The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Hall of Honor
- Induction:
- 2022
- Class:
- 2010
An All-American and Academic All-American, NFL veteran, author, public speaker, humanitarian and ESPN broadcaster, Sam Acho is one of Texas’ most-decorated student-athletes. As a senior in 2010, he earned first-team All-America and Academic All-America honors, won the National Football Foundation’s William V. Campbell Trophy, and became the Longhorns’ first-ever recipient of the Wuerffel Trophy for excellence in community service and leadership. A unanimous first-team All-Big 12 selection, Acho played in 50 games at Texas, recording 148 tackles, 23.5 sacks, 37 TFL and nine fumble recoveries, with his final two seasons ranking among the best defensive stretches in school history. A graduate of the McCombs School of Business with a Business Honors degree, Acho was a 2010–11 NCAA Today’s Top VIII Award winner, Big 12 Male Sportsperson of the Year and a member of the AFCA Good Works Team. He helped lead Texas to the 2009 Big 12 Championship and BCS National Championship Game and was a two-time Longhorn Team MVP. Selected in the fourth round of the 2011 NFL Draft, Acho played nine seasons in the NFL, including four with the Chicago Bears, and was a two-time Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee. Off the field, Acho earned his MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management, serves as Vice President of Living Hope Christian Ministries, helped build a hospital in Nigeria, authored Let the World See You, and founded Athletes for Justice, an organization dedicated to fighting injustice worldwide.