Happy 250th America! Heisman ties to our great country run deep

As awards go, the Heisman Trophy is a nonagenarian, celebrating its 92nd year in 2026, firmly in its 10th decade.

There are a handful of individual sports awards that date back farther. The Sullivan Award, given annually to the top amateur athlete in the U.S., began five years earlier in 1930. But few, if any, awards are as intertwined in America’s fabric during the last century as the Heisman.

The history of the Heisman spans more than a third of American history and as the U.S. gets set to celebrate its Semiquincentennial on Saturday, here’s a brief reminder of the trophy’s connection to all things stars and stripes as well as some fun facts around the Heisman numerology of 250.

Numerous Heisman winners have served in defense of America. You can read about our complete list of Heisman-winning veterans here, which includes the likes of Roger Staubach, Nile Kinnick, Tom Harmon, Glenn Davis, Pete Dawkins and many more.

Jay Berwanger, the first Heisman winner in 1935, also served. He became a naval officer during World War II, serving as a flight instructor and reaching the rank of Lieutenant Commander before going into private business.

Equally interesting, he was the only Heisman winner to play against a  future U.S. president. Berwanger’s Cincinnati squad took on Ford, then a Michigan Wolverine center, in 1934.

Even more interesting, Berwanger collided with Ford during the game and gashed his left cheek, leaving the future president with a lifelong scar. Ford later said he thought of Berwanger every morning when he shaved.

Several Heisman winners have met U.S. presidents after capturing the trophy.  1961 winner Ernie Davis, the first black Heisman winner, met with John F. Kennedy in New York. A year later, Terry Baker met with Kennedy at the 1962 Army-Navy Game.

Doug Flutie was congratulated by Ronald Reagan in the Oval Office while Derrick Henry met Barack Obama at the 2016 National Prayer Breakfast. The two struck the Heisman pose together. Check out the video below.

Larry Kelley was the first Heisman winner that followed a presidential election, winning the 1936 Heisman weeks after Franklin D. Roosevelt was re-elected.

Now let’s get to some quarter millennial connections. Fernando Mendoza didn’t quite come out of nowhere to win the 2025 Heisman. He was a successful quarterback at Cal before he transferred to Indiana and truly exploded onto the national scene.

But prior to Indiana and Cal? Mendoza was a solid but not earth-shatteringly impressive recruit out of Florida. His overall ranking, per 247Sports, among all of the 2022 recruits in the Sunshine State? Why, No. 250, of course.

Bo Jackson won the Heisman in 1985 but played longer in the Major Leagues than he did in the NFL. He appeared in 694 major league games over eight seasons and had 2,393 official at-bats. His career average? An apropos .250.

Two Heisman winners are listed at weighing 250 pounds at the time of their awards, 1999 winner Ron Dayne and 2010 winner Cam Newton.

Three Heisman top-10 vote-getters finished with exactly 250 points. They include San Diego State 1993 fourth-place finisher Marshall Faulk, 1975 Oklahoma fifth-place finisher Joe Washington and 1973 seventh-place finisher Lucious Selmon, also a Sooner.

Two Heisman runners-up finished with precisely 250 second-place votes, Stanford’s Andrew Luck (2011) and Kansas States’s Michael Bishop (1998).

The Heisman has yet to produce a winner with a July 4 birthday, but two were born on July 3 — 1989 winner Andre Ware and 2000 winner Chris Weinke — while 1972 winner Johnny Rodgers was born on July 5.

Happy Birthday America. We’ll need to remember to look up the Heisman-related notes for America’s 251st b-day next year.

(We also missed the noteworthy 249th birthday in 2025, failing to note 1942 Heisman winner Frank Sinkwich’s 249 Heisman points as the fourth-place finisher in 1941 as well as 1986 winner Vinny Testaverde’s 249 points as the fifth-place finisher in 1985. Mark Ingram also carried the ball 249 times en route to the 2009 Heisman.)