heisman
From page 5
quarterback Jim Kelly, Arkansas defensive
end Billy Ray Smith, and Nebraska center
Dave Rimington.
But if recent history is to be used to pre
dict this year's winner, the only ones really in
the running are the ones who do their teams'
running. In each of the last nine years, the
trophy has been awarded to a running back.
Which leads to the question, does the
award honor the "outstanding college foot
ball player in the United States" or merely
the outstanding running back, the one who,
over the course of the season, accumulates
the most impressive statistics? "You almost
have to lead the nation in rushing, or maybe
in scoring," said Rick Brewer, UNC's sports
information director.
The Heisman is. presented each year by
the Downtown Athletic Club of New York City.
Approximately 1,000 media representatives
make up the panel which selects the winner.
1935 was the first year the trophy was
awarded and the following year it was named
for John W. Heisman, the first athletic direc
tor of the Downtown Athletic Club. Heisman
had coached at a number of colleges from
1892 to 1927 and is responsible for revolu
tionizing the rules and strategy of football.
He is credited with introducing the center
snap, as well as heading the campaign to le
galize forward passing.
Of the .47 trophies that have been pre
sented, 44 of them have gone to either a run
ning back or a quarterback. The only lineman
to ever receive the award was Notre Dame's
Leon Hart, in 1949.
"Ifs the best offensive back who wins it,"
Brewer said. "I personally don't think there
was any player in the country better than
Lawrence Taylor in 1980, but George Rogers
was the best back, so he won it"
Aschenbrenner agrees with Brewer that
the Heisman is not a measure of the best col
lege player. "If it was," she said, "Hugh
Green would have won it in 1980. We hon
estly believe that"
Comments like Brewer's and Aschenbren
neKs reflect the typical attitude of the sports
information director nothing but undying
support and the kindest of words for their
star player. Aschenbrenner even admitted
her view of the Heisman may change this
year that she will consider it an award
which goes to the best player "if Danny Ma
rino wins it"
Marino was fourth in the balloting last
season and is enough of a household word in
football circles so that Pitt's publicity cam-
paign can be a fairly modest one. There are
two pages on Marino in the Panther's press
guide and a special information packet on the
quarterback, but little else in the way of pub
licity. No color pictures, no poses with pretty
girls, and due to costs, a reduction, rather
than increase in the size of Pitt's mailing list
"We don't have to push him," Aschen
brenner said. "Ifs gotten to the point where
we have to turn down a lot of interviews
with him."
Though Brewer contends that he, too, is
against a hard-sell approach, he has been a
little less low-key than his Pittsburgh coun
terparts. A full-color action shot of Bryant
appears on the cover of the 1982 UNC foot
ball brochure and a three-page foldout pro
vides an inside look at the running back.
Two pages of quotes, a profile written by
Brewer, and three pictures portray Bryant fn
every way possible, all under the heading
"Kelvin! Kelvin!' Kelvin!";, . : -
One of the pictures shows Bryant sitting
dejectedly on the bench iih street-clothes,
pondering the injury that caused him to miss
half of last season. Another depicts him with
his arm around a young fan. "A hero and a
friend," the caption says. And in the third
shot, Bryant is surrounded by young admir
ers, signing his name for them. It's obviously
Christmas-time, because he is wearing a San
ta hat and the caption labels him "Kelvin
Claus."
"We've done a little bit more in our bro
chure for him than for any other player
we've had here," Brewer said. "But I think he
has the best chance for the Heisman of any
other player we've had. He can win it, but
he's really got to have a great season."
An ABC football promotional tour this
summer to six major cities helped give Bry
. ant further exposure. Walker, Marino, Elway,
Smith, and Rimington were also on the tour.
Of the top Heisman candidates, Elway is
at the greatest disadvantage. Despite the
fact that he was the PAC-10 Player of the
Year two years ago and the first sophomore
quarterback in 18 years to achieve All
America status, Elways chances will be hurt
by the mediocrity of the team he plays for.
"He can't be Dan Marino because he
doesn't have the team that Dan Marino
has," Stanford SID Bob Rose said. "We're
not expected to be better than a .500 team."
The approach that Rose takes toward
Heisman hype is, not surprisingly, also low
key. "We're not going to push a guy for the
Heisman Trophy," he said. "If it really is peo
ple selecting the best player, we're just going
to provide as much information as we can.
The idea of hyping someone and making
them bigger than life really wouldn't sit well
at Stanford anyway."
At some places, though, tactics like that
are necessary. Without them, a player might
never get the publicity that is needed to be
come a legitimate candidate. "Each school
has its own set of circumstances and differ
ent reasons for the things they do," said
Dave Baker, Penn State's SID. "Some sports
information directors have to use a hard-sell
approach. If you're at a small school that
does not have a lot of national recognition
you might have to take that approach."
Penn State certainly isn't in that position,
so Baker is also not a disciple of the hard-sell
when it comes to publicizing Curt Warner.
"We've spent some time on Curt, and I'm
sure as the season progresses we'll spend
more time on him," Baker said. "But we
don't have any full-length posters and
Dionne Warwick hasn't sung any songs
about Curt"
The Heisman Memorial Trophy, a statue
of an antiquated football hero, the kind you
see only in old film clips, is just a foot high.
The figure is made of bronze and is sup
ported by a base of black onyx. It is not ter
ribly expensive to make and if it were sold
for its mineral value, the trophy would not
be worth a great deal.
But the thought of selling the Heisman is
about as far-fetched as any notions of selling
a Heisman candidate. Sports information di
rectors are well aware that efforts such as
those are, for the most part, fruitless. This
year, at least, the Heisman Trophy cannot be
bought
Football 82-83 The Daily Tar Heel 23
Heisman Trophy Winners
1935 Jay Be rwanger, Chicago, HB
1936 Larry Kelley. Yale. E
1937 Clinton Frank. Yale, QB
1938 David O'Brien. Tex. Christian, QB
1939 Nile Kinnick. Iowa. QB
1940 Tom Harmon. Michigan HB
1941 Bruce Smith, Minnesota. HB
1942 Frank Sinkwich, Georgia, HB
1943 Angelo Bertielli. Notre Dame. QB
1944 Leslie Horvath. Ohio State, QB
1945 Felix Blanchard, Army, FB
1946 Glenn Davis, Army, HB
1947 John Lujack. Notre Dame. QB
1948 Doak Walker. SMU. HB
1949 Leon Hart, Notre Dame, E
1950 Vic Janowicz, Ohio State, HB
1951 Richard Kazmaier, Princeton, HB
1952 Billy Vessels. Oklahoma, HB
1 953 J ohn Lattner. Notre Dame. H B
1954 Alan Ameche. Wisconsin, FB
1 955 Howard Cassady, Ohio State. H B
1956 Paul Hornung, Notre Dame. QB
1957 John Crow. Texas A&M. HB
1958 Pete Dawkins, Army. HB
1959 Billy Cannon, La. State. HB
1960 Joe Bellino, Navy, HB
1961 . Ernest Davis, Syracuse. HB-
1962 Terry Baker, Oregon State. QB
1963 Roger Staubach. Navy. QB
1964 John Huarte, Notre Dame. QB
1965 Mike Garrett, USC. HB
1966 Steve Spurrier, Florida, QB
1967 Gary Beban, UCLA, QB
1968 O.J. Simpson. USC, RB
1969 Steve Owens, Oklahoma. RB
1970 Jim Plunkett, Stanford, QB
1971 Pat Sullivan. Auburn. QB
1972 Johnny Rogers. Nebraska. RB-R
1973 . John Cappelletti. Penn State, RB
1974 Archie Griffin, Ohio State, RB
1975 Archie Griffin. Ohio State. RB
1976 Tony Dorsett Pittsburgh. RB
1977 Earl Campbell, Texas. RB
1978 Billy Sims. Oklahoma, RB
1979 Charles White, USC, RB
1980 George Rogers. South Carolina, RB
1981 Marcus Allen, USC, RB
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