A Heisman Trophy vote 30 years in the making

By Matt Tait     Dec 10, 2019

article image
Young Tait, shown here in 1989, posing with the official Heisman Trophy eventually won by Houston QB Andre Ware.

I would’ve voted for Charles Woodson in 1997. I’ve always loved the idea of defensive players winning the Heisman.

I would’ve put Todd Reesing in my Top 3 in 2007. He might not have deserved to win the award, but he was every bit the factor as those who made it to New York City for the presentation.

And, as much as I’d like to think otherwise, I probably would’ve been caught up in the Heisman fever surrounding guys like Tim Tebow, Johnny Manziel, Baker Mayfield and others.

Now I get the chance.

After former Journal-World sports editor Tom Keegan left our paper for a job in Boston a little over a year ago, a spot came open in the Heisman voting in Kansas and I was invited to fill it.

I submitted my first Heisman ballot on Sunday — after Saturday’s conference championship games but well before the Monday evening deadline — and, per Heisman rules, I will have to keep my votes confidential until the winner is revealed on Saturday.

Monday night, LSU quarterback Joe Burrow, Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts, Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields and Ohio State defensive end Chase Young were announced as this year’s finalists and all four will be at this year’s announcement ceremony in New York this weekend.

I’ll be sure to follow-up here with a short blog about who I voted for and why after the results are announced (Benton Smith had a vote, too), but the mere fact that I was able to cast a vote was a cool, full-circle moment for me.

See, my grandfather’s company, Herff Jones, a yearbook and class ring company based in Indianapolis, always manufactured the Heisman, and back in the summer of 1989, on a family trip to Disney World, my grandpa and I made a stop at the Herff Jones plant in Gettysburg, Pa., to see the award.

With me being barely 11 years old at the time, he didn’t quite trust me to be able to securely hold up the 45-pound trophy like the winners do, but he was happy to get it out and put it on a table for me to stand behind and pose for a picture.

I can still visualize walking back into the area where they kept the award — along with a few others.

At the time, I probably still thought my future would include winning the award as opposed to writing about it, but I’m sure that didn’t last too much longer.

The name plate was blank that day and, if I recall correctly, my grandpa folded a piece of stationary in half and wrote “Matt Tait” on it for one of the photos. Too cool.

A few months later, Houston Cougars quarterback Andre Ware won that very same trophy that I got to hold. I always joked that I had more claim to it than Ware did, but now that I know better, I realize that his numbers that season were pretty incredible and he was certainly deserving.

Ware beat out Indiana tailback Anthony Thompson, West Virginia QB Major Harris (pre-Big 12) and Notre Dame’s Tony Rice to win the ’89 Heisman.

Ware’s lack of a professional career worth noting probably knocked a little of the shine off of his Heisman campaign — how many guys have we said that about? — but he did throw for 4,699 yards and 46 touchdowns that season.

For context, Baker Mayfield’s Heisman season included 4,627 passing yards and 43 touchdowns and Kyler Murray’s last season included 4,361 yards through the air and 42 TDs.

So, yeah, Ware was worthy.

And now, 30 years after having my photo taken with the trophy and after all of these years of following the Heisman races and thinking about who should or would win it, I get to have some small say in determining this year’s winner.

Life’s pretty cool sometimes.

PREV POST

Texas prep OL Armaj Adams-Reed joins KU football's 2020 class

NEXT POST

54248A Heisman Trophy vote 30 years in the making

Author Photo

Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.