Bill Armstrong (1996) - Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame

Bill Armstrong

Induction:
1996

During his senior season of 1976, on the way to accumulating the most unassisted tackles in Wake Forest history, Bill Armstrong was paid one of his highest compliments by an opposing coach. Vanderbilt's Fred Pancoast revealed after playing the Demon Deacons that he had two of his "scout team" players wear No. 19, Armstrong's number, and had both of them on the field at the same time throughout practice the week before the Vandy-Wake game.

Using 12 men on the field?

"That's the only way to prepare for him," Pancoast explained.

Opponents and fans alike appreciated Armstrong's aggressive, non-stop play throughout the 1974, 1975 and 1976 seasons. A first-team All-ACC selection, he repeated that honor in 1976 and added to it considerably. In that season, he became Wake Forest's first consensus football All-American.

Armstrong, who began his Deacon career as a quarterback before switching to defense as a sophomore, is atop the WFU career defensive chart with 271 unassisted tackles, matching the total compiled by Ed Stetz. Armstrong is one of only four players in school history to record more than 400 overall tackles, finishing his career with 402.

As a senior, he was named the ACC Defensive Back of the Week five times while averaging nearly 12 stops per contest.

"I learned early on that no matter how big the man is, if you hit him harder than he hits you, he'll go down," Bill once said.

He received the Arnold Palmer Award as the university's outstanding male athlete, and in 1996, he was inducted into the WFU Hall of Fame. Armstrong was named to the ACC 50th Anniversary Team in 2002, and he was Wake's representative in the inaugural class of ACC Legends in 2005. His jersey number, 19, is retired.