December 2, 1975: Archie Griffin becomes the 1st player ever to be awarded the Heisman Trophy as college football player of the year for the 2nd time.
Archie Mason Griffin was born on August 21, 1954, in Columbus, Ohio, the seat of The... Ohio State University. Perhaps he was born to play football there. He started at running back as a freshman in 1972, the 1st year that freshmen were eligible to play in NCAA Division I. He ran for 867 yards.
Head coach Woody Hayes said, "He's a better young man than he is a football player, and he's the best football player I've ever seen." For the 1973 season, Hayes switched from the T formation to the I formation, with Griffin at the back. He rushed for 1,428 yards, and was named a First Team All-American. Ohio State went 10-0-1, winning the Big Ten Conference title and the Rose Bowl.
Griffin finished 5th in the voting for the Heisman Trophy. At the time, this was considered an astounding achievement for a sophomore. His teammate, guard John Hicks, finished 2nd. In any era, this would be considered an astounding achievement for an offensive lineman. Griffin also finished behind John Cappelletti of Penn State (1st), Roosevelt Leaks of Texas (3rd) and Dave Jaynes of Kansas (4th), and just ahead of another Ohio State player, linebacker Randy Gradishar.
In 1974, Griffin ran for 1,620 yards, as Ohio State went 10-1, winning the Big Ten again, before losing the Rose Bowl. He won the Heisman in, appropriately enough, a runaway. He beat out fellow running backs Anthony Davis of USC and Joe Washington of Oklahoma.
In 1975, Griffin made the most of his senior year, rushing for 1,357 yards, making himself the 1st player ever to lead the Big Ten in rushing for 3 straight years. He remained the only one until Jonathan Taylor did it for Wisconsin from 2017 to 2019.
Ohio State won the Big Ten again, going undefeated, until losing the 1976 Rose Bowl in Griffin's last college game. Overall, the Buckeyes went 40-5-1 with him in the starting lineup. Overall, he rushed for 5,589 yards and 26 touchdowns.
No player had ever won the Heisman twice. Four players had won it as juniors before Griffin: Doc Blanchard of Army in 1945, Doak Walker of Southern Methodist in 1948, Vic Janowicz of Ohio State in 1950, Roger Staubach of Navy in 1963. But, in each case, another player simply had a better season the next year. (In Blanchard's case, it was his Army backfield mate, Glenn Davis.)
But in 1975, the Heisman voters saw no problem with giving the Trophy to Griffin again, as he won by about as big a margin as he had the year before. And he beat a better crop of running backs, too: Joe Washington again, Chuck Muncie of California, Ricky Bell of USC, and the one who ended up winning it the next year, Tony Dorsett of Pittsburgh.
Winning 2 Heisman Trophies has never happened again. The closest call so far has come in 2008, when Tim Tebow of Florida came within 151 votes of a 2nd Heisman. And with players leaving after their junior year having become common, it is unlikely there will ever be another.
In 1992, Ron Powlus, the most sought-after high school quarterback in the country, signed a letter of intent to play at Notre Dame. Beano Cook of ESPN, a shameless Notre Dame fan, predicted that Powlus would win 2 Heismans. He had a decent college career, but went 0-3 in bowl games, and never came close to winning the Trophy. Having sustained 2 notable injuries in that time, he went undrafted, and, despite having signed with 3 different NFL teams, never played a down in the League.
Griffin? He was taken in the 1st round of the 1976 NFL Draft, by his home-State Cincinnati Bengals, where his teammates included a pair of Ohio State teammates, his brother Ray Griffin and Pete Johnson. But injuries limited him to 2,808 career rushing yards. He did help the Bengals win their 1st AFC Championship in the 1981 season, but he had a fumble (which he recovered) in Super Bowl XVI, and the Bengals lost.
After playing a season with the Jacksonville Bulls of the United States Football League, he retired from playing, and became a successful businessman. He served as President of The Ohio State University Alumni Association, and as an assistant athletic director. He is, essentially, an ambassador for the University, and speaks to the team before every game. Although his pro career was a disappointment, he is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. He is 67 years old.
In 1991, he filmed a commercial for the University, one of those ads you see colleges air during their football games. He spoke briefly about his experiences, and two Heisman Trophies are shown. He closed by saying, "I received something no one else in the world has: A degree from The Ohio State University with my name on it." A clever piece of misdirection.
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December 2, 1975 was a Tuesday -- although, since the early 1980s, the Heisman ceremony has been held on a Saturday night, after the regular season but before the bowls. At any rate, on that date, the baseball season was over, and football was in midweek. There were 7 games played in the NBA that night:
* The New York Knicks lost to the Boston Celtics, 103-100 at Madison Square Garden.
* The Washington Bullets beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 107-104 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The New Orleans Jazz beat the Buffalo Braves, 108-96 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. The Braves lost by 12 points despite getting 40 points and 16 rebounds from Bob McAdoo.
* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 90-81 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.
* The Houston Rockets beat the Chicago Bulls, 91-77 at the Chicago Stadium.
* The Seattle SuperSonics beat the Kansas City Kings, 101-90 at the Kemper Arena in Kansas City. (It's now named the Hy-Vee Arena.)
* And the Phoenix Suns beat the Golden State Warriors, 115-98 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.
There were 2 games played in the American Basketball Association. The Spirits of St. Louis beat the Kentucky Colonels, 122-112 at Freedom Hall in Louisville. And the San Antonio Spurs beat the Virginia Squires, 119-101 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio.
There were 2 games played in the NHL. The New York Islanders beat the St. Louis Blues, 4-1 at the Checkerdome, the once-and-former St. Louis Arena, in St. Louis. And the Los Angeles Kings beat the Atlanta Flames, 5-3 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.
And there were 4 games played in the World Hockey Association. The Quebec Nordiques beat the Cleveland Crusaders, 9-2 at the Colisee de Quebec. The New England Whalers beat the Houston Aeros, 5-2 at The Summit in Houston. The Winnipeg Jets beat the Denver Spurs, 4-3 in overtime at the McNichols Arena in Denver. The Edmonton Oilers beat the Toronto Toros, 7-2 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.