USD Football 1992

THE HYPES-MAN TROPHY act by taking the presentation ceremony as its own, and then hyping it 10 the point where the announcement of the winner can be anti-climactic. "It is against the spirit ol the sport that relies on

office received a ballot from the Downtown A.C. and was asked 10 vote for the top three players in the nation. Hundreds of cards were sent out, in no particular geographic proportion, and they came back at the whim of the recipient to be tallied, after which the winner was announced. The biggest deal occurred at a midweek media lu ncheon at the club in early December when the player was introduced

And of course, there really is no mystery as to who will get the trophy because other media outlets have polled the voters and discovered long before the fact who is going to win. Before the award is even presented, we have been served a glut of candidates,

teamwork, not on a single player."

John W. R eisman

publicly for the first t ime. There were perhaps 70- 100 media and club members pre– sent, and after some brief remarks, he held an impromptu press conference. That evening, an in-club dinner was held in his honor and he was presented with the award, sometimes by a noted politician. There was no media coverage of the event, and the next day he left town, lugging the famed trophy, mod– eled by a one-time New York University fullback. Those days will never return. In their stead we have the Heisman Watch in USA Today. Last year, Ty Detmer, the 1990 winner who was not really a popular choice because many "experts" g rumbled about Brigham Young's alleged lack of "quality competition," had some early rough outings. Karen Allen, who writes that feature for the paper, dismi~sed Detmer under the heading, "You·re Ouna Here." That was on September 23 when BYU still had nine games remaining on its schedule. Detmer fini shed the I991 season with better overa ll statistics than in I990. He had a 168.5 pass efficiency rating, compared 10 155.9 in hi s Heisman season. He threw 159 fewer passes but only six less

some who last just one day, oth– ers who are sent packing because they might not have rung up statistics equal 10 the national debt and thus are deemed unwor– thy, regardless of what they did before-or what they mi ght accomplish in succeeding weeks-and of course, those who are having a fine season and are mentioned week after week. All of this has served to put out of all perspective just what this award is supposed to mean. Which is. In the November 14, 1935 issue of The New York Times, a one-paragraph blurb on page 25 noted that the Downtown Athletic Club Trophy would be presented to "the best player east of the Mississippi River as deter– mined by a poll of selected vot– ers." Nearly a month later, on December 11 , a three-paragraph story on page 33 of the Times announced that halfback Jay Berwanger of the University of Chicago had won the trophy. ly opposed by John W. Heisman, the club's athletic director and a fa med coach during the first three decades of the century. "It is against the spirit of the sport that relies on teamwork, not on a single player," he told his confer- ees.

--·- ___ -·- _ The award had been vehement- --:::.=__ ~ ..::..__-–

touchdowns. His average per completion increased from 14.3 yards to 16.7; his interceptions fell from 20 to 12. More importantly, his team had an 8-3-2 record and a Western Athletic Conference cham– pionship, just as it did in 1990 with a 10-3 mark. Allen defended her approach on Detmer. "His team didn't do well early and was out of national TV appearances so there was no further widespread anention. He didn't have a great supporting cast and had played all the high-profile opponents." But what about the fact that he still had nine games to play, and that the Heisman Trophy is supposed to be awarded on the

Nevertheless, they went ahead and the response was overwhelming from the scores of voters who were asked to partici– pate. Heisman became enthusiastic at the reception given Berwanger when he came to New York City for a dinner that cost each allendee just two dollars, and he enthusiastically supported its continuance. Ironically, it wasn't until the following year, I936, after he had died, that the club named the award in his honor. It has since become the most coveted single player award in college football. From that time until less than a quar– ter century ago, no one even mentioned the Heisman Trophy

Some schools have gone the distance to promote a Heisman candidate-– Pittsburgh did with Hugh Green in 1980.

until the season began its home stretch in early November. By that time, the great players had emerged and there was a bet– ter perspective by which to judge who were worthy candidates. Contrast that, too, with the nature of the award then and now. When I began covering college football for the Associated Press in New York City back in the late fifties, everyone in our

TOUCHDOWN ILLUSmATED