In a slugfest of a season, the game had turned ugly: The University of Texas-El Paso Miners were in town near the end of 1999 and had scratched their way to a 17-all tie at halftime. The Horned Frogs had turned the ball over three times in their last 10 snaps.

In the locker room, Coach Dennis Franchione and his offensive staff searched for answers. “We decided to give it to No. 5 for a while and just try to keep their offense off the field,” he recalled. “The next thing I know, one of the coaches is telling me LaDainian only needs 15 yards to break the record.”

The NCAA mark for most rushing yards in a game was only eight years old. In 1991, Kansas running back Tony Sands piled up 396 yards on 58 carries against Missouri. But on this day in 1999, LaDainian Tomlinson needed only 46 handoffs to reach 406 yards and six touchdowns.

The TCU junior helped the Frogs capture a Western Athletic Conference title, the program’s first since the collapse of the Southwest Conference. Tomlinson won the NCAA rushing title with 1,850 yards, just ahead of Heisman Trophy winner Ron Dayne.

“Not very often do you coach someone who has everything,” Franchione said at the time. “He has size.  He can break tackles. He’s quick. He can elude defenders—and the thing I don’t think a lot of people realize is his speed. They don’t think he’s as fast as he is.”

College football watchers learned a lot more about Tomlinson the next year. He repeated as NCAA rushing champion with 2,158 yards and finished fourth in the Heisman voting. TCU won the WAC again for its first back-to-back titles since the 1950s.

In December, Tomlinson headlined the 2014 class of inductees into the National Football Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame, selected from a ballot of 75 former All-Americans. Tomlinson is the 11^th Frog inducted and the first since Darrell Lester in 1988.

“This is especially significant because when you think about it, our names will live on forever,” Tomlinson told the media at the ceremony in New York. “ When I think about that, I think about my children and their children. That is special.”

LT, as Tomlinson became known, was a unanimous first-team All-American in 2000, in addition to being a Heisman finalist. For 15 years, he held the NCAA record for most rushing yards in a half (287) and a game (406).

TCU’s rise to prominence coincided with Tomlinson’s arrival at the university, winning the 1998 Sun Bowl, the 1999 Mobile Alabama Bowl and two WAC titles. Tomlinson won the Jim Brown Trophy, recognizing the NCAA’s top running back, and MVP of the 2000 Mobile Alabama Bowl and 2001 Senior Bowl.

Tomlinson became the fifth overall pick of the 2001 NFL Draft. He played 10 seasons with the San Diego Chargers and New York Jets. In 2005, he returned to TCU to finish his degree in communications (fulfilling a promise he made to his mother) and see his No. 5 jersey retired.

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