and a national championship in 1997. Prior to becoming head coach, he served 15 years as an assistant coach with the Wolverines, working under Bo Schembechler and Gary Moeller.
He will be the fourth Michigan football coach to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, joining Schembechler, Fielding Yost and Fritz Crisler.
But that wasn't the only good news Carr received at Saturday's gala dinner. Shortly after getting the news of his Hall of Fame induction, he learned that a floor at the new C.S. Mott Children's Hospital will be named after him. Al Glick, who donated $3 million to the new hospital project, requested the seventh floor be named in Carr's honor. It will be called the Coach Carr Pediatric Cancer Center Unit.
"I've been to the hospital two or three times with Lloyd and know how much the hospital means to him," Glick said last week, adding it's a conversation they've had for years and just decided last year to name it for him. "To me, the hospital is as great a place as you can donate to. Lloyd Carr is a great person, I have so much respect for Lloyd."
In addition, Carr's former players announced that a fund had been created in his name -- the Coach Carr Mountaintop Fund -- and $750,000 in donations had already been secured. Former offensive lineman Jake Long, quarterback Tom Brady and current head coach Brady Hoke were among the benefactors for the fund.