History of the Heisman

The Heisman Memorial Trophy is presented each year by the Downtown Athletic Club of New York to the outstanding college football player in the nation.

In 1935, the club honored the top player east of the Mississippi with what it called the DAC Trophy. The next year, the award went national and was named in honor of John W. Heisman, the first athletic director of the club, who died that year. Heisman had played football at Brown and Penn and then coached from 1892 through 1927 at Auburn, Oberlin, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Akron, Penn, Washington and Jefferson, and Rice.

Frank Eliscu, a well-known sculptor of the 1930s, was commissioned to sculpt the bronze trophy. Eliscu used Ed Smith, a New York University football player, as the model.

Today, sportswriters, sportscasters and former Heisman winners form the Heisman Memorial Trophy Committee that selects the winners. The Downtown Athletic Club has no voice in the selection.

Each member of the committee ‹ there are nearly 1,000 now ‹ must vote for three players each. The first choice receives three points; the second, two points; the third, one.

Jay Berwanger, a halfback at the University of Chicago, won the award in 1935. Larry Kelley, an end at Yale, won the following year.

In 1961, Syracuse halfback Ernie Davis of Elmira became the first black player to win the Heisman. He remains the only Syracuse player to capture the award, and the only New Yorker.

Until 1976, the awarding of the Heisman Memorial Trophy was done with relatively little fanfare. In 1977, the presentation was made as part of a live hour-long primetime television program.

The Heisman today stands as one of the most prestigous of all individual sports awards.

Heisman Trophy winners