I was thinking last night about how amazing it would be to have a Heisman winner from a school from the state of Alabama for the third year in a row. It would certainly be the first time that the Heisman winner came from a school in the same state for that many years running.

It piqued my interest in a little Heisman trivia, so I decided to have a look at which states produced the most Heisman winners. Here is the count:

Heisman winners by state (or country) of birth
California — 14
Ohio — 9
Texas, Pennsylvania — 6
Georgia, Oklahoma — 4
Minnesota, New Jersey — 3
Iowa, Missouri, Indiana, Massachussetts, Florida, Nebraska, Alabama — 2
South Carolina, New York, Maryland, Mississippi, Michigan, Wisconsin, Kansas, Illinois, Louisiana — 1

Other Countries
The Phillipines
Croatia

This year’s candidates (place of birth)
Andrew Luck — Washington D.C.
Robert Griffin III — Japan
Trent Richardson — Florida
Montee Ball — Missouri
Matt Barkley — California
Case Keenum — Texas

If Luck wins the Heisman, he will be the first winner born in the District of Columbia. Griffin III would be the third winner born outside the country (along with Tim Tebow and Frank Sinkwich) and Richardson would be Florida’s third winner.

John Heisman himself? He was born in Cleveland, OH.

Don’t say the Heisman race doesn’t have its share of fun.

From the War Eagle Reader:

“I should have won it, not him.”

That’s what Ed Marinaro, a running back for mighty Cornell (and future “Hill Street Blues” star), said during a nationally-televised ABC Sports special that aired just days after Pat Sullivan won the 1971 Heisman Trophy. Marinaro was runner-up. Auburn students felt sorry for him.

They gave him something to make him feel better.

The trophy was displayed at J&M Bookstore for several weeks, and a photo of it was used to introduce the “Honors” section of that year’s Glomerata.

This is a great feature on 1941 Heisman winner Bruce Smith’s acceptance speech, which came on the heels of the Pearl Harbor attack.

Check out episode one of the ‘Heisman House’ promo series by Nissan.