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Trojan Beginnings
1965 Heisman winner Mike Garrett
The night before the 1965 Heisman Trophy winner was announced, officials from the Downtown Athletic Club in New York told Southern California running back Mike Garrett to be waiting near his telephone the next morning. If his telephone rang, Garrett was the Heisman Trophy winner. If his telephone didn't ring, someone other than Garrett had been named college football's best player in 1965. "You went to bed knowing that if you didn't get the call, you were omitted," Garrett said. "If you did get the call, you'd won it. Before I went to sleep I told myself, 'You couldn't do anything more. You played as hard as you could. If you don't win it, it's because they chose someone else.' I slept like a baby." The next morning, Garrett became the first of seven USC players to win the Heisman Trophy.-- Mark Schlabach
