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18 unusual facts about Heisman trophy


449th Fighter Interceptor Squadron

Former Heisman Trophy-winner Tom Harmon was a member of the unit during their stint in the CBI.

Ace Atkins

The cover shows Atkins celebrating after sacking future Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel of the Florida Gators.

Cranbrook Schools

Cranbrook has many notable alumni, including designer Florence Knoll, former U.S. Senator Alan K. Simpson, Heisman Trophy winner Pete Dawkins, Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, former Massachusetts governor and 2012 Presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his wife Ann Romney (née Davies), columnist Michael Kinsley, Sun Microsystems founder Scott McNealy, former professional soccer player Alexi Lalas, and actress Selma Blair.

Dan Hicken

Hicken was recognized for his sports knowledge and reputation by being selected as a voting sports journalist for the Heisman Trophy.

Ducky Pond

At Yale, Pond tallied a record of 30–25–2 record, including a 4–3 mark versus Harvard, and mentored two of the first three winners of the Heisman Trophy, Larry Kelley and Clint Frank.

Fred Akers

Akers' notable accomplishments include a Heisman Trophy for Earl Campbell in the 1977 season and national title chances in the 1978 and 1984 Cotton Bowl Classics.

Glassboro High School

Gordon Lockbaum (Born 1965, Class of 1984), attended Holy Cross College in Massachusetts and as a football player there was twice named the New England States Player of the Year, and twice finished in the top five in the Heisman Trophy balloting.

Harry Kipke

Before resigning, Kipke recruited Tom Harmon to play at Michigan and advised the future Heisman Trophy winner to stay with Michigan despite the coaching change.

Jackie Jensen

Cal ended the regular season at 10–0 under coach Pappy Waldorf, winning a share of its first Pacific Coast Conference title in ten years, and Jensen placed fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting, with Doak Walker taking the award.

Kerrville Independent School District

In recent years, the school has perhaps been best known as the alma mater of 2012 Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel.

Knowshon Moreno

Knowshon Moreno began his sophomore campaign as a Heisman Trophy favorite.

Patty Kazmaier-Sandt

Her father, Dick Kazmaier, also a graduate of Princeton University, won the Heisman Trophy in 1951.

Paul Dietzel

LSU concluded the season with a 21–0 loss to Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl, two months after the top-ranked Tigers beat the third-ranked Rebels 7–3 in Tiger Stadium on Billy Cannon's 89-yard punt return, a play that helped win Cannon the Heisman Trophy.

Princeton Tigers football

The Tigers won their last national championship in 1950 when Dick Kazmaier, the 1951 Heisman Trophy winner, was a junior.

Robert Meschbach

At Indiana University, Meschbach became a 1st team All-American in 1980, and runner-up for the Hermann Award (the equivalent of the Heisman Trophy).

Turner Gill

Gill served as position coach for two first team All-Americans, Tommie Frazier and Eric Crouch, with Crouch also earning the Heisman Trophy under Gill's tutelage.

Win Brockmeyer

While coaching high school in Minnesota, he also coached another Hall of Fame member, Bruce P. Smith the only man to win the Heisman Trophy (1941) from the University of Minnesota.

Wrightsville, Georgia

Herschel Walker - Running back for the University of Georgia and 1982 Heisman Trophy winner.


1954 Wisconsin Badgers football team

Senior Alan Ameche earned All-America honors, was named the Big 10 Player of the Year, and was the recipient of the 1954 Heisman Trophy, becoming the first Badger to win the award.

1960 American Football League Championship Game

In the final quarter, Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon caught a short toss from Blanda and went for an 88-yard touchdown scamper.

1962 Buffalo Bills season

The Bills selected Heisman Trophy winner Ernie Davis from Syracuse with their first pick, but Davis chose instead to play with the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League.

1989 Houston Cougars football team

Andre Ware became the first black quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy in 1989, along with the Davey O'Brien Award, the latter award given to the most outstanding college quarterback of the year.

1989 Indiana Hoosiers football team

It is announced that Andre Ware of the Houston Cougars is the 55th recipient of the Heisman Trophy.

2008 SEC Championship Game

The Gators went 9–4 in 2007, and they had many key players returning, including Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow.

Art Heyman

In the National third-place game, Heyman completed his college career when Duke defeated Oregon State (who had Heisman Trophy winner Terry Baker) 85-63.

Berwick, Columbus, Ohio

Archie Griffin - Two time Heisman Trophy winning football player & graduate of nearby Eastmoor High School (now Eastmoor Academy)

Chuck Long

Finally, Long was the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy to Bo Jackson of Auburn in the second closest race in the award's history, losing by just 45 points.

Dan Mullen

As a coach, Mullen has tutored several notable players, including quarterbacks Alex Smith (Utah), Josh Harris (Bowling Green), Chris Leak (Florida) and Heisman Trophy-winner Tim Tebow (Florida).

Downtown Athletic Club

It was most famous for its annual awarding of the Heisman Trophy in its building, given every year to the most outstanding college football player, and named after John Heisman, the club's first athletic director.

Erwin Prasse

While Prasse’s teammate, Nile Kinnick, won the Heisman Trophy, Prasse was named a second team All-American in 1939.

Florida State–Miami football rivalry

Miami took a 27-24 lead after a Ken Dorsey touchdown pass to Jeremy Shockey, but Seminole quarterback and 2000 Heisman Trophy winner Chris Weinke moved the Seminoles into field goal range during a last minute drive in Miami's Orange Bowl stadium.

Forrest Gregg

During that game, eventual Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware threw six touchdown passes against SMU in the first half, and David Klingler added four more in the second half even with the game long out of reach.

Frank Lauterbur

He spent five years at West Point, including the undefeated 1958 season that featured Heisman Trophy winner Pete Dawkins.

Frank Leahy

He also coached four Heisman Trophy winners—Angelo Bertelli (1943), Johnny Lujack (1947), Leon Hart (1949) and Johnny Lattner (1953)—and recruited a fifth, 1956 winner, Paul Hornung.

George Haffner

While at the University of Georgia, he would win a national championship, three conference championships and would coach Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker.

Harry Newman

In 1932, Newman was a unanimous first-team All-American, and the recipient of the Douglas Fairbanks Trophy as Outstanding College Player of the Year (predecessor of the Heisman Trophy), and the Helms Athletic Foundation Player of the Year Award, the Chicago Tribune Silver Football trophy as the Most Valuable Player in the Big Ten Conference.

Douglas Fairbanks Trophy as Outstanding College Player of the Year (predecessor of the Heisman Trophy), Douglas Fairbanks Trophy, 1932.

Jacory Harris

In a July 31, 2009, interview with Dan Le Batard, Harris told the world that he will pick up his Heisman trophy wearing a pink suit and with a "pimp cup" in hand.

Jim Schrader

After graduating from Scott Township High School in Carnegie, PA, he went on to the University of Notre Dame, where he played under head coach Frank Leahy who was the former line coach for the Seven Blocks of Granite and played shoulder-to-shoulder with Tackle Art Hunter Guard Menil Mavraides, and Fullback Neil Worden as the main blockers for Heisman Trophy winning running back Johnny Lattner.

Mike Shannon

He believed himself a better football player, and his former coach, Frank Broyles, commented that had he stayed in school, Shannon might have won the Heisman Trophy.

Ohio City, Cleveland

The birthplace of John Heisman, famous for the annual Heisman Trophy awarded to the best player in college football, is located on corner of Bridge Street and West 29th Place.

Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon

In 1982, Penn State Heisman Trophy winner John Cappelletti spoke to the dancers about losing his brother, Joey, to leukemia ten years earlier, and the event that year raised more than $95,000, and the following year, the sum of $131,000 was raised.

Ron Luciano

In 1959 he played on the Orangemen's national championship squad with future Heisman Trophy winner Ernie Davis.

Sports Museum of America

Nearly 100 hall of fame athletes attended the opening, and speakers included Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Billie Jean King speaking on behalf of the Women's Sports Foundation, Tony Dorsett speaking on behalf of the Heisman Trophy and New York's Super Bowl winning quarterback, Eli Manning, as well as Mr. Schwalb, the museum's founder.

Steve Kragthorpe

Although Louisville started the 2007 season as #10 in the AP Poll and returned the majority of the 2007 Orange Bowl champion team, including Heisman Trophy candidate Brian Brohm at quarterback, the Cards finished the season a disappointing 6–6, including a loss to Syracuse in which the Cardinals were 37 point favorites.

Ted Ginn, Sr.

He coached Heisman Trophy winner and former Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith, and he is considered one of his father-figures.

The Oklahoma Heismen

Narrated by the University of Oklahoma graduate and 3-time Oscar nominee Ed Harris, The Oklahoma Heismen tells the story of the Oklahoma Sooners Heisman Trophy winners Billy Vessels, Steve Owens, Billy Sims, and Jason White as they go from small-town America into the winners of college football's greatest individual prize.

Tom Ed McHugh

That decision proved more popular for Christian because Billy Cannon scored an 89-yard touchdown to keep the Tigers undefeated and to win a Heisman Trophy, the only LSU player ever so honored.

Wide Right II

Nevertheless, Miami featured a bevy of stars on its roster, including Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback Gino Torretta, wide receiver Lamar Thomas, and linebackers Jessie Armstead and Micheal Barrow, and the team was in the midst of an NCAA-record 58-game home winning streak at the Orange Bowl.