1970 - 36th Award
Jim Plunkett
Stanford Back

In three seasons with the Indians his total offensive records included most pass attempts, 962; most pass completions, 530; most net yards passing, 7,544; most touchdown passes, 52; most plays total offense, and most yards total offense are NCAA records. When he connected for 22 of 36 passes for 268 yards against Washington, he broke the career passing mark of 7,076 yards held by Steve Ramsey of North Carolina. After Rose Bowl heroics (leading Stanford over Ohio State in 1971, 27-17), Plunkett went on to the New England Patriots - as a number one draft choice - where he compiled a brilliant freshman record as starting quarterback passing for 2,158 yards and winning Rookie of the Year honors. He played in every Patriots game until injuries sidelined him in 1975. He was traded in 1976 to the '49ers and in 1980 went with the Oakland Raiders and quarterbacked the Raiders to two Super Bowl wins in 1980 and 1983 and was named the MVP of the 1980 match-up. He retired after a stellar 17-season Pro Football career and now has a Coors Distributorship in Stockton, California. Plunkett was named the First Recipient of the Leukemia Society of America's Ernie Davis Award. Jim is an avid tennis player.

The Voting

Stanford's Jim Plunkett emerged the big winner in a big year for quarterbacks. Plunkett had 510 first place votes and his 2,229 overall points were the sixth highest in Heisman history. Two other quarterbacks, Notre Dame's Joe Theismann and Mississippi's Archie Manning, were second and third and two others, Rex Kern of Ohio State and Pat Sullivan of Auburn, were fifth and sixth. Six of the top 10 finishers were quarterbacks.

No. registered electors: 1,264
Date of announcement: November 24, 1970
Date of dinner: December 3, 1970

The positions within each region are as follows: