List of Heisman Trophy winners


The Heisman Trophy, one of the highest individual awards in American college football, has been awarded annually since its creation in 1935. The trophy is given to the most outstanding college football player in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, and is awarded by the Heisman Trust, successors of the awards from the Downtown Athletic Club at an annual ceremony.

History

The DAC Trophy was established in 1935 by the Downtown Athletic Club in New York City to recognize the best college football player "east of the Mississippi River". In that inaugural year, the award went to Jay Berwanger from the University of Chicago. Berwanger was later drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League but declined to sign with them. He never played professional football for any team, instead choosing to pursue a career in business. In 1936, the club's athletic director, football pioneer John Heisman, died and the trophy was renamed in his honor. Larry Kelley, the second winner of the award, was the first to win it as the "Heisman Trophy". In addition to the name change, the award also became a nationwide achievement. With the new name, players west of the Mississippi became eligible; the first player from the western United States was selected in 1938, TCU quarterback Davey O'Brien.
On June 10, 2010, following several years of investigation, the NCAA announced that USC running back Reggie Bush, the 2005 Heisman trophy winner, received gifts from agents while still in college. The university received major sanctions, and there were reports that the Heisman Trophy Trust would strip his award. In September of that year, Bush voluntarily forfeited his title as the 2005 winner. The Heisman Trust decided to leave the award vacated with no new winner to be announced for the season. Eventually, on April 24, 2024, the Heisman Trust announced the reinstatement of Bush's trophy due to 2021 rule changes regarding player compensation.
A school has had a Heisman winner in back-to-back years six times. Only one player, Ohio State's Archie Griffin, has won the award twice. Oklahoma is the only school to have two players win the award in back-to-back years playing the same position.
Between 1936 and 2001, the award was given at an annual gala ceremony at the Downtown Athletic Club in New York City. The Downtown Athletic Club's facilities were damaged during the September 11, 2001 attacks. Due to financial difficulties stemming from the damage, the DAC declared bankruptcy in 2002, turning over its building to creditors. Following the club's bankruptcy and the loss of the original Downtown Athletic Club building, the Yale Club of New York City assumed presenting honors in 2002 and 2003. The ceremony was moved to the New York Marriott Marquis in Times Square for the 2002, 2003, and 2004 presentations. Between 2005 and 2019, the event was held at PlayStation Theater in Times Square. The move to the PlayStation Theater allowed the Downtown Athletic Club to resume full control of the event, despite the loss of the original presentation hall. Shortly after the 2019 ceremony was held, the PlayStation Theater was permanently closed; as a result, the Heisman Trust began searching for a new location to conduct the trophy presentation. The 2020 ceremony would ultimately be held at the studios of ESPN in Bristol, Connecticut due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the ceremony being held on January 5, 2021.
In terms of balloting, the fifty states of the U.S. are split into six regions, and six regional representatives are selected to appoint voters in their states. Each region has 145 media votes, for a total of 870 votes. In addition, all previous Heisman winners may vote, and one final vote is counted through public balloting. The Heisman ballots contain a 3–2–1 point system, in which each ballot ranks the voter's top three players and awards them three points for a first-place vote, two points for a second-place vote, and one point for a third-place vote. The points are tabulated, and the player with the highest total of points across all ballots wins the Heisman Trophy.

List

'''Notes'''

By school

This is a list of the colleges and universities who have had a player win a Heisman trophy. USC has the most trophies with eight. Ohio State has the distinction of the only two-time winner, Archie Griffin. In total, players from 41 schools have won a Heisman Trophy, while 20 schools have more than one trophy.
SchoolTrophies
USC8
Notre Dame7
Ohio State7
Oklahoma7
Alabama4
Army3
Auburn3
Florida3
Florida State3
LSU3
Michigan3
Nebraska3
Colorado2
Georgia2
Miami 2
Navy2
Texas2
Texas A&M2
Wisconsin2
Yale2
Baylor1
BYU1
Boston College1
Chicago1
Houston1
Indiana1
Iowa1
Louisville1
Minnesota1
Oklahoma State1
Oregon1
Oregon State1
Penn State1
Pittsburgh1
Princeton1
South Carolina1
SMU1
Stanford1
Syracuse1
TCU1
UCLA1

By position

This is a list of the positions of players who have won a Heisman Trophy.
PositionTrophies
CB1
CB/WR1
End2
FB2
HB17
HB/LB/FB1
HB/P1
HB/QB2
LB1
QB37
QB/WR1
RB21
WR2
WR/P1
WR/PR1

Retroactive selections

In 2009, the National Football Foundation retroactively selected Heisman Trophy winners for the years between 1889 and 1934. The selections were made by sportswriter and NFF historian Dan Jenkins and published by the NFF.
YearImageNameSchoolPosition
1889YaleE
1890YaleG
1891YaleHB
1892HarvardT
1893YaleE
1894YaleFB
1895PennFB
1896PrincetonHB
1897PennT
1898ChicagoFB
1899PennG/FB
1900HarvardQB
1901ColumbiaHB
1902ArmyFB
1903PrincetonG
1904MichiganHB
1905YaleE
1906ChicagoQB
1907MichiganC
1908LSUQB
1909YaleFB
1910MinnesotaQB
1911CarlisleFB
1912PrincetonHB
1913HarvardFB
1914HarvardFB
1915IllinoisHB
1916ArmyFB
1917Ohio StateHB
1918Washington & JeffersonT
1919Ohio StateHB
1920Notre DameFB
1921CentreHB
1922CaliforniaE
1923CornellQB
1924IllinoisHB
1925StanfordFB
1926MichiganQB
1927USCQB
1928Chris CagleArmyHB
1929MinnesotaFB
1930Notre DameQB
1931USCQB
1932Harry NewmanMichiganQB
1933TennesseeHB
1934AlabamaE