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presents l afayette legend: t he he is man t r op hy and p u rd u e Purdue's Unique Heisman Legacy Consecutive podium finishes unmatched BY ALAN KARPICK AKarpick@GoldandBlack.com S o here is the trivia question. Name the only two schools to have podium finishes (placing first, second or third) in the Heisman Trophy balloting four consecutive years since balloting began in 1935? Well, considering you are reading this publication, you know one of the answers is Purdue. The other, drumroll please, is SMU. The Mustangs had four straight top finishers from 1947-50 when halfback Doak Walker finished third in '47, won it in '48 and took the bronze in '49. The great Kyle Rote, also a halfback, finished runner-up to Ohio State's Vic Janowicz in 1950. Purdue's "Cinderella run" began in 1966 when Bob Griese finished runner-up to Florida's Steve Spurrier. A year later, Leroy Keyes finished third behind UCLA's Gary Beban and second-place finisher O.J. Simpson from USC. In '68, Simpson won the prize with Keyes finishing second. In '69, quarterback Mike Phipps just missed winning the Heisman, falling to Oklahoma running back Steve Owens in one of the closest races in history. But for Purdue's trio of greats, there were no fancy trips to New York. No television coverage to speak of. There was little Heisman hype during the course of the season, a far cry from the weekly barrage now that is the race for college football's Bob Mitchell highest individual honor. Bob Griese was the first Boilermaker to finish runner-up for the Heisman Trophy, Purdue's remarkable stretch of top-level Heisman finishers is long forgotten by something he accomplished leading Purdue to the 1967 Rose Bowl. most. Yet, for the trio who was involved, being considered an elite college player did pay dividends. There was no black tie event in New York City televised by ESPN and only a tinge of disappointment when he heard the news. Always a class act, Griese sent Spurrier a Griese wouldn't trade a thing telegram of congratulations. "Back then, the Heisman Trophy was important, but nowhere near as much as it Spurrier put up good numbers at Florida, breaking the SEC passing record, but is today," said Bob Griese, a two-time All-America quarterback from 1965-66. may have benefitted from being part of a bidding war as a possible $400,000 (an "I can't even remember how I found out I didn't win." unheard of sum at the time) bonus baby of the New York Giants. It turns out Griese was visiting his girlfriend in Fort Wayne when the news came. "You always had to wonder where the voters were coming from in those days," Griese said in mid-December. "Most of the guys that voted didn't see you play and cast their ballot on reputation." In those days, the East Coast writers had more of the votes. The fact that the Giants were publicly courting Spurrier didn't hurt the Gator's chances. It was akin to having your own hype machine. Griese, who appeared on television just twice during the regular season in 1966, knew he didn't have a lot of publicity about him. "In those days, the southern schools were the only ones that had the big Heisman campaigns," said Bob DeMoss, who was Griese's position coach at Purdue. "We just didn't do that at Purdue." Griese said he has never discussed the Heisman Trophy with Spurrier, but he is philosophical about how both of their lives turned out in the world of football. "I am sure there are some things he has accomplished in football that I would have wanted to achieve, but there are probably things I was able to do in my football career that he would have wanted," Griese said. "There is no way I would trade two Super Bowl championships for the Heisman Trophy." Griese's terrific senior season by 1960s standards (heck, by any standard) produced a 60-percent completion percentage good for 1,888 yards in 11 games. It all played a role in him being selected fourth overall by the Miami Dolphins and it began his road to two Consecutive Podium Finishes world championships. 4 Purdue–1966-69 (Bob Griese '66, Leroy Keyes '67-'68, But looking back at the '66 season, Griese knows there was one game that didn't Mike Phipps '69) help his cause. SMU–1947-50 (Doak Walker '47-'49, Kyle Rote '50) "I suppose the five interceptions against Illinois might have swayed the voters 3 Army–1944-1946 (Glenn Davis) some," he said with a laugh. Ohio State–1973-1975 (John Hicks '73, Archie Griffin '74-75) But, in typical Griese fashion, the five picks didn't stop him leading the Boilermakers USC–1974-1976 (Anthony Davis '74, Ricky Bell '75-76) to 15 unanswered points in the fourth quarter en route to one of the most important wins Georgia–1980-1982 (Herschel Walker) in the school's first run to the Rose Bowl. BYU–1983-1985 (Steve Young '83, Robbie Bosco '84-'85) It probably also didn't help that Griese's lone televised games in the regular season Stanford–2009-2011 (Toby Gerhart '09, Andrew Luck '10-'11) were losses. Sure, they were defeats at the hands of the two best teams in the land, 30 • Gold & Black IllustrateD • volume 23, issue 3 GBIprint.com GoldandBlack.com