Heisman Memorial Trophy

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Heisman Memorial Trophy The most prestigious award in college football The Heisman Trophy is awarded annually to the most outstanding college football player in the United States by the Heisman Trophy Trust of New York City. The name is in memory of an undersized player turned legendary coach of the early 1900’s, John Heisman. Heisman was an outsized 5’8’’ 158lb varsity football player at the University of Pennsylvania. After nearly losing his eyesight with a close call from lightening, he took his final exams orally and graduated with his law degree in the spring of 1892. Ready to continue with the game he loved, Heisman immediately got his first coaching job at Oberlin College and lead them to an undefeated 7-0 record in only the second year of the football program. His coaching career ultimately spanned more than three decades (1892-1927) with the most impressive stint coming at Georgia Tech (1904-1919) where his Golden Tornados won an astonishing 33 straight wins. Other colleges John coached at included: Auburn, Clemson, University of Pennsylvania, Washington and Rice. Like the other great coaches of this era, Heisman also made some very significant contributions to the game of football. Originally, at the start of a play the center would place the ball on the ground and roll it back to the quarterback. But when John was coaching at Buchtel (now Akron), he had a quarterback that was 6’4’’ tall and had trouble bending all the way down to pick the ball up. This is when Heisman invented the center snap as an easy way to get the ball to his quarterback. He is also known for inventing the pulling of the guard and the hidden ball trick. John was also the coach of the Georgia Tech team that is known for possibly the worse case of running up the score in sports history. His Golden Tornados showed no mercy in the 222-0 beat down of Cumberland College and

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