NEW YORK, New York (11 December 1999) - Wisconsin running back Ron Dayne, the NCAA's all-time rushing leader, was selected as the Most Outstanding Football Player of the United States for 1999.

William Dockery, President of the Downtown Athletic Club, which inaugurated and sponsors the Heisman Memorial Trophy Award, announced the selection of Dayne on Saturday evening, December 11th, on a nationally televised ESPN sports special, live from the Club's Heisman Room.

The 5'10'', 254-pound Dayne set or tied 2 NCAA records and 42 school records as he joined Alan Ameche as the second Badger to win the Trophy. He is the 52nd senior and the 38th running back to be selected as the recipient of the award.

Dayne, of Berlin, NJ, rushed for 1,834 yards during his senior year to break the all-time rushing record of 6,279 set by 1998 Heisman Trophy winner, Ricky Williams. Dayne tops the Big ten career list in yards rushing (6,925), rushing attempts (1,186), rushing touchdowns (70), touchdowns (70) and points (420).

Dayne chose to return to Wisconsin for his senior year rather than opt for the NFL draft last January. He helped the Badgers, under coach Barry Alavarez, to a regular season record of 9-2 and a berth in the 2000 Rose Bowl. A win in the Rose Bowl would make the Wisconsin Badgers the first team in the history of the Big Ten to win three Rose Bowl championships in one decade.

Ballots were mailed out to 871 media personnel across the nation plus 51 Heisman winners, for a total of 922 electors. Dayne polled with 944 votes. The point total is reached by a system of three points for a first place vote, two for a second and one for a third.

Ron Dayne will officially be honored at the 65th annual Heisman Trophy Award Dinner on Monday evening, December 13th, at the New York Marriott Marquis.

The Voting

					Points
Place	Name	School	Class	Position	1	2	3	Total
1	Ron Dayne	Wisconsin	Senior	RB	586	121	42	2,042
2	Joe Hamilton	Georgia Tech	Senior	QB	96	285	136	94
3	Michael Vick	Virginia Tech	Freshman	QB	25	72	100	319
4	Drew Brees	Purdue	Junior	QB	3	89	121	308
5	Chad Pennington	Marshall	Senior	QB	21	45	94	247
6	Peter Warrick	Florida State	Senior	WR	14	50	61	203
7	Shaun Alexander	Alabama	Senior	RB	11	42	52	171
8	Thomas Jones	Virginia	Senior	RB	10	32	46	140
9	LaVar Arrington	Penn State	Junior	LB	3	14	17	54
10	Tim Rattay	Louisiana Tech	Senior	QB	1	5	16	29

At 5 feet 10 inches and 252 pounds, Ron Dayne is the second Wisconsin Badger to win the Heisman Trophy. During Ron's four year career at Wisconsin the Badgers complied a 37-13 record and won two Big Ten titles. Ron led the Big Ten in rushing three times during his illustrious career. Ron is the NCAA career rushing leader with 6,397 yards. Ron and the Badgers finished the season with a 17-9 victory over Stanford in the Rose Bowl to go 10-2 on the season. Ron was named the Big Ten Offensive player of the year. Ron was drafted 11th overall by the New York Giants in the 2000 NFL draft.

Ron Dayne became Wisconsin's second Heisman Trophy winner after setting an NCAA rushing record. He finished first in all six sections and won by 1,048 points.

No. of registered electors:
Date of announcement: 11 December
Date of dinner: 13 December

The points by region and position within each region for the top five candidates:

Name	North-east		Mid Atlantic		South		South-west		Mid-west		Far West
	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.	Pos.	Pts.	Pos.
Dayne	345	1	296	1	310	1	363	1	393	1	335	1
Hamilton	134	2	198	2	193	2	166	2	149	2	154	2
Vick	77	3	60	4	36	4T	67	3	53	4	26	6
Brees	46	5	33	6	33	6	53	4	79	3	64	3
Pennington	14	4	75	3	25	7T	25	6	42	5	31	5