Brief History of The Heisman Memorial Trophy

For the 75th time since its inception in 1935, the Heisman Trophy Trust of New York City, will award the annual Heisman Memorial Trophy to an individual who deserves designation as the most outstanding college football player in the United States. The Heisman is a national symbol of collegiate football experience and competitiveness. At the same time, it has become the single most celebrated and sought-after award in American collegiate athletics.

Named in memory of a man whose inventiveness and contribution to football strategy are almost without compare, the Heisman Trophy has become more than an award of sculptured statuary. Indeed, it is almost an end in itself for legions and players, who engage annually in college football and accept personal recognition and public acclaim as part of sports endeavor.

Known originally as the DAC Trophy when it was first presented to Jay Berwagner, the legendary one man gang of the University of Chicago on December 9, 1935, the bronze statue award depicts a football player side-stepping and straight arming a tackler. Cast in the highly artistic method known as the lost wax process of bronze medal molding, the statue weighs 45 pounds and is 14 inches long, 13 and a half inches in height and 6 and a half inches in width. It was designed by New York sculptor Frank Eliscu, who was commissioned by the Downtown Athletic Club to create a figure of a football player in imperishable bronze to serve as an annual trophy award. Eliscu used his friend Ed Smith, a starter on the New York University Football team, as the player model for his initial creations.

One design was tentatively approved and Jim Crowley, one of the Four Horsemen of Norte Dame and football coach of Fordham University at the time, consented to look over the clay model at the Rose Hill campus of Fordham.



Coach Jim Crowley has running back
Warren Mulrey of the
Fordham Rams team of 1935 pose
with the clay model of the
Heisman Trophy at Rose Hall field,
going through the various motions of
the side step.


The prototype was set up on the field and Crowley had his players take various positions to illustrate the football sidestep. Sculptor Eliscu bent the arms and legs of his model to match the action.

The completed model was later brought to a dinner attended by Notre Dame gridders following the army game in 1935 for inspection by Elmer Layden, also a member of the Four Horsemen and then coach of the Fighting Irish and his players. Needless to say, everyone was impressed by the creative work of Eliscu, and the model of the Trophy was approved and cast in bronze for the initial presentation that year.

However, reference to the award as the DAC trophy was only used once. Following the death of John Heisman in October 1936, who at the time was the Director of Athletics at the Downtown Athletic Club, the award was renamed the Heisman Memorial Trophy.

At the present time, the annual award involves the use of two statues. One is presented to the college football player selected for excellence and this remains the permanent possession of the winner. A second trophy is awarded to the school represented by the winner.

The college player selected for the award is flown to New York along with the other school officials for formal presentation ceremonies and special honors. The 75th Annual Heisman Trophy Dinner will take place Monday, December 14, 2009 at the New York Marriott Marquis.