Sources: Trust to take Bush’s Heisman
By Charles Robinson and Jason Cole 1 hour, 30 minutes ago
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The Heisman Trophy Trust is expected to strip former University of Southern California star running back Reggie Bush of college football’s top honor by the end of September, sources told Yahoo! Sports.
Bush would become the first player in the 75-year history of the award to have the trophy taken away. The NCAA found major violations in the Trojans’ football program in June and levied serious sanctions against the school.
Two sources close to the Heisman trust said the body’s investigation is coming to a close, and will ultimately concur with the NCAA’s determination that Bush was ineligible during his Heisman-winning season in 2005. Because of that independent conclusion, sources said the trust will relieve Bush of the award and leave the honor for that season vacant. The sources said Bush met with Heisman representatives last month at the New York law offices of Emmet, Marvin & Martin. The sources would not reveal details of that meeting.
Bush, now a standout with the Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints, could not immediately be reached for comment.
It appears as if the Heisman Trophy Trust is about to strip Reggie Bush of his 2005 trophy.
Julie Jacobson/AP
The Heisman trust has been conducting its own independent inquiry into Bush’s eligibility since the NCAA ruled in June that the USC star had committed multiple violations by accepting cash, gifts and other impermissible benefits while playing for the Trojans. Yahoo! Sports first detailed the extra benefits in September 2006. In its findings, the NCAA retroactively ruled Bush ineligible for part of the 2004 season and all of 2005. The NCAA also ordered the USC program to remove all references to Bush from its sporting venues and promotional materials and vacate his statistics from all games in which he was ineligible.
In July, incoming USC president C.L. Max Nikias announced that the university would be returning its copy of Bush’s Heisman to the trust, stating the Trojans would honor and respect athletes who “did not compromise their athletic program or the opportunities of future USC student-athletes.” New USC athletic director Pat Haden followed up in August, stating during an interview with the Dan Patrick radio show that Bush should also voluntarily return his Heisman.
While others pressed for a swift decision, the trust opted for a patient, meticulous effort. Sources said the trust did its own detailed investigation over the past three months, using a litany of resources and reviewing its information against the NCAA’s findings. The trust also offered Bush a chance to impact the decision.
The process apparently came with considerable debate – in part because of the trust’s quest for due process, but also because of the unique nature of the decision. Never in the history of the award has the trust been forced to retroactively rule on the eligibility of a past winner. That reality, along with the NCAA’s findings, created a tangled knot of deliberation regarding the trust’s place in the role of enforcement. Sources said the prominent issues discussed included accountability, on-field vs. off-field conduct, implications of retroactively stripping an award and possible impact on future athletes and the NCAA.
Two factors outweighed all others, sources said: The Heisman ballot necessitates candidates be in compliance with NCAA bylaws and concern over the Heisman’s reputation in the wake of the NCAA findings against Bush.
The status of USC’s 2004 Bowl Championship Series national title remains to be determined. BCS officials are awaiting the NCAA’s ruling on the Trojans’ appeal of the June finding.
Contact Yahoo! Sports investigative reporter Charles Robinson at
windycityscribe@yahoo.com
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/footbal...hheisman090710
[Reply]
Reggie Bush getting his Heisman Trophy back... because what he was previously punished for is now essentially legal with NIL.
Link:
https://sports.yahoo.com/reggie-bush...130812343.html
Originally Posted by :
Reggie Bush reportedly getting 2005 Heisman Trophy back in formal 'reinstatement'
Former USC football star Reggie Bush is getting his Heisman Trophy back and will be reinstated by the Heisman Trust.
It took a long time, but it's finally happening: Reggie Bush is getting his 2005 Heisman Trophy back.
According to Pete Thamel of ESPN, the Heisman Trust will be formally "reinstating" Bush on Wednesday, 14 years after the USC football star gave up his Heisman Trophy due to the the major sanctions levied against his alma mater.
But with the introduction of NIL rights in college sports, the NCAA landscape is significantly different in 2024 than it was in 2010. In light of that, Bush is being reinstated to his place in the Heisman family.
Bush will get his original trophy back and a replica will be given to USC, Thamel reported. Bush will also be invited to all Heisman events starting with the 2024 season.
"Personally, I'm thrilled to reunite with my fellow Heisman winners and be a part of the storied legacy of the Heisman Trophy, and I'm honored to return to the Heisman family," Bush said in a statement. "I also look forward to working together with the Heisman Trust to advance the values and mission of the organization."
How did we get here?
Bush won his Heisman in 2005, but it was essentially repossessed in 2010 after an NCAA investigation (which was spurred by extensive investigative reporting by Yahoo Sports) found that Bush had received impermissible benefits from marketing agents while he was a student-athlete. USC had to vacate all wins Bush participated in while ineligible — including the Trojans' 2004 BCS national championship — and his stats from that season were nullified. Those findings also resulted in an NCAA-mandated break between Bush and USC, which ended in 2020 when the university officially welcomed Bush back into the fold.
A year later, Bush made his overall intentions clear: he wanted his Heisman Trophy back and he wanted the NCAA to reinstate his records. He and his team had reached out to the NCAA and the Heisman Trust but hadn't heard back.
The Heisman Trust wasn't moved by Bush's plea, and refused to return his 2005 trophy to him until the NCAA reinstated him. And despite the NIL rules changing, the NCAA said it wouldn't be making any changes to its stats.
Bush was still elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2023 despite his Heisman having been vacated, but his desire to reclaim his trophy had not diminished. In Aug. 2023 Bush announced he was suing the NCAA for defamation in the hopes of forcing them to reinstate his records, which could have also led to him getting his trophy back.
Now, even without that suit having been resolved, the Heisman Trust will reinstate Bush on Wednesday and return his trophy. It's unclear whether this will have any bearing on Bush's standing with the NCAA or the lawsuit.
[Reply]