JACKSONVILLE, FL 12/22/06 - The Gator Bowl Association announced today the Gator Bowl Hall of Fame Class of 2006.  This year?s induction class includes Gator Bowl Past Chairman Carl N. Cannon, the first chairman in Gator Bowl history to serve as Chairman for 2 Gator Bowl games, and Dave Braine, former Athletic Director of Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech, who teams from each respective university appeared in Gator Bowl games under his tenure.

The Gator Bowl Coaches Luncheon and Hall of Fame Induction will take place at 12:00 noon on December 29 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.  In addition to the induction ceremony, West Virginia Head Coach Rich Rodriguez and Georgia Tech Head Coach Chan Gailey will also be featured speakers.

CARL N. CANNON
Carl Cannon is the publisher of The Florida Times-Union and executive vice-president of Morris Publishing Group.

He is a Georgia native who started his professional career with Morris Communications after graduating from the University of Georgia in l965 with a Bachelor's degree in journalism.

 Prior to coming to Jacksonville he was with their newspapers in Augusta, Lubbock and Amarillo, Texas.Carl Cannon is the first in Gator Bowl history to serve as chairman of two games.  As the new stadium was being built, Carl presided over the 1994 game that was moved to Gainesville and played at Florida Field.  While the logistics of this game was a tremendous obstacle, the 50^th Anniversary game in 1996 proved just as difficult being the first game to be played in the new stadium.

 During his tenure, Carl was instrumental in securing Toyota as a new title sponsor, acquiring a national television network and landing a New Year?s Day time slot that returned the Gator Bowl Classic to national prominence.

 He presently serves on the board of directors of  Florida Council of 100; Florida Press Service; Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens; The Players Championship Charities, Inc.; Wesley Manor, Inc.; The University of North Florida Foundation Board; the YMCA of Florida?s First Coast Metropolitan Board, the Jacksonville Symphony Association and the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce. Carl is married and has three children and four grandchildren.

DAVE BRAINE
A national leader in collegiate athletics, Dave Braine made a career out of building successful programs.

 In nearly nine years as the Director of Athletics at Georgia Tech, he oversaw tremendous growth in the Yellow Jackets? overall athletics program while positioning Tech for the future with ambitious building projects.  Braine served at Tech from 1997 through his retirement in January of 2006, closing the book on a 21-year career as an athletics director and a coaching and administrative career that covered nearly four decades.

 Prior to his tenure as Director of Athletics at Georgia Tech, Braine also served as its defensive secondary coach on the football staff of Pepper Rodgers for two years beginning in 1974.  He then went to Marshall as Athletic Director from 1985 through 1987 after which he moved to Virginia Tech and made a name for himself in a 10-year tenure in which he helped change the face of Hokie athletics. 

 Dave Braine has a strong tie to the Gator Bowl having been a member of the University of North Carolina team that  appeared in the 1963 Gator Bowl Classic.  He returned to Jacksonville in 1994 as Athletic Director of Virginia Tech for their game against Tennessee.  During his tenure as Athletic Director at Georgia Tech, he brought the Yellow Jackets to play in the 1999 Gator Bowl against Notre Dame and again in 2000 for the Georgia Tech vs. Miami game.

 Married to the former Carole Bowles of Richmond, Va., Dave and his wife recently retired to Blacksburg, Va .  They have four children, Jennifer, Bill, Steven and Meredith and nine grandchildren:  Kaeler, Nathan, Garrett, Margot, Ramsey, Jennings, Bennett, Brody and William.