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Pierce Holt
1999 Distinguished Alumnus |
Pierce Holt achieved nearly every honor a football player can achieve in his collegiate
and professional career. The 1987 alumnus and Carr Scholar started his college career at a time when most players are leaving the field, at the age of 22. After holding down a variety of jobs, ranging from car salesman to mall Santa Claus, Holt, then married with two children, arrived on the campus in the spring of 1984, and joined the Rams as a walk-on defensive lineman, just to try to finish his college degree.
He went on to earn first team all-Lone Star Conference honors three times, and was twice the LSC Defensive Lineman of the Year. He led ASU to two LSC Championships in 1984 and 1987, and to the NCAA Quarterfinals his final year. A consensus All-American as a senior in 1987, Holt was named the NCAA Division 11 Defensive Player of the Year by the NFL Draft Report.
Despite having a condition called amblyopia that limits him to 10 percent sight in his left eye, Holt moved on to the professional level, where he continued toachieve success. He led the San Francisco 49ers to two Super Bowl titles in 1988 and 1989, and to three NFC West Championships. He was selected as an all-NFL rookie in his first year, and was a two-time Pro Bowl selection, including earning starting honors in 1992. He joined the Atlanta Falcons in 1993, signing a contract that, at the time, made him the highest paid defensive player in the NFL.
Holt retired from the professional ranks in 1995. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1997, selected to the NCAA 25th Anniversary Division II College Football Team, and was recognized as the LSC Defensive Player of the Decade for the 1980's.
Holt, a rancher and businessman with varied interests, lives in Christoval with his wife Deana,and their three children, Ashley, Forrest, and Lauren. Since his retirement from professional football, Holt has been an active member of the community, including serving on the board of the West Texas Boys Ranch. He is also an active supporter of the Children's Museum at the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts and works as a volunteer with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, including inviting several terminally-ill children to enjoy weekends on his Christoval ranch and participate in hunting, fishing, camping, and riding with Holt and his children. Holt is also an active supporter of the University, including sponsoring a scholarship in his name.
ASU Alumni Association Vice President Kathy Horne Matthews and personal friend says,"Pierce's humility, work ethic, and family values make him as remark-able a man as he is an athlete. His professional accomplishments have bestowed Angelo State University with continued notoriety, and we can be enormously proud to have him represent this institution and the Association."
As profiled in the 1999 Fall Alumni Magazine.
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