Heisman Trophy

The Heisman Trophy is the award to the outstanding collegiate football player. Interestingly, the true Heisman Trophy Trust joined the ceremonial only in 2003, despite NCAA launching it in 1935. Heisman is the oldest award in the league as Maxwelll or Walter Camp Award.

The trophy has remained unchangeable since 1934 after the player Ed Smith was its prototype for sculptor Frank Eliscu. He asked Smith to pose for commissioned football player sculpture. The statue has parameters 13,5 inches tall, 14 inches long, and 16 inches in width. Its weight is 45 pounds. Downtown Athletic Club presented Smith as a Heisman Trophy prototype only in 1985 after he realized who is that commissioned player.

The original idea was a local Mississipi trophy, but the DAC spread the area to nationwide in 1936. Most players who won the trophy represent the Division I Football Subdivision.

Selection

There are three categories of voters who can choose the players eligible for the prize:

• Sports journalists. 870 voters, or 145 from each region are informed and competent enough to choose their favourite. According to the statistics, sports journalists choose the local stars as they know them very well.
• Previous trophy winners. They’re eligible to vote as they understand why the jury chose them. Underclassmen who won prior trophies and became candidates again. These members of the virtual club can’t vote for understandable reasons.
Quizzes. Biographies of athletes
Ultimate 100 questions, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Neymar, LeBron James, Saul Alvarez, Stephen Curry, Conor McGregor, Max Verstappen, Erling Haaland.
• The latest word has the NCAA sponsor Nissan. But it decided to delegate this function to the fans. So, their voice is often decisive in most cases.

TV broadcast history

The Trophy ceremony wasn’t a separate TV broadcast until 1977. The announcers informed the audience about the winners in passing, for example, during halftime. Later ABC showed a short review of the annual DAC dinner. HTC is part of the event.

The first special ceremony coverage was held on December 8 1977, by CBS. Since then, all nationwide and partly international groups have broadcast this event live. Recently, the NCAA has had full coverage on ESPN channels, including awarding ceremonies.

Criticism

Periodically, critics have questions about the HT transparency selection process for the league. For example, one of the aspects is regional bias. That opinion stands on the principled that East Coast voters dominate in the balloting. The coverage of Western conferences there is extremely low there. The reasons are cultural interest, television contracts, or time differences. The latter factor is small but significant. The kickoff in the West is usually primetime in the East. So the selection is obvious.

The great scandal happened in 2005 when the Heisman Trust announced the 2005 trophy winner Reggie Bush. NCAA investigated that Bush and his agent were part of a corruption scheme at USC. Thus, the university and winner must return their trophy. Heisman Trust removed the data about the ceremony.