Retrospective: 60 years ago, a Tiger wins the Heisman

On this day in 1951, a banner headline on the front page of The Daily Princetonian read, “Kazmaier Wins Heisman Trophy by Largest Vote in Award’s History.”

Sunday marked the 60th anniversary of the selection of Dick Kazmaier ’52 as the 1951 Heisman Memorial Trophy recipient. The most prestigious award in college football was one of many laurels bestowed upon Princeton’s standout tailback following the conclusion of the Tigers’ 1951 season. In Kazmaier’s senior year, the Ohio native led the Tigers to their second consecutive undefeated season with a perfect 9-0 record. To cap off the most successful career in Princeton football history, Kazmaier was awarded both the Heisman Trophy and the Maxwell Award and received his second All-America selection.

Dick Kazmaier remains the only Tiger in history to be awarded the Heisman Trophy. Just two other Princeton alumni have even been finalists. Pepper Constable ’36 finished fourth in 1935, the award’s inaugural year, and Cosmo Iacavazzi ’65 finished ninth in the Heisman voting following the 1964 season.

Both Kazmaier and Iacavazzi have since been elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.

Kazmaier is the last of only three Ivy League Heisman Trophy winners, following Larry Kelley and Clint Frank of Yale, who took back-to-back awards in 1936 and 1937.

Princeton’s tailback finished the 1951 season as the nation’s leader in total offense, amassing 861 yards on the ground and another 966 through the air. Kazmaier’s dominating performance led to a record-shattering performance in the Heisman voting. Not only did he receive a then-record number of votes, with 1,777, but Kazmaier was so heavily favored that his margin of victory alone was more votes than any winner had received to that point. Hank Lauricella, the feature back of the national champion Tennessee Volunteers, finished a distant second with only 424 overall points, and just 45 first-place votes to Kazmaier’s 506.

Kazmaier was a starter for the Tigers from his sophomore through his senior year. He was technically a tailback, but Kazmaier was also the team’s leading passer, racking up 2,404 yards through the air in his career to complement the 1,950 he gained on the ground in three seasons.

Though 1951 was the tailback’s most successful season as far as individual statistics are concerned, it was Kazmaier’s junior campaign that culminated in the greatest team success. The Tigers finished the 1950 season ranked first in two national polls, though Oklahoma was on top of the majority of the many rankings, including the Associated Press’ and coaches’ polls.

The Chicago Bears drafted Kazmaier in the 1952 draft, but he declined the offer to pursue a degree at Harvard Business School. After Harvard, Kazmaier went on to found his own marketing and financial services business, Kazmaier Associates, Inc., which is involved in the sale of sporting goods. In addition, Kazmaier has served as a Princeton University trustee and as chairman of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports during the Reagan and Bush presidencies.

Kazmaier also founded the Patty Kazmaier Award in honor of his late daughter, who died at the age of 28 from a rare blood disease. Patty Kazmaier-Sandt ’86 was an All-Ivy player for the women’s ice hockey team at Princeton.

The award in her name is given annually to the top performer in women’s college hockey.

In honor of Dick Kazmaier’s achievements as an athlete and an individual — as well as those of legendary basketball player Bill Bradley, who also wore the number a decade later — Kazmaier’s No. 42 jersey number was retired by the Department of Athletics in the fall of 2008.