One of the deepest College Football Hall of Fame classes of all-time produced one of the most memorable enshrinement festivals ever Saturday in South Bend.

Lou Holtz, Troy Aikman and Thurman Thomas led the class in.

The Hall of Fame couldn't have asked for better weather as things kicked off in grand style with the Grand Parade throughout downtown South Bend in the morning.

Then it was off to the Hall itself for an autograph session. A new event, the pep rally, replaced the flag football game.

The pep rally proved to be pretty exciting as each Enshrinee was introduced to the crowd and received his Hall of Fame Blazer on stage.

Holtz, 72, was splitting time between enshrinement activities and running practices for the Irish Legends team that will depart for Japan early Sunday morning for a special bowl game.

All the extra work didn't slow Lou down, but it did knock out his voice.

"I was yelling too much," Holtz explained. "Rudy would be our star and Charlie Weis has more speed than any of our running backs."

By the time the Enshrinement dinner rolled around, Lou's voice was even worse. "This time it was Tony Rice," he explained live on Newscenter 16 at 6.

But most importantly, Holtz couldn't appreciate more all the fans that came out to see him and support him on this day.

Aikman, a star at UCLA, goes into the Hall of Fame alongside one of his greatest professional teammates---Jay Novacek. The QB-TE combo helped the Dallas Cowboys win three super bowls in the early 90s.

Aikman and Novacek joined us live on Newscenter 16 at 6 to discuss what the day was like and what it means to going into the Hall with each other.

One player who knows Aikman and Novacek well is Thurman Thomas. Thomas fell short of winning four Super Bowls with the Buffalo Bills, twice against the Aikman/Novacek Cowboys.

But this day was about his time at Oklahoma State, and Thomas joked that he couldn't understand how he kept Barry Sanders on the bench for two years.

Perhaps Enshrinement Saturday was summed up best by Florida State great Ron Simmons, who went on to become pro wrestling's first African-American world heavyweight champion.

"Damn," Simmons declared, using the signature one word response from his days in World Wrestling Entertainment.

Other enshrinees include: Billy Cannon (HB-LSU), Jim Dombrowski (OT-Virginia), Pat Fitzgerald (LB-Northwestern), WIlbur Marshall (LB-Florida), Reuben Mayes (RB-Washington St.), Randall McDaniel (OG-Arizona St.), Don McPherson (QB-Syracuse), Dave Parks (WR-Texas Tech), Arnold Tucker (QB-U.S. Military Academy), John Cooper (Head Coach-Tulsa, Arizona St., Ohio St.), Roger Brown (DT-Maryland-Eastern Shore), Fred Dean (DT-Louisiana Tech), Sam Mills, Jr. (LB-Montclair St.), Rod Smith (WR-Missouri Southern), Volney Ashford (Head Coach-Missouri Valley College), and Jim Donnan (Head Coach-Marshall, Georgia).

For interviews with over a dozen of these enshrinees, just click on the related story link below.