So many Heisman winners are well-known to us, but what about the runners-up? Here’s the list of the all-time 2nd-place Heisman finishers. Lots of big names, but quite a few we probably don’t remember:
1935–Monk Meyer, Army
1936–Sam Francis, Nebraska
1937–Byron White, Colorado
1938–Marshall Goldberg, Pittsburgh
1939–Tom Harmon, Michigan
1940–John Kimbrough, Texas A&M
1941–Angelo Bertelli, Notre Dame
1942–Paul Governali, Columbia
1943–Bob Odell, Pennsylvania
1944–Glenn Davis, Army
1945–Glenn Davis, Army
1946–Charley Trippi, Georgia
1947–Bob Chappius, Michigan
1948–Charlie Justice, North Carolina
1949–Charlie Justice, North Carolina
1950–Kyle Rote, SMU
1951–Hank Lauricella, Tennessee
1952–Jack Scarbath, Maryland
1953–Paul Giel, Minnesota
1954–Kurt Burris, Oklahoma
1955–Jim Swink, TCU
1956–John Majors, Tennessee
1957–Alex Karras, Iowa
1958–Randy Duncan, Iowa
1959–Richie Lucas, Penn State
1960–Tom Brown, Minnesota
1961–Bob Ferguson, Ohio State
1962–Jerry Stovall, LSU
1963–Billy Lothridge, Georgia Tech
1964–Jerry Rhome, Tulsa
1965–Howard Twilley, Tulsa
1966–Bob Griese, Purdue
1967–O.J. Simpson, USC
1968–Leroy Keyes, Purdue
1969–Mike Phipps, Purdue
1970–Joe Theismann, Notre Dame
1971–Ed Marinaro, Cornell
1972–Greg Pruitt, Oklahoma
1973–John Hicks, Ohio State
1974–Anthony Davis, USC
1975–Chuck Muncie, California
1976–Ricky Bell, USC
1977–Terry Miller, Oklahoma State
1978–Chuck Fusina, Penn State
1979–Billy Sims, Oklahoma
1980–Hugh Green, Pittsburgh
1981–Herschel Walker, Georgia
1982–John Elway, Stanford
1983–Steve Young, BYU
1984–Keith Byars, Ohio State
1985–Chuck Long, Iowa
1986–Paul Palmer, Temple
1987–Don McPherson, Syracuse
1988–Rodney Peete, USC
1989–Anthony Thompson, Indiana
1990–Raghib Ismail, Notre Dame
1991–Casey Weldon, Florida State
1992–Marshall Faulk, San Diego State
1993–Heath Shuler, Tennessee
1994–Ki-Jana Carter, Penn State
1995–Tommie Frazier, Nebraska
1996–Troy Davis, Iowa State
1997–Peyton Manning, Tennessee
1998–Michael Bishop, Kansas State
1999–Joe Hamilton, Georgia Tech
2000–Josh Heupel, Oklahoma
2001–Rex Grossman, Florida
2002–Brad Banks, Iowa
2003–Larry Fitzgerald, Pittsburgh
2004–Adrian Peterson, Oklahoma
2005–Vince Young, Texas
2006–Darren McFadden, Arkansas
2007–Darren McFadden, Arkansas
And, of course, in 2008, there was Colt McCoy of Texas.
Some random notes from this list:
—Just three players were two-time runners up: Glenn Davis, Charlie Justice and Darren McFadden. Only Davis eventually won a Heisman himself.
—Most runners up: Oklahoma (5), USC, Tennessee (4), Penn State, Army, Iowa, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Purdue (3)
—The Heisman voters tend to award the trophy to players from traditional powers, but the lesser powers are well-represented on the No. 2 chart. Check out Purdue and Tulsa having 5 2nd-place finishers in 6 years in the 1960s. And the last 25 years saw Temple, Indiana and Iowa State produce Heisman runners up.
—Byrone White missed out on the Heisman, but he went on to be a Supreme Court justice.
—Six players who won the Heisman also took second. Billy Sims is the only one to finish second after he won the Heisman.
