Heisman
The Man Behind the Trophy
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- $18.99
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
The first authorized and definitive biography of the man behind the most famous individual award in sports, including never-before-published photos and correspondence.
No other football trophy captures the country’s imagination like the Heisman does. Each September, as the college football season begins, every player has the same singular aspiration—to hold aloft the Heisman Trophy in New York come December.
Yet very little is known about John W. Heisman, the man the Downtown Athletic Club of New York honored in 1936 when it named its national player of the year award for him. In this richly illustrated official biography, the legendary coach’s great-nephew joins with New York Times bestselling author Mark Schlabach to reveal the real story behind the iconic image. Drawing on thousands of pages of personal documents, writings, playbooks, and correspondence with some of college football’s most famous coaches, the authors chronicle Heisman’s life from a young boy growing up on the oil fields of northwest Pennsylvania to one of football’s most innovative and successful coaches. For football fans, this is a fascinating and insightful look at the man linked forever with one of sport’s most enduring symbols.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
College football's Heisman Trophy is named after Coach John W. Heisman. Heisman played college football at the University of Pennsylvania, but he accepted an unpaid coaching position upon graduation rather than use his law degree. The itinerant coach enjoyed immediate success, but achieved his greatest fame at Georgia Tech. Along the way he established a reputation as a "well-rounded and gifted actor" and journalist. He was the athletic director of the Downtown Athletic Club of New York when the trophy was first awarded in 1935. His death the next year prompted the club to name the trophy in his honor. ESPN.com journalist Schlabach and John M. Heisman, great nephew of John M. Heisman, draw on numerous media accounts as the basis for Heisman's story. The result is a nostalgic look at a bygone era and the evolution of football through the life of one of its early innovators.
