College football: Ranking every Heisman Trophy winner

65. Ranking every Heisman Trophy Winner: Terry Baker, Oregon State Beavers football

The Heisman Trophy list of winners is loaded with players who downright dominated on a football field. From quarterbacks who put up insane numbers, to skill position players who were able to find yards and the end zone at will, the list of 84 men to win this award is a laundry list of the best to ever do it at the collegiate level.

However, if you look at the Heisman Trophy winner from the 1962 college football season, you will see a man who not only dominated on the gridiron but who was an elite collegiate basketball player as well. In fact, Oregon State’s Terry Baker is the only Heisman Trophy winner to win the Heisman Trophy, and then go on to lead his basketball team to the Final Four, an incredible accomplishment by any measure.

During his Heisman Trophy-winning season, Baker was the epitome of an elite dual-threat quarterback, throwing for over 1,700 yards and 15 touchdowns, while also rushing for over 500 yards and eight scores on the ground. With his win, he became the first player West of Texas to take home the Heisman Trophy, and his 99-yard touchdown run in the Liberty Bowl to cap off his collegiate career is still an NCAA record.

64. Ranking every Heisman Trophy Winner: Jay Berwanger, Chicago University football

As is the case with anything in sports and in life, there always has to be that pioneer, that first person to ever do something, starting a legacy that lasts forever. When it comes to the Heisman Trophy, the first person to ever win it did not win the Heisman Trophy but instead won an award that was named the “Downtown Athletic Club Trophy” at the time.

Of course, the award would be named after John Heisman the following year, and that first winner of the award was dubbed “the best player East of the Mississippi.” Jay Berwanger was the first winner of the coveted Heisman Trophy, this after being an incredibly versatile player for the University of Chicago, playing both sides of the ball, while also handling kicking duties for the team, earning numerous nicknames along the way, including “the Flying Dutchman,” the “Genius of the Gridiron,” and the “One-Man Team.”

Not only was Berwanger the first player to ever win the Heisman Trophy, but he was also the first player ever selected in a National Football League draft. Since Berwanger took home the award, a trophy that he never quite knew the significance of, 83 more men have won it, but he stands alone as the first to do so.

63. Ranking every Heisman Trophy Winner: Clinton Frank, Yale Bulldogs football

Having back-to-back winners of the Heisman Trophy is nearly impossible, as only three tandems have ever done it in the history of the award, a testament to just how hard it is to accomplish. The first to do it was the Yale Bulldogs, as Clinton Frank followed up Larry Kelley’s win in 1936 by taking home the 1937 trophy, putting an exclamation point on an incredibly productive collegiate career.

Frank was considered by his coach as the best back to ever do it, and rightfully so, as he was one of those ironman players who seemed to dominate on both sides of the ball. A do-everything player for Yale, Frank was twice named the team captain, was twice named an All-American, and he was the key member of the “Skull and Bones.”

During his magical 1937 college football season, Frank put the final touches on his Heisman campaign with his three-touchdown effort in a 19-0 shutout victory over Brown. A rare blend of speed and power, Frank finished his final season with over 650 yards rushing, nearly 500 yards passing, 11 touchdowns in total, and had four interceptions on defense, beating out Byron White for the coveted Heisman Trophy.