The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/178977
"A frown and a smile take the same amount of time." But I resisted, and we all left after a short time. However, the night was young, and there was more fun in store. Madej invited me to join him at a special dinner for sports information directors, the Heisman finalists, and their immediate families. So I got to meet and eat with the Howards; BYU quarterback Ty Detmer, who had won the 1990 Heisman; and University of Washington defensive tackle Steve Emtman, who would be chasing Desmond around the Rose Bowl in less than three weeks. Florida State quarterback Casey Weldon, the other finalist, didn't arrive until Saturday because he was receiving the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Trophy that night in Louisville, Kentucky. The finalists present were handed white footballs bearing the Heisman stamp and were encouraged to get autographs from past Heisman winners in the dining room at the Jack Mowbray Grill. "You might as well autograph mine right now," Emtman told Desmond, reaching across the appetizers to hand over the football. Everyone laughed, and the obvious was foreshadowed. Desmond moved to the corner table with Detmer to get the autograph of the first of 56 previous winners, the University of Chicago's Jay Berwanger, who had a truly unique game confrontation with another outstanding Michigan gridder. Berwanger, according to the University of Chicago Chronicle, was the only Heisman recipient who was ever tackled by a future President—Gerald Ford, during a 1934 game between Chicago and Michigan. "When I tackled Jay in the second quarter, I ended up with a bloody cut [beneath the left eye] and I still have the scar to prove it," Ford recalled in the publication. However, Berwanger, who died in 2002 at the age of 88, took it easy on Desmond and just signed the ball. You could feel the history of Heismans past at the Downtown Athletic Club, housed in a 35-story art deco– style building that was completed in 1930. From 1935 through 2000, from initial recipient Berwanger through Florida State quarterback Chris Weinke, the Heisman was presented there. It was built just off the Hudson River and less than a half mile south of the World Trade Center. When the terrorists overtook the planes that downed the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the DAC was fortunate to avoid destruction. But it was in a "frozen zone" and closed, never to reopen as the DAC, which filed for bankruptcy one year later. It opened in 2005 as the Downtown Club Condominium and continues as a residence near the Wall Street district. The Heisman would move around town and be presented at other locations in the years after that, and that quaint feeling of the award was never quite the same. But I can still recall catching a limo for the Letterman show outside the lobby at 20 West St. and the excitement of that chilly night in Manhattan. Hanging with the toast of the town definitely has its advantages.