The Heisman Trophy, one of the highest individual awards in American college football, has been awarded annually since its creation in 1935, and only Archie Griffin of the Ohio State Buckeyes won it two times, in 1974 and 1975. The trophy is given to the most outstanding college football player in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), and is awarded by the Heisman Trust, successors of the awards from the Downtown Athletic Club at an annual ceremony.

In 1935, the award, then known as the DAC Trophy, was created by New York City's Downtown Athletic Club to recognize the best college football player "east of the Mississippi River".^[1] 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.^[2] 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".^[3] 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.^[1]

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,^[4][5] and there were reports that the Heisman Trophy Trust would strip his award.^[6] 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.^[7] Eventually, on April 24, 2024, the Heisman Trust announced the reinstatement of Bush's trophy due to 2021 rule changes regarding player compensation.^[8]

A school has had a Heisman winner in back-to-back years six times (Yale 1936–37, Army 1945–46, Ohio State 1974–75, USC 2004–05, Oklahoma 2017–18 and Alabama 2020–21). Only one player, Ohio State's Archie Griffin, has won the award twice.^[9] Oklahoma is the only school to have two players win the award in back-to-back years playing the same position (quarterbacks Baker Mayfield followed by Kyler Murray).

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,^[10] the Yale Club of New York City assumed presenting honors in 2002 and 2003.^[11][12] 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.^[13] The move to the PlayStation Theater allowed the Downtown Athletic Club (and ultimately, the award's successor, The Heisman Trust) to resume full control of the event (the most prominent example of which was the return of the official portraits of past winners), despite the loss of the original presentation hall.^[14] 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.^[15]

In terms of balloting, the fifty states of the U.S. are split into six regions (Far West, Mid Atlantic, Mid West, North East, South, South West), and six regional representatives are selected to appoint voters in their states.^[16] 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.^[17]

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 40 schools have won a Heisman Trophy, while 19 schools have more than one trophy.

This is a list of the positions of players who have won a Heisman Trophy.

In 2009, the National Football Foundation (NFF) 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.^[20]

More information Year, Image ...

Year	Image	Name	School	Position
1889		Amos Alonzo Stagg	Yale	E
1890		Pudge Heffelfinger	Yale	G
1891		Lee McClung	Yale	HB
1892		Marshall Newell	Harvard	T
1893		Frank Hinkey	Yale	E
1894		Frank Butterworth	Yale	FB
1895		George H. Brooke	Princeton	FB
1896		Addison Kelly	Princeton	HB
1897		John Outland	Penn	T
1898		Clarence Herschberger	Chicago	FB
1899		Truxtun Hare	Penn	G/FB
1900		Charles Dudley Daly	Harvard	QB
1901		Harold Weekes	Columbia	HB
1902		Paul Bunker	Army	FB
1903		John DeWitt	Princeton	G
1904		Willie Heston	Michigan	HB
1905		Tom Shevlin	Yale	E
1906		Walter Eckersall	Chicago	QB
1907		Germany Schulz	Michigan	C
1908		Doc Fenton	LSU	QB
1909		Ted Coy	Yale	FB
1910		John McGovern	Minnesota	QB
1911		Jim Thorpe	Carlisle	FB
1912		Hobey Baker	Princeton	HB
1913		Charles Brickley	Harvard	FB
1914		Eddie Mahan	Harvard	FB
1915		Bart Macomber	Harvard	HB
1916		Elmer Oliphant	Army	FB
1917		Chic Harley	Ohio State	HB
1918		Pete Henry	Washington & Jefferson	T
1919		Chic Harley	Ohio State	HB
1920		George Gipp	Notre Dame	FB
1921		Bo McMillin	Centre	HB
1922		Brick Muller	California	E
1923		George Pfann	Cornell	QB
1924		Red Grange	Illinois	HB
1925		Ernie Nevers	Stanford	FB
1926		Benny Friedman	Michigan	QB
1927		Morley Drury	USC	QB
1928		Chris Cagle	Army	HB
1929		Bronko Nagurski	Minnesota	FB
1930		Frank Carideo	Notre Dame	QB
1931		Gaius Shaver	USC	QB
1932		Harry Newman	Michigan	QB
1933		Beattie Feathers	Tennessee	HB
1934		Don Hutson	Alabama	E

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