College Football has been a big deal since colleges met sports. There are many awards to recognize superior teamwork and successful seasons, but there is a special Trophy that every player on a college football team can aspire to win for himself – the Heisman Trophy. Where did this award get it start? At the Downtown Athletic Club of New York, where its namesake, John Heisman argued against the idea of awarding one individual in a game so reliant on teamwork. The background story is every bit as interesting as the process, the prestige and the annual spectacular event have become
John Heisman had been involved from the early years of college football and in retirement had taken a position with the Downtown Athletic Club of New York to head up the athletic direction of the club. His position was also involved in the social promotion of the club with the aim of increasing membership. He did not see a viable way to choose one player across the number of great players in the game. The club set up a system for voting by accredited sports writers and reporters, feeling that they knew more players’ strengths and weaknesses than any other group, and that this voting system would surely find the best all around player for their new award. The vote was not just for ability or stellar results. The chosen player was to be an exemplary person all around: a gentleman with proper humility and consideration for others; one who had the ethical conduct to be well respected in business, a team player not working only for their own aggrandizement. The standards were high for the Heisman Trophy, it became a coveted award due to this selective criteria.
To give you the full background, John M. Heisman and Mark Schlabach have written “Heisman: The Man Behind the Trophy”, and you can see the rest of the article in the Quad blogs of the NYTimes site. Sportriciy gives you a place to find your favorite College Team Sports gear in every configuration you might ever want.