The Heisman Has Its Own Knick Hero
One Heisman Trophy winner has played in the NBA. He played in New York and, until a few ago, he was the last point guard to take the Knicks to the NBA finals.
Today in Manhattan, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers are celebrating the Knicks’ first NBA title since 1973 in an old-fashioned ticker tape parade down Broadway.
A huge percentage — is there something more than 100 percent? — will be wearing Knick orange and blue and many will be donning a New York No. 11 belonging to Jalen Brunson, the 6-foot-2 hero who carried his team — and city — to a championship.
Had the sports gods not been so finicky, 1993 Heisman winner Charlie Ward would have gotten that parade in 1999.
The All-American quarterback who led Florida State to a football national championship as well as three straight NCAA hoops tournaments — including an Elite Eight appearance— chose to chase a career in hoops following his Heisman season.
And quite the career he had.
Like Brunson, Ward was a 6-foot-2 New York point guard, but wore No. 21, not 11. He played 630 games over 10 seasons for the Knicks, firmly entrenching himself as one of the franchise’s top players. He remains fifth in Knick history in career steals (744) and seventh in assists (2,451).
Ward helped New York reach the playoffs each season between 1996 and 2001 and was a key cog in the Knicks’ magical run to the NBA finals in 1999.
The Knicks were the eighth seed that season following a compressed 50-game schedule due to the 204-day owner lockout. New York finished 27-23, winning its final two regular-season contests to snare the final Eastern Conference postseason berth by one game.
Ward, who was teammates with Brunson’s father Rick on the 1999 squad, played all 50 games of the shortened season, averaging 6.8 points, 5.4 assists and 2.1 steals.
New York opened the playoffs with a 3-2 series win over top-seed Miami, advancing with a one-point win in the deciding contest. The Knicks followed it with a four-game sweep of No. 4 seed-Atlanta in the second round and a 4-2 series win over No. 2-seed Indiana to reach the 1999 NBA finals.
Ward and his teammates lost star center Patrick Ewing to a season-ending Achilles tendon injury during Game 2 of Pacers series. Despite rallying against Indiana, the Knicks were handcuffed against the Tim Duncan-led San Antonio Spurs in the finals. Without a big center to match-up against the future Hall of Famer Duncan, the Knicks’ magic faded and the Spurs won the 1999 title, four games to one.
(That the Knicks got to the promised land last week by climbing over San Antonio is poetic.)
Ward helped the Knicks to the No. 3 seed in the 2000 playoffs and a berth in the Eastern Conference finals, where they were eliminated by the Pacers. A year later, the Knicks fell in the first-round of the playoffs and, well, hadn’t sniffed a title until this spring’s amazing run.
If fate had twisted differently in 1999 — and had Ewing not twisted his ankle — perhaps Ward would have received the love the Knicks are getting today.
Still, New York’s 2026 success is still meaningful for the Heisman hoopster great. CNN caught up with Ward to talk about the latest title and you can watch it here. Ward didn’t choose the Knick life, the Knicks chose Ward, and he still feels the love.
