NCAA Football: 25 Heisman Trophy finalists who should have won in hindsight
By John Scimeca
John Elway is a football legend, plain and simple. He played all 16 of his NFL seasons with the Denver Broncos, retired as a two-time Super Bowl champion and Super Bowl MVP (in early 1999), and set numerous records that still stand today in the process.
Elway, who is currently Denver’s general manager and director of football operations, rushed for 3,407 yards in his career — good enough for sixth-most among all NFL quarterbacks.
He is the only quarterback besides Tom Brady to start in five Super Bowls, and he is only one of two players (Thurman Thomas) to have rushed for a touchdown in four separate Super Bowls. Elway is fourth all-time in victories by a starting quarterback, today behind only Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady.
So as a senior quarterback at Stanford who threw for 3,242 yards led the nation with 24 passing touchdowns, how did John Elway not win the 1982 Heisman Trophy?
The easy response is Herschel Walker. The Georgia tailback rushed for 1,752 yards and 16 touchdowns in 1982. At the time of Heisman voting, he was the leader of an 11-0 Bulldogs squad that would go on to play for the national title. They would lose 27-23 to Penn State.
Elway, though, doesn’t seem to get enough credit for his performance. Some believe that the season-ending loss to Cal plays a role. This game will forever be remembered in college football lore for the Stanford band members entering the field, while Cal scored a touchdown as time expired.
Some, though, say that this bizarre and famous loss (which was also Elway’s last game in a Cardinal jersey) stuck in the minds of Heisman voters and cost Elway the trophy. It probably didn’t help either that Stanford finished the season with a 5-6 record.