He Has Tough Act to Follow--His Own

In its long, checkered history, the Heisman Trophy has nearly always been won by a running back, 38 out of 56 times. It’s been won by a “lineman” only three times--Larry Kelley, Leon Hart and Tim Brown--and all three were ends, basically offensive players, flankers, pass-receivers, even ballcarriers.

When ballcarriers haven’t won it, quarterbacks have--15 times.

Like any sports balloting, the Heisman is a crapshoot. And the award is supposed to be only for the best college player of the year. Period.

But, like Rocky movies, and Frank Merriwell novels, Heismans have sequels. Heisman II’s. Andy Hardy Goes to the Pros. Stay tuned.

There have been embarrassments. Steve Spurrier made it over Bob Griese. Jim Brown never got closer than fifth in the balloting. Otto Graham never got closer than third, John Elway finished second, Dan Marin fourth, Jim McMahon third, and Joe Montana was nowhere to be found in the Heisman voting.

Quarterbacks tend to be chancier picks than running backs. A Davey O’Brien is too small for the pros. So is Doug Flutie. Terry Baker can’t throw as well as he can run. For every Roger Staubach who wins the award and shines in a Super Bowl, there is a John Huarte or Gary Beban or Pat Sullivan or Doug Flutie who don’t shine anywhere.

But usually it takes two to four years before a vote comes into focus as a major “Oops!”

Ty Detmer, the 56th Heisman Trophy winner--and the 15th quarterback--hit the banana peel early.

The same night the news hit the screen that he had won the trophy, another channel was showing him and his Brigham Young team losing a game to Hawaii, 59-28.

And that was the good news. The bad news was, a couple of weeks later, BYU lost to Texas A. & M. in the Holiday Bowl, 65-14.

Now, losing and being outscored, 124-42, with a new Heisman in your locker is stuff for “Saturday Night Live,” not the highlight film. One author wrote “Is the statue blushing?”

Should Ty Detmer give it back? Mark it, “Delivered by mistake--Return to sender.”?

Well, consider that the Heisman went to Paul Hornung one year when his Notre Dame team went 2-8, including a 14-47 loss to Michigan State and a 48-8 pasting by Iowa. Consider that Roger Staubach’s Navy team got beat in the Cotton Bowl the season he won, 28-6.

Ty Detmer’s problem was, in part, that he beat out the charismatic Raghib (the Rocket) Ismail of Notre Dame and the cannon-armed Houston passer, David Klingler, for the honor. The Rocket promptly took some of the heat off Ty by defecting to Canada, where he will have to rob banks to get his name in the paper or on TV in this country.

Klingler is another story. Like Detmer, he has another year in college. Last year, he and his team beat people--well, Eastern Washington--by scores like 84-21 and he threw 13 more touchdown passes than Detmer--but ended up fifth in the voting with only 125 Heisman points to Detmer’s 1,482.

The point is, Ty Detmer was not exactly a marginal candidate. He had broken or tied 47 NCAA records, 21 passing records and 21 total offense records.

He had passed for 5,188 yards in a single season. He had thrown 86 touchdown passes in his career, had averaged more than 400 yards a game passing for two seasons, averaged 26 completions a game and rolled up 9,456 yards in two years. That’s not an athlete, that’s a machine.

Of course, Brigham Young never keeps the ball at ground level. If the ball isn’t floating, it ain’t Brigham Young’s. USC turns out tailbacks, Penn State turns out linebackers, Yale turns out secretaries of state--and BYU turns out passers. Marc Wilson, Jim McMahon, Gifford Nielsen, Robbie Bosco and Steve Young have come out of that system.

BYU is what the press of another era used to like to call an aerial circus. Coach LaVell Edwards’ squads are not teams, they are launching pads. BYU teams come out of the locker room throwing. They wear out a football a quarter.

It’s why Detmer chose BYU in the first place. UCLA, Miami, Michigan and every school in Texas was hot after him after his high school career in San Antonio. He went to BYU for the same reason lawyers go to Harvard.

It is an ancient Biblical injunction, “He who lives by the pass dies by the pass.” Deep down, most football coaches believe it. Deep down, no quarterback believes it. It would be like telling Dempsey not to throw the right, Ali not to dance.

Ty Detmer is facing a hanging jury this year. He knows the fuzzy-crested boo birds will be out in fine, full-throated form:

“Hey, Detmer, the Heisman committee is on the phone. They say you can keep the Heisman--just not where anyone can see it.”

“Hey, Detmer, did you get the Heisman for interceptions--or incompletions?”

Does Detmer feel the Heisman is more a curse than a blessing?

“I haven’t heard any criticism except in the press,” he explains. “I’ve been to banquets and personal appearances and signings and people have been warm and friendly.”

As to what happened, Detmer shrugs.

“The day of the announcement, it was such a great high, we were excited by it. People were throwing me in the pool and we just weren’t concentrating on the game. It was the kind of game we had all season--we beat San Diego State, 62-34; New Mexico, 55-31, and Washington State, 50-36. It’s the way we play. (Detmer’s team also beat No. 1 ranked Miami, 28-21, when he threw 38 completions.)”

It’s the way you play Russian roulette, too.

“In the Holiday Bowl game, A. & M. just came ready to play,” Detmer says. “They separated both my shoulders. I couldn’t do much then.”

For Ty Detmer, defending his high honor this year is not going to be easy. Thursday at Anaheim Stadium in the Disneyland Pigskin Classic, Detmer and BYU face the No. 1 ranked team in the country, the Florida State Seminoles. After that, BYU plays UCLA at Pasadena and Penn State at Penn State. Hawaii comes later.

It will be hard to repeat as Heisman Trophy winner through that. On the other hand, if the Downtown Athletic Club does want to give him another statue with any games remaining, we may, for the first time in history, hear the honoree say, “Thanks, but I’d rather not.”