Book dossier

The Heisman

by Bill Pennington

No sport in America can match the pagentry, nationwide appeal, and tradition of college football. It is a world in which a twenty-year-old kid can become a national sensation overnight, in which coaches are deified and rivalries burn white-hot. Frantic cheerleaders, playful mascots, and blaring marching bands breathe life into crisp autumn Saturdays as millions throng to campus stadiums all over the country to cheer their heroes.And in this world, there is no individual award so revered as the Heisman Trophy. Named for John Heisman, a former player and groundbreaking coach, a history of the award is a 67-year saga of American heroes that entranced an entire nation for one brilliant season. Heisman winners have gone on to become war heroes, Fortune 500 CEOs, and high-level politicians. All are extraordinary in many ways beyond their athletic abilities, and the portraits of the winners collected here exemplify the very best of the best.Every year since 1935—through times of depression and expansion, war and peace—one player has run, thrown, or kicked his way into the pantheon of American sport. From Niles “The Cornbelt Comet” Kinnick in the thirties and future NFL Hall of Famer Doc Blanchard in the forties, to Ernie Davis, the Jackie Robinson of college football, to modern day Sunday warriors such as Ricky Williams and Eddie George, the history of the Heisman gives us insight into the history of our nation. This is not just another bauble to adorn the shelves of athletically gifted individuals; the Heisman Trophy, as John Heisman himself once said, “is meant to exemplify the grandeur of a thousand men.”