Hall of Fame
ERIC HIPPLE
Hometown: Downey, Calif.
Sport: Football
Years: 1976-79
Eric Hipple earned first-team all-Pacific Coast Conference honors as a senior in 1979 and led Utah State to a 14-7-1 (.659) record during his junior and senior campaigns including its only back-to-back conference championships in school history with a 4-1-0 record in 1978 and a 4-0-1 mark in 1979. As a senior, Hipple completed 60.2 percent of his passes to rank second all-time in school history. During his career, Hipple had three 300-yard passing games, including a career-best 364 yards against San Jose State on Sept. 8, 1979 to rank 22nd all-time at USU. Overall, Hipple ranks fourth all-time at Utah State in completions (459) and total offense (6,121), fifth in passing yards (6,073), sixth in touchdown passes (34) and seventh in career completion percentage (.540). Following his collegiate career, Hipple played in the 1979 Blue-Gray All-Star Game and was then selected by the Detroit Lions in the fourth round (85) of the 1980 NFL Draft. Hipple played 10 seasons with the Lions and finished his career with 55 touchdown passes and 10,711 passing yards. He was named to Utah State's All-Century team in 1993.
