by Sam Hatcher
The war had taken its toll on this small private university in Middle Tennessee that depended on tuition fees for financial stability.
Cumberland reboots football, again
Cumberland University’s football program before and following the bout with Georgia Tech had been an on-and-off-again experience. Before disbanding football in the spring of 1916, Cumberland had quit and resumed the sport twice before.
When World War I ended on the 11th hour of the 11th day of November 1918, peace was restored to the world.
One of the aftereffects was that college enrollment surged, and as campuses swelled with young military veterans, college football received a shot in the arm, and the excitement about the game was reignited.
Following a four-year hiatus after the Georgia Tech game, Cumberland resumed football in the autumn of 1920. The university competed on the gridiron for the following ten years until the onset of the Great Depression in 1929 once again forced the administration to drop the sport as the school had its hands full simply keeping afloat as an educational institution.
However, three years later Cumberland fielded a team and joined the Smokey Mountain Athletic Conference. The university immediately found success in the sport winning conference championships in 1932, 1933, 1934, and 1935.
Schools that competed in the conference included Tennessee Technological University, Middle Tennessee State Teachers College (Middle Tennessee State University), Carson Newman, Tampa, Sewanee, and Appalachian State.
During this stretch Cumberland maintained a football program for ten seasons, dropping its program in 1941 and picking it back up in 1947 two years after the conclusion of World War II.
A shining and most memorable victory for Cumberland came in the 1947 season when the Bulldogs managed a 6–0 win over Florida State. Following the 1949 season, Cumberland exited the sport again and did not field another team until 1990 when it began competing in the National American Intercollegiate Association (NAIA), which is where the school still competes today.
No luck
Two years after winning the national championship, Coach Heisman was as popular as ever in Atlanta. His Golden Tornado was still winning and still viable as a contender for national championship titles.
The 1919 season began with five straight victories. And just as in past seasons, Heisman’s offense was ripping up and down the field plastering the scoreboard with points, while the defense blanked their opponents.
Through the first five games the Yellow Jackets scored 184 points. Tech beat Furman 74–0 and then posted wins over Wake Forest, Vanderbilt and Clemson, three solid programs in the South. The ground work had been laid for another run at a national championship.
John Heisman’s name had become as familiar to America as Coca-Cola, Wrigley’s Chewing Gum, and Borax soap, and, after proving himself and the credibility of football in the South, he and his Golden Tornado nurtured a sweetheart relationship with the national press.
Sports writers had come to the realization that football in the South was every bit as potent as football at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Ohio State, Dartmouth or Harvard.
The sixth game on the 1918 schedule would take Tech away from the comfortable environment of Grant Field to face another powerful Pittsburgh Panthers squad. Pittsburgh was 2–1 going into the Tech game with a 24–3 loss to Syracuse. Pittsburgh had a good team but was not considered in the hunt for a national title.
Pitt surprised Tech, odds-makers, and most of the nation as it overtook the Yellow Jackets, 16–6.
Tech wound up the 1919 campaign losing three of its final five games, finishing 7–3.
Key administrators on campus were confident Heisman would get things back in order for the next year and that Tech would reassume its place among college football’s elite.
An erroneous forecast
With the season done, there were matters that needed to be cleared up such as attendance records, accounting of travel expenses, storing of equipment and uniforms, and final arrangements for the 1920 schedule.
Business around Heisman’s office seemed normal. There was chatter about next year, about which players would be returning, and about whom might start at the most important positions.
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, until members of the Georgia Tech athletic board received a telephone call from their coach, inviting them to his home for a private conversation.
When the group arrived they found Heisman and his wife sitting solemnly at the breakfast table.
Coach Heisman began to explain that he and Mrs. Heisman had been dealing with a troubled marriage for several months. They had reached the decision that it would be best for them to divorce.
He insisted that the separation was amicable, and that they had agreed that because it would be socially awkward that it would be best for both if they lived in separate cities.
The coach had concluded that it would be his wife’s decision to decide where she would make her home, and he would live elsewhere.
Evelyn Heisman declared she would remain in Atlanta.
Coach Heisman’s immediate resignation shocked the collegiate football world. The school where he had been so successful, where he had etched an extraordinary winning record of 102–29–7 and had won a national football championship, would no longer own his heart, soul and mind.
Accepting the head coaching position at his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, he almost immediately left Atlanta for Philadelphia.
Struggles ahead
After his sixteen-year stint in Atlanta Heisman’s woes began to mount. His move to Pennsylvania became a matter of turmoil exaggerated by a 16–10–2 record at Penn.
His players grew exasperated with his Shakespearean locker-room orations and proved lackadaisical during practice and performed likewise on game days. The athletes were dissatisfied with their coach as he was with them.
The opportunity availed for Heisman to take a coaching post at Washington and Jefferson, a small liberal arts college in Washington, Penn. Concerned about the unstable environment at his alma mater, the mindset of his Quaker players, and what seemed to him to be their disdain for his coaching methodology, he departed Philadelphia and accepted the job at Washington and Jefferson.
After a one-year hitch and a 6–1–1 record, he moved Southwest to Rice University.
Heisman’s migration to Rice was motivated to some degree by a large salary increase. Serving as head football coach and athletic director, he was paid more than any other faculty member at Rice.
While on the Houston, Texas, campus he became reacquainted with Edith Cole, a former Buchtel College co-ed with whom he had shared a romantic relationship while coaching at the small college in Akron, Ohio, 30 years earlier. The two married in 1924.
Heisman struggled at Rice for four years. In 1927, his final season to coach, his Owls won two games, lost six and tied one. It was a dismal record, his worst at Rice and the worst in his long coaching career. During his first coaching stop west of the Mississippi and for the first time as a head coach, John Heisman lost more games than he won, finishing with a 14–18–3 record.
At age 58, John Heisman was done drawing Xs and Os. He was leaving the coaching profession.
On to New York City
After turning in his resignation at Rice, Heisman and his mate moved to New York where he wrote a sports column for Collier’s magazine and became the managing director of the New York City Downtown Athletic Club. He soon introduced the idea to the club that they present an annual trophy to college football’s most outstanding player.
The members agreed and created a trophy to recognize the best college football player east of the Mississippi River. The recipient of the first award in 1935 was Jay Berwanger, an outstanding halfback for the University of Chicago.
Then, on October 3, 1936, John Heisman died in New York City twenty days before his sixty-seventh birthday, succumbing to a short bout with pneumonia.
The trophy
After
Heisman’s death the club chose to name the award in his honor and the scope of nominations was broadened to include all of the United States.
Today the Heisman Trophy is presented to the most outstanding player in college football whose performance best exhibits the pursuit of excellence with integrity. Recipients of the award are to have demonstrated superior ability on the gridiron and exhibited character traits practiced by its namesake including diligence, perseverance, and hard work. The award is presented annually in December by the Heisman Trophy Trust.
HEISMAN TROPHY WINNERS:
* * *
1935
Jay Berwanger
Chicago
Halfback
1936
Larry Kelley
Yale
End
1937
Clint Frank
Yale
Halfback
1938
Davey O’Brien
TCU
Quarterback
1939
Nile Kinnick
Iowa
Halfback/Quarterback
1940
Tom Harmon
Michigan
Halfback
1941
Bruce Smith
Minnesota
Halfback
1942
Frank Sinkwich
Georgia
Halfback
1943
Angelo Bertelli
Notre Dame
Quarterback
1944
Les Horvath
Ohio State
Halfback/Quarterback
1945
Doc Blanchard
Army
Fullback
1946
Glenn Davis
Army
Halfback
1947
Johnny Lujack
Notre Dame
Quarterback
1948
Doak Walker
SMU
Halfback
1949
Leon Hart Notre
Dame
End
1950
Vic Janowicz
Ohio State
Halfback/Punter
1951
Dick Kazmaier
Princeton
Halfback
1952
Billy Vessels
Oklahoma
Halfback
1953
Johnny Lattner
Notre Dame
Halfback
1954
Alan Ameche
Wisconsin
Fullback
1955
Howard Cassady
Ohio State
Halfback
1956
Paul Hornung
Notre Dame
Quarterback
1957
John David Crow
Texas A&M
Halfback
1958
Pete Dawkins
Army
Halfback
1959
Billy Cannon
LSU
Halfback
1960
Joe Bellino
Navy
Halfback
1961
Ernie Davis
Syracuse
Halfback/Linebacker/Fullback
1962
Terry Baker
Oregon State
Quarterback
1963
Roger Staubach
Navy
Quarterback
1964
John Huarte
Notre Dame
Quarterback
1965
Mike Garrett
USC
Halfback
1966
Steve Spurrier
Florida
Quarterback
1967
Gary Beban
UCLA
Quarterback
1968
O.J. Simpson
USC
Halfback
1969
Steve Owens
Oklahoma
Fullback
1970
Jim Plunkett
Stanford
Quarterback
1971
Pat Sullivan
Auburn
Quarterback
1972
Johnny Rodgers
Nebraska
Wide Receiver/Running Back
1973
John Cappelletti
Penn State
Running Back
1974
Archie Griffin
Ohio State
Running Back
1975
Archie Griffin
Ohio State
Running Back
1976
Tony Dorsett
Pittsburgh
Running Back
1977
Earl Campbell
Texas
Running Back
1978
Billy Simms
Oklahoma
Running Back
1979
Charles White
USC
Running Back
1980
George Rogers
South Carolina
Running Back
1981
Marcus Allen
USC
Running Back
1982
Herschel Walker
Georgia
Running Back
1983
Mike Rozier
Nebraska
Running Back
1984
Doug Flutie
Boston College
Quarterback
1985
Bo Jackson
Auburn
Running Back
1986
Vinny Testaverde
Miami
Quarterback
1987
Tim Brown
Notre Dame
Wide Receiver
1988
Barry Sanders
Oklahoma State
Running Back
1989
Andre Ware
Houston
Quarterback
1990
Ty Detmer
BYU
Quarterback
1991
Desmond Howard
Michigan
Wide Receiver/Punt Returner
1992
Gino Torretta
Miami
Quarterback
1993
Charlie Ward
Florida State
Quarterback
1994
Rashaan Salaam
Colorado
Running Back
1995
Eddie George
Ohio State
Running Back
1996
Danny Wuerffel
Florida
Quarterback
1997
Charles Woodson
Michigan
Cornerback/Punt Returner
1998
Ricky Williams
Texas
Running Back
1999
Ron Dayne
Wisconsin
Running Back
2000
Chris Weinke
Florida State
Quarterback
2001
Eric Crouch
Nebraska
Quarterback
2002
Carson Palmer
USC
Quarterback
2003
Jason White
Oklahoma
Quarterback
2004
Matt Leinart
USC
Quarterback
2005 (Vacated)
Reggie Bush
USC
Running Back
2006
Troy Smith
Ohio State
Quarterback
2007
Tim Tebow
Florida
Quarterback
2008
Sam Bradford
Oklahoma
Quarterback
2009
Mark Ingram Jr.
Alabama
Running Back
2010
Cam Newton
Auburn
Quarterback
2011
Robert Griffin III
Baylor
Quarterback
2012
Johnny Manziel
Texas A&M
Quarterback
2013
Jameis Winston
Florida State
Quarterback
2014
Marcus Mariota
Oregon
Quarterback
2015
Derrick Henry
Alabama
Running Back
Selection process
The selection of the Heisman Trophy winner each year is determined by a collection of votes from three independent constituencies including sports journalists (870 media votes, 145 votes from each of six regions), previous winners of the trophy, and, added to the selection process most recently, a compilation of votes from fans of football in cooperation with the ESPN television network.
The third element for selecting a Heisman winner, which allows college football enthusiasts to participate, was introduced in 1999. The survey collected from college football fans is tallied and constitutes one vote in the Heisman election. Fans cast their respective votes online at ESPN.com.