Kent Babb | Dec. 9, 2013 | Washington Post
They have lived above fireplaces and in closets, under custom-designed lights and under garbage, polished by caretakers with soft brushes and dropped by drunks.
Each December since 1935, a 45-pound bronze statue with a wood base has been handed to its newest winner, and for all time, its recipient isn’t just the season’s best college football player; he is the Heisman Trophy winner.
So the assignment, handed down nearly a year ago, was to locate the physical whereabouts — and document some of the adventures — of each of the 78 winners’ copies of the Heisman Trophy before another one is issued Saturday evening. Each winner’s school is issued a copy, and years ago, winners could request multiple trophies — ’49 winner Leon Hart once owned three Heismans, a son says — but there’s only one each winner poses with in New York and, as tradition has it, carries onto the plane home, toward its new life.