List of Heisman Trophy Awardees
From NCAA College Football Information & Resource
The idea of awarding college football's outstanding player was conceived by the Downtown Athletic Club, formerly of south Manhattan. The first presentation was made following the conclusion of the 1935 season.
Frank Eliscu was picked to create the trophy, which the DAC wanted to be a statue of an athlete as a opposed to a cup-style trophy. He selected Ed Smith as his model. A replica was then sent to Jim Crowley, one of the legendary Four Horsemen of Notre Dame and then-head football coach at Fordham, for inspection. After he and his players gave it their approval, it was converted into a plaster cast.
The cast was then presented at a dinner at the McAlpin Hotel on November 16 to Coach Elmer Layden and the 1935 Notre Dame team for a final inspection before the finished product was finally cast in its statuary bronze form. The team gave its approval, and the trophy was completed.
The statue is 14 inches long, 13.5 inches high, and weighs 25 pounds.
The first award, originally named the DAC Trophy, was given to Jay Berwanger on December 9, 1935. It was renamed the Heisman Memorial Trophy in 1936 as a tribute to John W. Heisman, who died that same year.
AWARDEES
| Year | Winner | School | Runner-Up | School |
| 1935 | Jay Berwanger | Chicago | Monk Meyer | Army |
| 1936 | Larry Kelley | Yale | Sam Francis | Nebraska |
| 1937 | Clint Frank | Yale | Byron White | Colorado |
| 1938 | Davey O'Brien | TCU | Marshall Goldberg | Pittsburgh |
| 1939 | Nile Kinnick | Iowa | Tom Harmon | Michigan |
| 1940 | Tom Harmon | Michigan | John Kimbrough | Texas A&M |
| 1941 | Bruce Smith | Minnesota | Angelo Bertelli | Notre Dame |
| 1942 | Frank Sinkwich | Georgia | Paul Governali | Columbia |
| 1943 | Angelo Bertelli | Notre Dame | Bob Odell | Pennsylvania |
| 1944 | Les Horvath | Ohio State | Glenn Davis | Army |
| 1945 | Felix "Doc" Blanchard | Army | Glenn Davis | Army |
| 1946 | Glenn Davis | Army | Charley Trippi | Georgia |
| 1947 | Johnny Lujack | Notre Dame | Bob Chappius | Michigan |
| 1948 | Doak Walker | SMU | Charlie Justice | North Carolina |
| 1949 | Leon Hart | Notre Dame | Charlie Justice | North Carolina |
| 1950 | Vic Janowicz | Ohio State | Kyle Rote | SMU |
| 1951 | Richard Kazmaier | Princeton | Hank Lauricella | Tennessee |
| 1952 | Billy Vessels | Oklahoma | Jack Scarbath | Maryland |
| 1953 | Johnny Lattner | Notre Dame | Paul Giel | Minnesota |
| 1954 | Alan Ameche | Wisconsin | Kurt Burris | Oklahoma |
| 1955 | Howard Cassady | Ohio State | Jim Swink | TCU |
| 1956 | Paul Hornung | Notre Dame | John Majors | Tennessee |
| 1957 | John David Crow | Texas A&M | Alex Karras | Iowa |
| 1958 | Peter Dawkins | Army | Randy Duncan | Iowa |
| 1959 | Billy Cannon | LSU | Richie Lucas | Penn State |
| 1960 | Joe Bellino | Navy | Tom Brown | Minnesota |
| 1961 | Ernie Davis | Syracuse | Bob Ferguson | Ohio State |
| 1962 | Terry Baker | Oregon State | Jerry Stovall | LSU |
| 1963 | Roger Staubach | Navy | Billy Lothridge | Georgia Tech |
| 1964 | John Huarte | Notre Dame | Jerry Rhome | Tulsa |
| 1965 | Mike Garrett | USC | Howard Twilley | Tulsa |
| 1966 | Steve Spurrier | Florida | Bob Griese | Purdue |
| 1967 | Gary Beban | UCLA | O.J. Simpson | USC |
| 1968 | O.J. Simpson | USC | Leroy Keyes | Purdue |
| 1969 | Steve Owens | Oklahoma | Mike Phipps | Purdue |
| 1970 | Jim Plunkett | Stanford | Joe Theismann | Notre Dame |
| 1971 | Pat Sullivan | Auburn | Ed Marinaro | Cornell |
| 1972 | Johnny Rodgers | Nebraska | Greg Pruitt | Oklahoma |
| 1973 | John Cappelletti | Penn State | John Hicks | Ohio State |
| 1974 | Archie Griffin | Ohio State | Anthony Davis | USC |
| 1975 | Archie Griffin | Ohio State | Chuck Muncie | California |
| 1976 | Tony Dorsett | Pittsburgh | Ricky Bell | USC |
| 1977 | Earl Campbell | Texas | Terry Miller | Oklahoma State |
| 1978 | Billy Sims | Oklahoma | Chuck Fusina | Penn State |
| 1979 | Charles White | USC | Billy Sims | Oklahoma |
| 1980 | George Rogers | South Carolina | Hugh Green | Pittsburgh |
| 1981 | Marcus Allen | USC | Herschel Walker | Georgia |
| 1982 | Herschel Walker | Georgia | John Elway | Stanford |
| 1983 | Mike Rozier | Nebraska | Steve Young | BYU |
| 1984 | Doug Flutie | Boston College | Keith Byars | Ohio State |
| 1985 | Bo Jackson | Auburn | Chuck Long | Iowa |
| 1986 | Vinny Testaverde | Miami (FL) | Paul Palmer | Temple |
| 1987 | Tim Brown | Notre Dame | Don McPherson | Syracuse |
| 1988 | Barry Sanders | Oklahoma State | Rodney Peete | USC |
| 1989 | Andre Ware | Houston | Anthony Thompson | Indiana |
| 1990 | Ty Detmer | BYU | Raghib Ismail | Notre Dame |
| 1991 | Desmond Howard | Michigan | Casey Weldon | Florida State |
| 1992 | Gino Torretta | Miami (FL) | Marshall Faulk | San Diego State |
| 1993 | Charlie Ward | Florida State | Heath Shuler | Tennessee |
| 1994 | Rashaan Salaam | Colorado | Ki-Jana Carter | Penn State |
| 1995 | Eddie George | Ohio State | Tommie Frazier | Nebraska |
| 1996 | Danny Wuerffel | Florida | Troy Davis | Iowa State |
| 1997 | Charles Woodson | Michigan | Peyton Manning | Tennessee |
| 1998 | Ricky Williams | Texas | Michael Bishop | Kansas State |
| 1999 | Ron Dayne | Wisconsin | Joe Hamilton | Georgia Tech |
| 2000 | Chris Weinke | Florida State | Josh Heupel | Oklahoma |
| 2001 | Eric Crouch | Nebraska | Rex Grossman | Florida |
| 2002 | Carson Palmer | USC | Brad Banks | Iowa |
| 2003 | Jason White | Oklahoma | Larry Fitzgerald | Pittsburgh |
| 2004 | Matt Leinart | USC | Adrian Peterson | Oklahoma |
| 2005 | Reggie Bush | USC | Vince Young | Texas |
