It’s one of the most impressive list of wall hangers ever hung at the same time.

The Western Mustangs Champions Club named five new members to the Wall of Champions and introduced them Friday at TD Stadium.

The list would be a pretty good start to a football all-star team.

This year’s class is made up of Rob Kochel, Irv Daymond, Craig Butler, Jeff Keeping, and Vaughn Martin and between them they have a slew of championships and years in professional.

The inductees were further honoured on Friday evening at the annual Wall of Champions Dinner at the London Convention Centre. This year’s event celebrates Mustangs in the Canadian Football League, honouring both those that are former members of the league and currently on CFL rosters.

There was a large group of family and friends present as the inductees unveiled the plaques hanging along the hallway walls at the stadium.

Butler and Keeping are still playing in the CFL while Martin, after several years in the National Football League, will suit up with the Montreal Alouettes this year. After several years in the CFL Daymond has coached at Canadian universities and is now on the staff with the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks. Kochel played in the CFL before an injury ended his career and he is now in the investment business.

It was a diversified group of players inducted Friday, a group that spanned a period from the 1970s through present day.

Particularly noticeable was the induction of the younger group of players including Keeping, Martin and Butler. Martin and Butler were key members of the Mustangs when the team began the era of Greg Marshall as a head coach. It didn’t start well in 2007 but it turned out to be a group that provided lots of excitement.

Butler was one of the biggest hitters to ever wear a Mustang uniform, while Martin was a dominant force on the defensive line. It was quite an accomplishment considering Martin didn’t play football until Grade 10.

“We shared a lot of memories and we still share a lot of memories. We stay in touch,” Butler said. “We came in that first year and I have vivid memories of that year. We started 0-4 and I remember both of us ‘uh oh, did we make the right decision?’ We came back and won seven in a row and the next four years after that we didn’t look back, three Yates Cup in four years . . . it was a pretty special time.”

When Butler began with the Mustangs, he was a skinny 150-pounder. He wound up being a ferocious hitter and leader on the team and is having an outstanding pro career.

“I was just talking to Vaughn and it just kind of hitting us right now how special this is,” Butler said. “You are up on a wall with so many other contributors to Mustang football. I definitely didn’t think it would ever happen to me this early. I had the privilege of going to a couple of Wall of Champions dinners so I get to experience it from the one side and now it’s going to be a pretty special experience from the other side of podium.”

Martin made headlines in 2009 when he became the first underclassman in CIS history to be selected in the NFL draft, going in the fourth round to the San Diego Chargers. He played there for four years moving to the Miami Dolphins. He ran into injury problems and after stints in Kansas City and Detroit, he signed with the Alouettes who retained his rights after drafting in him the CFL draft.

“Life is good,” Martin said. “(The injuries) that was tough when the tools you use for your profession aren’t working or working as well as you want them too. But life has been good. It’s inherent. It’s an inherent risk of game. The first time you pick up a football helmet, there’s a sticker on the back that tells you exactly what can happen when you play. It’s all part of the game. I love it. I’m excited. The journey’s been awesome. (Friday) we are here because a very specific part of the journey has been specifically awesome. It feels good.”

He says the group he’s being inducted with is a “great group.”

Martin summed up what being part of the Wall of Champions and being a Mustang meant to him.

“It’s a family. It’s a big purple family,” Martin said. “It’s what stuck out to me. It’s the feeling of family. No matter what we were coming from. All the things I’ve gone through in my life. It hasn’t always been easy and athletics as a whole has become a refuge and that’s never changed. That became more true once I walked through the doors here and walked past these campus gates . . . Life is crazy. Within 18 months of when I was at Wheable upgrading my marks to get into King’s (University), I was in the NFL. That was the sum total of all the people who were around this campus, around London, Ontario and my life.”