University of Minnesota Athletics
Darkins, Manders Join M Club Hall of Fame
6/23/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
On Tuesday, the "M" Club announced the inductees for the Hall of Fame class of 2015, a collection of great Gophers from the past 80 years that includes a pair of Gopher football players -- Chris Darkins and Jack Manders.
The duo, who are members of a 14-person class, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on Oct. 15 at TCF Bank Stadium. After the induction ceremony this autumn, the Hall of Fame will include 334 student-athletes, coaches, administrators and supporters.
Darkins (Football, 1992-95; Track, 1993-96) stood out in two sports during his time at the U of M, but the unifying factor in both was his unbelievable running abilities. On the gridiron, Darkins earned First Team All-Big Ten honors in 1994 by setting a school record with 1,443 rushing yards on the season. Darkins career rushing total of 3,235 yards was third on Minnesota's all-time list when his career ended and remains fifth-best in program history, and his 294 rushing yards against Purdue in 1995 is still the highest single-game total in Gopher football history. On the track, Darkins followed up a runner-up finish in the 55 meters at the 1995 Big Ten Championships with a Big Ten title in the 55 meters in 1996, establishing a school record time. Following his collegiate career, Darkins was drafted in the fourth round of the 1996 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers.
In the early days of the NFL, Manders, who played at Minnesota from 1930-32, was known as one of the league's most consistent and dependable placekickers. Before his professional career, he led the Gophers in rushing in both 1930 and 1931, finishing both of those seasons as a Second Team All-American. In 1931, he also earned First Team All-Big Ten laurels as the conference's scoring leader. He went on to an eight-year professional career, a tenure that included three All-Pro seasons as a running back and a kicker and two NFL scoring titles. Manders' 78 consecutive PAT conversions during one stretch of his career set an NFL record at the time.
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