Weinke Wins Heisman Trophy

N E W  Y O R K, Dec. 9, 2000 -- Chris Weinke capped a remarkable back-to-schoolstory tonight when the 28-year-old Florida State quarterbackwon the Heisman Trophy in one of the closest votes in the historyof the award.

Weinke, who spent six years playing minor league baseball beforereturning to school in 1997, finished off a record-setting seasonby leading the Seminoles into an Orange Bowl matchup against No. 1Oklahoma with a chance for a second straight national championship.

“With apologies to Lou Gehrig, I feel like I’m the luckiest manin the world,” Weinke said. “I got to pursue two dreams. Thefirst one, baseball, didn’t work out the way I would have liked.But the second one, football, did.”

When his name was called, Weinke, wearing a blue suit and silvertie and sitting next to Heupel, smiled, stood up and walked to thepodium to accept the 25-pound bronze trophy.

The 6-foot-5, 229-pounder from St. Paul, Minn., led the nationwith a school-record 4,167 yards passing, threw 33 touchdown passesand had only 11 interceptions. He recovered from a serious neckinjury late in the ’98 season to become the Atlantic CoastConference’s career passing leader with 9,839 yards.

Close Vote

Weinke edged Oklahoma quarterback Josh Heupel for collegefootball’s most coveted individual prize by 76 points in theseventh tightest Heisman race. The closest Heisman vote was BoJackson’s 45-point victory over Chuck Long in 1985.

Weinke had 369 first-place votes and 1,628 points; Heupel, wholed the Sooners to the title game against the Seminoles by passingfor 3,392 yards and 20 touchdowns, had 286 first-place votes and1,552 points.

Purdue quarterback Drew Brees was third, TCU running backLaDainian Tomlinson was fourth and Northwestern running back DamienAnderson was fifth in balloting by the 922 Heisman voters.

A breakdown of the voting showed Weinke won four of the sixregions—the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, the South and the Midwest.Heupel won the Southwest and the West.

Age Didn’t Become Issue

Over the past six weeks, Weinke’s age became a Heisman issueeven though voters are simply asked to cast their ballot for the“Outstanding Football Player of the United States.” Some votersindicated they would leave Weinke’s name off the ballot because thequarterback’s age gave him an unfair advantage over his youngerrivals. Voters list their top three choices, with a first-placevote worth 3 points; second place 2 points; and third place 1point.

“It would be a travesty if age kept him out,” Florida Statecoach Bobby Bowden said in the final days leading up to Saturdaynight’s announcement at the Downtown Athletic Club.

The “travesty” was avoided when Weinke finished with 83 morefirst-place votes than Heupel. In the final voting, only 796 of the922 Heisman voters cast ballots.

“Success in college football is not about age but aboutexperience,” Weinke said. “Had I stayed at Florida State when Iwas first recruited in 1990, I might not have played a down.

“People in this area know about Charlie Ward. Who would havethought that seven years apart two guys who were recruited togetherwould both win the Heisman Trophy.”

Ward, now a point guard for the New York Knicks, won the awardin 1993.

When the season began, it was surprising Weinke was still aroundbecause even his coaches thought he was off to the NFL. However,Weinke decided to stay, saying he wanted to win another nationaltitle, work on improving his game and finish off his degree—hegraduates Dec. 16 with a 3.4 grade-point average in sportsmanagement.

Tough Win

The Heisman race was one of the most competitive in recentyears. In the first few weeks, Weinke was among a handful ofHeisman contenders, with Heupel an afterthought—at best. VirginiaTech quarterback Michael Vick was the front-runner, but when hesprained an ankle and was unable to play much in the Hokies’ lossto Miami, Weinke moved into the favorite’s role.

Heupel, though, was rapidly climbing the list. The lefty’spinpoint passing in dominating wins over Texas, Kansas State andNebraska in consecutive games catapulted the Sooners into the No. 1ranking for the first time since 1987.

Weinke, meanwhile, was piling up amazing numbers. Even in theSeminoles’ only loss—27-24 to Miami on Oct. 7—Weinke threw for496 yards and three TDs despite playing with a sprained left footprotected by a hard plastic covering.

And in Florida State’s biggest game of the season—againstFlorida on Nov. 18—Weinke came down with flu-like symptoms butstill passed for 353 yards and three TDs in a 30-7 win. The victoryclinched Florida State’s spot in the Bowl Championship Series’title game against Heupel’s Sooners.

Weinke’s strong finish was in contrast to Heupel’s shaky close.After throwing for 949 yards with four TD passes and just oneinterception against the Longhorns, Wildcats and Cornhuskers,Heupel failed to break the 300-yard mark in any of his last fourgames. He was battling an inflamed bursa on his throwing arm, butsaid the injury did not affect his performance.

“The bottom line is he’s a winner,” Oklahoma coach Bob Stoopssaid earlier in the week.

But the voters went for Weinke, who twice this season threw formore than 500 yards to help boost his record as the Seminoles’starter to 32-2.

Vick was sixth, followed by Miami wide receiver Santana Moss,Washington quarterback Marques Tuiasosopo, Oregon State runningback Ken Simonton and Auburn running back Rudi Johnson.

The last four quarterbacks to win the Heisman played for a teamfrom the state of Florida—Danny Wuerffel (Florida, 1996); Ward;and Gino Toretta (Miami, 1992).

A Chance at Football Fame

The journey to Heisman fame was a long one for Weinke. He was a1990 Parade All-American, showed up at Florida State for four daysand then signed a $350,000 contract with the Toronto Blue Jaysorganization. But Bowden wrote and told him if he ever wanted toreturn just give a call and a scholarship would be waiting.

Six years later, his lone baseball claim to fame was being thefirst baseman when NBA great Michael Jordan got his first hit inthe minors. Discouraged he was no closer to the major leagues thanwhen he started, Weinke’s interest in football returned.

True to his word, Bowden gave Weinke a shot, and the Seminolespassed on signing Drew Henson.

In ’98, Weinke got his break—starter Dan Kendra injured hisknee before the season and was out for the year. In his secondstart, Weinke threw a school-record six interceptions in a 24-7loss to North Carolina State.

He didn’t throw another interception in his next 218 attempts,then was knocked out for the year in the Virginia game with aserious neck injury that required surgery. Weinke didn’t practiceagain for 10 months and went through the ’99 season with aprotective brace.

Last season, despite distractions from a midseason shopping scamby teammates Peter Warrick and Laveraneus Coles, Weinke drove theSeminoles to a perfect 12-0 record and Bowden’s second nationaltitle.

Now he’s close to winning another one for the Seminoles, andhe’ll get a chance to do it as the Heisman Trophy winner.