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Heisman ...
by Kim Ball
"It was on my mind at the start of the season. I
put it up as a definite goal. It is something that I
always think about and work for."
Johnny Rodgers spoke' these words. The 'it' he was
referring to was the Heisman Trophy.
The Heisman Trophy awarded annually by the
Downtown Athletic dub of New York City to the
outstanding college football player in the United
States.
Since, 1935, the year the Downtown Athletic Club
began presenting the small bronze statue of a football
player called the Heisman Trophy, only two Big Eight
Conference players have won the award. Billy Vessels
of Oklahoma in 1 952 and Steve Owens of Oklahoma
in 1969 were the only Big Eight honorees.
This year a third Big Eight player will probably
win the award, because the annual two-man race for
the Heisman Trophy has shaped up to be between
Nebraska flanker Johnny Rodgers and Oklahoma
halfback Greg Pruitt. A year ago Auburn's Pat
Sullivan and Cornell's Ed Marinaro reaped the lion's
share of the Heisman votes.
Probably never before have the
two leading Heisman Trophy
candidates been better friends than
Johnny Rodgers and Greg Pruitt are.
Before the season started names like Joe Ferguson
of Arkansas, Gary Huff of Florida, Sonny Sixkiller of
Washington and Nebraska's own Rich Glover kept
popping up when the Heisman was mentioned along
with Rodgers and Pruitt.
Now Rodgers and Pruitt rank head and shoulders
above the rest of the Heisman field which includes
Glover, Huff, Don Strock of Virginia Tech, Charlie
Davis of Colorado and Anthony Davis of Southern
Califonia.V ' '.i ' .' vfU
Rodgers had kind words for Nebraska teammate
Glover.
"He's definitely the best lineman in the country,"
Rodgers said, "but they (the Heisman voters) don't
Greg Pruitt
select lineman. He should be a unanimous choice for
the Outland."
The Outland Trophy is awarded annually to the
outstanding college lineman in the country.
Probably never before have the two leading
Heisman Trophy candidates been better friends than
Johnny Rodgers and Greg Pruitt are.
Rodgers and Pruitt met last December in Miami,
Fla., where they were being honored as members of
Kodak's All-America team. They seemed to hit it off
from the start
"Ten minutes after I met him we were up in my
room talking," Rodgers said. "We were just different
from the rest of the guys."
"We couldn't really relate to anyone else,"
Rodgers added, "we could just relate to each other."
"When I first met Johnny we agreed to be
friends," Pruitt said, "except for the 60 minutes we
played against each other, then we'd hate each
other."
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They continued to run around together on four
other Ail-American excursions, including a trip to
Chicago for the Playboy All-American team. While in
Chicago, Rodgers talked Pruitt into coming to
Lincoln before he went back to Norman, Okla.
During Pruitt's stay in Lincoln, Rodgers took him
to a few parties and lined him up with a couple of
dates.
When Rodgers went to California to visit his father
this summer, Pruitt went with him.
But their friendship didn't end when the football
season started. They have telephoned each other
several times since the football season has started.
Early in the season their telephone conversations
centered on football. But as the season went on they
began talking about things they were going to do
after the football season was over. They plan to take
another trip to California this summer.
Last week Rodgers called Pruitt twice. Their main
topic of conversation was the bowl games. Both are
planning on going to the Hula Bowl in Honolulu,
Hawaii. They also felt that Alabama went to the
Cotton Bowl to avoid playing either Nebraska or
Oklahoma.
"We couldn't really relate to anyone
else, we could just relate to each
other."
"It's quite obvious that they're running from us,"
Rodgers said. "I'm really disappointed that they are."
Pruitt said, "The deal we wanted to make was that
the winner (of Okla.-Nebr. game) would go to the
Orange Bowl provided Alabama was there. And the
loser would go to the Gator Bowl. But it turned out
that Alabama went to the Cotton Bowl."
"With Tennessee and LSU playing each other in a
bowl game, it looks like everybody is running from
, the Big Eight," Pruitt added.
Both players indicated they will probably say
nothing to each other prior to their Thanksgiving day
encounter, not even so much as good luck.
Rodgers chuckled when he heard Pruitt's remark
about hating him during the game. But Rodgsrs
agreed.
"It doesn't matter if your old man is on the other
team," Rodgers said, "you don't have any friends on
the other team."
"It's dog eat dog," Rodgers added. "I put all
things aside when It comes to winning and not
winning. I'm a very poor loser, very poor."
Thursday's Turkey Day clash, although it probably
won't determine the national champion, still holds
about as much significance as last fall's 35-31 thriller.
"I've been looking forward to this game," Pruitt
said. "It seems like it always boils down to the
conference title on Thanksgiving day."
Rodgers said, "It's going to be a tough game, but I
think we're going to pull it out. We know what has to
be done. We're just going to have to go out and do
it"
"Just looking at the trend of past games, the best
Nebraska can do is tie," Pruiu said.
Two years ago, Nebraska defeated Oklahoma,
28-21, for the Big Eight title. Last year Nebraska won
35-31.
People watching the game from either their
stadium seat or their living room sofa will have their
eyes focused on Johnny Rodgers or Greg Pruitt,
depending on which team is on offense.
Continued on pags 7
Wednesday, november 22, 1972
Johnny Rodgers
page 6
daily nebraskan