Heisman For The Defense
Pundits say that some remarkable defensive players are sometimes cast in the shadow of the running backs and quarterbacks who have won the Heisman Trophy. While the number of Heisman winner's who played defense may not equal the number of offensive, their feats were no less spectacular on the field.
In the early days of the game, from the 1930's and into the 1960's, the athletes played both offense and defense which inevitably tested each player's strengths and weaknesses. The two linemen to win the Heisman Trophy were ends, Larry Kelley of Yale in 1936 and Leon Hart of Notre Dame in 1949.
In 1936, Alec Wojchiehowicz, "Wojoy," of Fordham and Ed Widseth of Minnesota, two guys up front in the line, were in the top 10 point finishers. Wojchiehowicz, the big Ram center and anchor of Fordham's famed "Seven Blocks of Granite," (the line that once included Vince Lombardi) was a fourth-place finisher with 85 points in 1937.
In 1938, another center, Ki Aldrich of Texas Christian, and end Whitey Beinor of Notre Dame, were in the listing, Aldrich with 48 points and Beinor with 47. Louisiana State's end, Ken Kavanaugh, had votes in 1939.
Harvard' end Endicott Peabody pulled in 153 points in 1941, the highest mark for linemen at that time. He fared better years later when he ran for governor of Massachusetts. He won. Defensive back Bob Odell of Penn finished behind Angelo Bertelli in 1943. Odell's prowess when the Quakers didn't have the ball was more known than his excellence when they did.
In 1944, Navy's rugged tackle, Don Whitmire, was fourth with 115 points and another service academy lineman, Army's Doug Kenna, had 56 points.
In the late 1940's, Penn's stellar center, Chuck Bednarik, did well in the voting, finishing seventh with 65 points in 1947 and then coming in third with 336 points in 1948. In 1949, Minnesota lineman Cliff Tonnemaker was seventh with 81 points, and in 1950 Army end Dan Foldberg was eighth with 103 points.
John Lattner of Notre Dame had a fifth-place finish in 1952 with 253 points and was named to a host of All-America teams for defensive skills more than for his offensive ones. His overall skill was enormous. He won the Heisman the next year.
Navy end Ron Beagle finished seventh in 1955 with 212 points. In 1956, Oklahoma center Jerry Tubbs came in fourth with 724 points and that same year saw Pittsburgh end Joe Walton garner some votes and points.
In 1957, Iowa's great lineman, Alex Karras, finished with a second-place rating and 693 points, the best for a defensive player at that time - long before the big man became a rousing success in television when he served as a spokesperson for a company that produced reclining chairs.
Monty Stickles, known for his kicking, played end at Notre Dame and in 1959 he had 126 points for a ninth-place finish.
Another end, Pittsburgh's Mike Ditka, was sixth in 1960 with 223 points before going on to pro success as a player and a coach.
Linebacker Merlin Olsen of Utah was 10th in 1961 with 93 points - tailing right behind him was center Alex Kroll of Rutgers.
Pat Richter of Wisconsin was another end who did well with 226 points and a sixth-place finish in 1962. The following year the massive Dick Butkus of Illinois was also sixth with 172 points. The next year, Butkus, whom many consider the best behind the line, finished third with 505. Mike Reid of Penn State was fifth with 297 and Jack Tatum of Ohio State was 10th with 105. Tatum finished seventh the following season.
In 1972, Michigan State end Brad Van Pelt had 71 points and in 1973 Ohio State's linebacker Randy Gradishar was sixth with 282, trailing Buckeye stars John Hicks and Archie Griffin.
It's noted that 1980 was the second best finish year for a defensive player. Pittsburgh's great defensive end Hugh Green pulled in 861 points, 179 first-place votes, and finished second.
Yale's Rich Diana had 23 points for a 10th place finish in 1981. Diana was the first Yale defensive player to finish in the top ten since Larry Kelley in 1936. In 1986, Oklahoma's colorful linebacker Brian Bosworth was fourth with 395 points and Gordon Lockbaum, the 60-minute man from Holy Cross, followed with 242 points. Lockbaum placed third the following year with 657 total points. This Crusader also racked up 108 first-place votes. Ohio State's Chris Spielman had 60 points for 10th place.
In 1991, defensive lineman Steve Emtman of the University of Washington finished fourth with 357 points. The following year, Florida State linebacker Marvin Jones had a total of 392. Two other defensive players also finished in the top ten in '92. Gino Torretta's Miami teammate, linebacker Michael Barrow, finished seventh with 48 points and defensive lineman Eric Curry, of Alabama tied for ninth with 47.
In 1994, Warren Sapp, a defensive tackle for the University of Miami, placed sixth in the voting with 192 points.
In 1997, Charles Woodson, a defensive back for the University of Michigan, became the first defensive player to win the Heisman. Woodson defeated Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning by 282 points and won in five out of the six voting regions.
