Do You Consider Yourself A Sports Fanatic?

Ralph “Shug” Jordan is widely considered Auburn’s greatest coach of all time and is a legend that any Auburn fan greatly admires. Jordan was a 1932 Auburn University graduate. Fans knew that he had a connection to the team already and had confidence that he would bring Auburn forward in football. Coming into Auburn, the football program had been struggling and Jordan had a long way to go to turn the team around. With 176 wins, including a SEC championship and a National Championship, in a twenty-five year

Walter Payton, running back for the dominant 1985 Chicago Bears team that went 15-1 and won the Superbowl, is one of the best running backs in NFL history. Walter Payton was also known for his philanthropy off the field, earning him the nickname “Sweetness”. There is now an award given out every year called the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, which recognizes players for their charitable contributions off the field as well as their excellence on the field. The last recipient of this award was Thomas Davis, a Carolina Panthers linebacker. Walter “Sweetness” Payton died in 1999 of cancer. He was one of the most influential athletes in history, not just due to his ability on the field, but also because of his persona. Stats, influence on the game, and persona off the field are how a player’s influence should be measured. The three most influential quarterbacks of the last twenty five years of the twentieth century are Warren Moon, Joe Montana, and Jim Kelly.

In his freshman year he broke the record for a Division I-A freshman rushing record with 1,925 yards. In 2004 he placed second in the Heisman Trophy race, at the time that was the highest finish for a freshman. Later that year he won consensus All-American.

Gregg Bingham was born on March 13th, 1951 in Evanston, Illinois just 12 miles north from the city of Chicago. Bingham played tight end at Gordon Tech High School, (now known as DePaul College Prep) but soon changed to a defensive lineman later because the position fit him more. Bingham unlike most people at the school, started on varsity his freshman year. Bingham was a brilliant student and was offered scholarships by many Ivy League schools, such as Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth and others. But the reason Bingham chose Purdue over all these Ivy League schools was that when he visited the campus he asked a woman at the front counter where the Coke machine was. The woman started to explain but then showed the machine to him. He was impressed that this woman took her time to show him this Coke machine, and she did not even know that he had received a scholarship offer for football from the university!

Again he was an All-SEC Quarterback. This year was different though, because LSU had so much faith in Hodson’s quarterbacking ability, they placed him as a Heisman Trophy candidate. The Heisman Trophy is an illustrious award that is given to whom is voted the best player in college football. He finished his season as the school’s single-season record holder for passing yards with 2,655. Tom also set the touchdown season record of 22 passing touchdowns. He also set all single-game passing records. The man also set the career passing records. This would help him be the third selected quarterback in the NFL draft (LSUsports.net, Tommy Hodson Bio).

Tomlinson was now a horned frog. Before Ladanian got there they only appeared in one bowl game in the previous 12 seasons and only 2 in the last 32 seasons. They got dropped to a minor conference called the western athletic conference (WAC). During his freshman and sophomore year he was second string behind Basil Mitchell. In his sophomore year he did help the frogs to their first bowl win in 41years. They were against the USC Trojans in the Sun Bowl. In 1999 his junior year he broke an NCAA FBS record for the most rushing yards in just a single game with 406 total rushing yards. The record stayed the same until just 2 years ago in 2014 where Melvin Gordon for the Wisconsin Baggers with 408 yards in a single game. Which it was broken just a week later by Oklahoma’s Samaje Perine rushing for 427 yards. Tomlinson finished his junior year rushing for 1.850 yards and adding on 18 touchdowns of his own. Tomlinson’s senior year came in 2000 where he led the NCAA for the second time rushing for over 2000 yards (2,158) and adding 22 touchdown’s to himself. Tomlinson was recognized as a first-team all American. He also won the Doak Walker Award, Mobile Alabama bowl most valuable player (MVP), Got the Jim Brown Trophy, Senior bowl MVP, was a two time All-WAC First team, two time WAC offensive player of the year, and added on top of all that was a finalist in the 2000 Heisman Trophy, but fell short getting voted fourth. After having

In 2005 the world had been introduced to one of the best collegiate running backs to ever go through the University of Southern California. His name is Reggie Bush and he achieved one of the best personal awards any collegiate football player could want and that would be the Heisman award. Reggie bush played running back for USC in 2005, he was 6 foot tall and weighed 200 pounds, and he played tailback as a sophomore in college and played in 13 games. He was named “Pigskin club of Washington D.C offensive player of the year.” He was also named the2004 PAC-10 offensive player of the year, “Then He was named the 2005 Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive year (just the fifth

Jerry Rice gave it his all in football and that all started in the late 1970’s

For most people, the name Aaron Hernandez was synonymous with a sports superstar. As a college player with the University of Florida, Hernandez was an All-American player and a member of the BCS National Championship Team. He was drafted by the New England Patriots in 2010, where he became the youngest active player on any roster in the NFL. He seemed destined for greatness, as one of only two tight end players on one of the leading teams in the NFL. During the 2010 season, he was named Rookie of the Week by Pepsi; he played in the Super Bowl in his second season in the NFL; and by his third year with the NFL he received the highest signing bonus of NFL tight end in history. However, there was a darker side to Hernandez that had a

In the 4th game in the season in 1994, Peyton Manning went and turn the University around. For the rest of the season, he lead his team to a 7-1 record for the rest of the year. He started for the rest of his career. He improve so much for the rest of the career. He had 863 complections with 1,381 attempts. He has 11,201 passing yards with

Having a lot of prior knowledge about football helps you understand the history of some things. John David Crow is the first person that comes to mind when I think about the Heisman Trophy. Although Crow was a native from Marion in North Louisiana, he found his way west to Springhill. Here at Springhill High School, he dominated throughout his career setting many records and accomplishing multiple goals. Crow and his fellow teammates also won a state championship, which was one of two that Springhill holds in football. With a dominating high school campaign such as Crow had, there was no doubt college coaches from all over the country was trying to sign him up at their university. Being a smart thinker of football, he decided to go play for the legendary Paul “Bear” Bryant at Texas A&M. To be one of the best, you have to play for one of the best so you can get in a great system to be successful. John David Crow’s senior season at Texas A&M was one that no one could ever forget. He was superman of the team because he did almost everything. He ran the ball, caught the ball, caught interceptions for opposing offenses, and tackled the opponents. After the season, Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant stated, “If John David Crow does not win the Heisman Trophy, they ought to stop giving it.”() He was the first aggie to win it and was also the only one of Bryant’s players to win it. It does not matter where you are from, anyone can accomplish the goal of winning the Heisman Trophy with hard work and

His Freshmen year of City College, he averaged 10 yards when he received the ball. By Sophomore year, he was given recognition by 50 colleges. in the Spring of 1967, he enrolled at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles as a Junior and soon became college football's leading rusher. His Senior year, he ended with carrying the ball thirty-five times and gained

During his entire career that lasted for 12 years he stayed with the New York Giants. Over the next few years he carved his name in the history of the NFL, by winning the NFL Championship in 1956 in the match against the Chicago Bears, and in addition he was named the Most Valuable Player of the league that

Some people got the wrong message. A student doesn't get an A just for going to class. An employee doesn't get a raise just for arriving to work on time. Shouldnt only hardest- Performing athletes get the accolades? If we keep giving the student athlete trophy then they will lose their meaning when everyone gets one. Some people emphasize that trophies are not an effective way for coaches to motivate players ''receiving a pat on the back and a thumps up from the couch.'' Any show of appreciation will make kids come back.

From the first two national champions, Rutgers and Princeton, to last year’s debateable Auburn national championship winning team, college football has always had difficulties deciding national champions. The BCS National Championship game was thought to give a less prejudice opinion on which teams play in the championship game than humans did. However, it has stimulated more controversy in college sports than Cal-Stanford “The Play.” The problem with the BCS teams is, it chooses two teams that are based on profit, popularity, and record. The BCS is in need of replacement by a playoff system because with a playoff system college football teams have more of an opportunity to show themselves.