The Heisman Trophy is awarded annually and recognizes the most outstanding collegiate football player in the country. This circa 1955 Heisman Trophy Replica honors the first 20 winners of the award from 1935 to 1954 and is an exact duplicate of the original Heisman Trophy on display at the Downtown Athletic Club in New York City. The impressive award is composed of a marble composite base that measures 17” wide 8” deep and 6” tall upon which rests a 14” bronze cast of an athletic ball carrier battling down the field for extra yardage. The nameplate on the front of the trophy base reads: “THE HEISMAN MEMORIAL TROPHY Awarded Annually to the Outstanding College Football Player in the United States by the Downtown Athletic Club of New York City Inc.” Beneath that lists the first 20 winners starting with John Jay Berwanger (University of Chicago) in 1935 and ending with Alan Ameche (University of Wisconsin) in 1954. The trophy weighs 93 pounds.

The History of the Heisman

The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award generally known as the Heisman Trophy is given annually to the most outstanding college football player in the nation. It epitomizes great ability combined with diligence perseverance and hard work. The idea for this type of award was originally conceived by members of the Downtown Athletic Club formerly located in the southern end of Manhattan. Renowned for its devotion to sports members of the Downtown Athletic Club appointed a Club Trophy Committee charged with conducting the first award presentation at the conclusion of the 1935 college football season.

Known initially as the DAC Trophy the award was created to honor the “most valuable football player in the East.” It was first presented to John Jacob “Jay” Berwanger the legendary “one man band” halfback from the University of Chicago on December 9 1935. Two months after the death of the DAC Athletic Director John Heisman on Oct. 3 1936 the award was renamed in his honor and broadened to include players west of the Mississippi. Heisman was a player coach and hugely successful innovator in the early days of football. After playing for Brown and then Penn as a collegian from 1887 to 1891 he became a coach at a series of schools that included Oberlin Buchtel Auburn Clemson Penn Washington & Jefferson Rice and most notably Georgia Tech.

The design effort behind the Heisman Trophy is a story in itself. Since the traditional cup of bowl delivery seemed too commonplace the Club Trophy Committee decided after much deliberation that the award should be the replica in bronze of a muscular football player driving for yardage. To create this trophy a well-known sculptor named Frank Eliscu was hired. Eliscu immediately went to work and selected Ed Smith a leading player on the 1934 New York University football team as his model. Eliscu and Smith had been classmates at George Washington High School also in New York City.In due time Eliscu prepared a clay model which was approved by the DAC Committee and then sent uptown to Jim Crowley (one of the legendary Four Horsemen of Notre Dame) then head football coach at Fordham University for final inspection. Soon thereafter the trophy was an almost classic sculpture an artistic as well as athletic triumph.

From its inception in 1935 the statue was cast by Dieges & Clust in New York (and later Providence Rhode Island) until 1980 when Dieges & Clust was sold to Herff Jones. For a time until at least 2008 the statues were cast by Roman Bronze Works in New York. The trophy is made out of cast bronze is 13.5 inches tall and weighs 25 pounds. Dozens of future NFL stars have won the Heisman Trophy and the list reads like a veritable “Who’s Who of Football” including the likes of Doak Walker. Alan Ameche Paul Hornung Roger Staubach Mike Garrett O.J. Simpson Jim Plunkett Archie Griffin Tony Dorsett Earl Campbell Marcus Allen Herschel Walker Doug Flutie Bo Jackson Barry Sanders and Charles Woodson to name some.

Includes a Letter of Provenance from the Helms AthleticFoundation/LA84 Collection.