CINCINNATI — Former University of Cincinnati football star Connor Barwin was elected Wednesday afternoon to the James P. Kelly Athletics Hall of Fame, the UC athletics department announced.
Barwin, a former longtime NFL player, will be inducted into the 50th anniversary class of the James P. Kelly Athletics Hall of Fame on Oct. 23. That is the Friday night before Cincinnati's football game versus Texas Tech. More details will be announced in the coming weeks.
Other individuals previously announced to the Class of 2026 include legendary men’s basketball coach Bob Huggins, track and field All-Americans Loretta Blaut and Wayne Mason, baseball career batting average leader Mike Kinnett and women’s soccer record-setting goalkeeper Christy Hoffman.
A native of Detroit, Mich., Barwin led the Big East in 2008 with 11 sacks to go along with 53 tackles, 15 tackles-for-loss, eight pass breakups, seven quarterback hurries and three blocked kicks. He earned first team All-Big East honors and honorable mention All-America laurels by Sports Illustrated to cap his career during his senior season.
The three blocked kicks are the most in a single season in program history and his 11 sacks rank third. Initially a three-year letterwinner as a tight end, Barwin caught 53 passes for 692 yards and six touchdowns in his career before making the move to defensive end as a senior.
A two-year letterwinner on the Bearcats’ basketball team, Barwin played in 34 games and made 11 starts in his time on the hardwood.
Selected by the Houston Texans with the 46th overall pick in the second round of the 2009 NFL Draft, Barwin went on to play 10 seasons in the NFL, playing in 142 games, including 112 starts, while registering 56.5 sacks. He earned Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors after leading the NFC with 14.5 sacks in 2014. Barwin is entering his sixth season in the Philadelphia Eagles’ football operations department, where he serves as head of football development and strategy.
Barwin served as the executive producer for the Philadelphia Eagles’ A Philly Special Christmas album in 2022 as well as Amazon’s "Kelce," a documentary about his Eagles and Bearcats teammate Jason Kelce, in 2023. He is part of the ownership group for the Italian professional basketball team Pallacanestro Trieste.
In 2023, Barwin graduated with his MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
He also founded the Make the World Better foundation, which connects people and inspires stewardship through public space revitalization, raising millions of dollars for projects since 2013.
Barwin and his wife, Laura, have a son, Wes, and a daughter, Vera.
