Last month , the Northwestern athletic department earn national attention when it send two 7 - Irish punt purple dumbbells to about 80 college football writers across the country . A subtle hint that the recipients should spend a little more time in the gym ? No , just part of the shoal ’s preseason Heisman Trophy campaign for signal caller Dan Persa , who wears No . 7 and was named the Wildcats ’ strong player . Here ’s a light history of the Heisman candidacy tradition and some of the more interesting catch through the years .
1. Vote Terry Baker
The Heisman Trophy was first award in 1935 , but schoolhouse did n’t do much electioneering for players until nearly 30 years later . In 1962 , Oregon State publicist John Eggers help oneself Beavers quarterback Terry Baker become the first participant west of the Mississippi to win college football ’s most honored award by mailing updated stats and note about Baker to voters every calendar week . In 2010 , Eggers was elect into the College Sports Information Directors of America ( CoSIDA ) Hall of Fame .
2. Meet Roger Staubach
Trumpeting your star player ’s exploits on a interior point would shortly become the norm for college athletic departments .
In the summertime of 1963 , Navy sports information director L. Budd Thalman mail 1,000 , four - Sir Frederick Handley Page pamphlets titled “ Meet Roger Staubach ” to medium members virtually and far . Thalman also helped land the Navy quarterback on the cover ofSports IllustratedandTime . Staubach was scheduled to appear on the binding of the November issue ofLife , but he was knock after the assassination of President Kennedy .
Staubach won the Heisman by a landslide , but Thalman , like eggar one class before , refused to take any of the credit . “ Roger would have win if Elmer Fudd was his publicity man , ” Thalman assure ESPN ’s Darren Rovell in 2000 .
3. Joey Heisman
In 2001 , University of Oregon boosters spend $ 250,000 to erect a 10 - story billboard of Ducks signal caller Joey Harrington across from Madison Square Garden in New York City . Harrington led Oregon to an 11 - 1 time of year and a victory in the Fiesta Bowl , but he fetch up fourth in the Heisman ballot . In 2003 , while playing in the NFL , Harrington sold piece of the 80 - base by 100 - foot billboard to help fund scholarships for Oregon ’s Lundquist College of Business .
4. A Little Something for Jason Gesser
Not to be outdone by its neighbour and conference foe to the southwest , Washington State promoted signal caller Jason Gesser for the Heisman in 2002 with a 25 - foot by 15 - foot vinyl poster on a 10 - level grain elevator in tiny Dusty , Washington , which is on the route to Pullman from Seattle . “ We did it for playfulness , for a parody , ” Washington State nous coach Mike Price said . “ Jason is a bit embarrassed by it . ” The poster was about 100 times cheaper than Harrington ’s billboard .
5. Bobble Byron Leftwich
The Marshall sports information section propagate approximately 1,000 Byron Leftwich bobblehead bird to Heisman voters across the country to advance the Thundering Herd ’s quarterback in 2002 . “ I cerebrate it ’s a secure idea , ” Leftwich said . “ My head ’s already too big in veridical life . People will see the doll and suppose my head ’s not so big . ” self-aggrandizing head or not , Leftwich was n’t a finalist for the award .
6. Air Ware
With Houston banned from appear on television set in 1989 as part of the NCAA authority levied against the school , the Cougars ’ sports entropy department ask a creative way to raise field general Andre “ Air ” Ware for the Heisman . The result was a hebdomadal aviator designed to look like an airline timetable , which included update stats and banknote about the prolific passerby . Ware won the accolade and would go on to become the 7th pick in the 1990 NFL Draft . By that point , his best football game days were behind him .
7. Theismann as in Heisman
After Joe Theismann arrived at Notre Dame in 1967 , sports information film director Roger Valdiserri convince him to change the pronunciation of his name from Thees - man to Thighs - man . You know , like in Heisman . Theismann enjoy a successful vocation in South Bend , but finished runner - up to Stanford quarterback Jim Plunkett in the Heisman voting in 1970 .
Six years later , Pittsburgh running back Tony Dorsett changed the pronunciation of his name ( from DOR - set to Dor - SET ) around the time that he was award the Heisman . “ passel of Guy deepen their names , ” Dorsett tell a reporter in 1977 . “ Muhammad Ali . Kareem Abdul - Jabbar . I want to see the type of feedback I ’d get . ”
8. Fit to Be Tied
In 1990 , BYU mailed composition board railroad tie that open up to reveal stats to Heisman voter as part of the drive for quarterback Ty Detmer . The third-year threw for 5,188 yard and 41 touchdowns in 12 veritable season game and deliver the goods the Heisman . Detmer would polish off third in the voting in 1991 .
9. Oats for Votes
tout a nitty-gritty for the Heisman Trophy is a tough sell , but that ’s exactly what BYU did in 1981 when it splosh roll oat in envelope along with notes about Bart Oates that it mail to voters . Oates did n’t amount nigh to winning the accolade , but he run low on to a successful NFL career that included five Pro Bowls and later starred as himself in a 2005 episode ofAqua Teen Hunger Force .
10. Super “Boo Boo”
After Paul Palmer did n’t receive a single Heisman voter turnout despite averaging 193.7 yards rush per game in 1985 , Temple ’s mutant data office pull out out all the stops to advance its outset operate back . Nicknamed by his grandmother after the buddy in the Yogi Bear comic flight strip , Palmer was featured in a 16 - page comic book that was mail to more than 1,000 sportswriters . Temple also send out photos of Arnold Palmer posing with golfing fable Arnold Palmer with the tagline “ Pennsylvania has two Palmers ” and Paul Palmer - emblazoned pens with sample Heisman ballots . Palmer finished runner - up for the Heisman that class to Vinny Testaverde .
11. Raking in the Votes
In 1997 , Rod Commons , who work under John Eggers at Oregon State , mailed envelope with a single leaf inside to Heisman voters to kick upstairs Cougars signal caller Ryan Leaf . The Pac-10 ’s Offensive Player of the Year in 1997 , Leaf led the Cougars to the Rose Bowl , but finished third in the Heisman voting behind Charles Woodson and Peyton Manning .
12. See Ray Run
In gain to launch SeeRayRun.com , Rutgers send binoculars to Heisman elector so they could keep an eye on the Scarlet Knights ’ diminutive running back in 2007 . He was n’t a finalist for the accolade , but he has enjoyed a solid NFL career with the Baltimore Ravens .
13. Stock in Williams
Memphis sport information director Jennifer Rodrigues made headlines with her campaign for running back DeAngelo Williams in 2005 . Memphis mail about 2,500 die - drop model stock cars have Williams ’ No . 20 to medium members and sold another 1,500 on the school website . Williams finished 7th in the Heisman voting that year and Memphis made $ 20,000 from the cut-rate sale of the cars , which it put toward its general scholarship investment trust .
14. View-Master
In 2008 , the University of Missouri kick upstairs quarterback Chase Daniel ’s Heisman candidacy by release quondam - school View - sea captain toy with slides featuring various images of Daniel . " I did n’t desire to do just a mouse stamp pad or a coffee fool , other received item or more basic items . I did n’t require to do anything that people could just discard by , " Missouri sports entropy manager Chad Moller told newsman . " We wanted to make a slight spattering and do it in a posh manner . "
Bonus: Tom Garlick
OK , so it was n’t for the Heisman , but Fordham merit some credit for its three - workweek campaign to get panoptic telephone receiver Tom Garlick some consideration for Division I - AA All - America honors in 1992 . The school ’s sports information office mail circular to sports writer across the country . The top of the handbill read “ This Garlic Stinks ” and included a piece of garlic . The halfway section of the airman read “ This One Does n’t ” and included Garlick ’s stats . Garlick was an honorable mention All - America that season .
