With about a month to go before college football wraps up playing time for the season, The Photo Vault looks back at a glory day for the University of Georgia when one of its star players was awarded the Heisman Trophy, the most prestigious recognition to a college football player.
On this day in 1982 UGA running back Herschel Walker became only the seventh junior in history to receive the Heisman Trophy.
A standout athlete in many sports, Walker played football, basketball and competed in track at Johnson County High School in Wrightsville. But his football prowess (he rushed for 3,167 yards his senior year) helped the Trojans win their first state championship.
Needless to say he was heavily recruited by college teams.
The Georgia native signed a national letter of intent to play for the University of Georgia Bulldogs on Easter Sunday, April 6, 1980. He went on to play for legendary head coach Vince Dooley.
In his freshman year, Walker had helped his Bulldogs complete a 12-0-0 record to be rated No. 1 by both the Associated Press and the United Press International polls.
His next two years also proved stellar.
Walker is the only player in NCAA history to finish in the top three in Heisman voting in all three of his collegiate seasons. He is the only NCAA player who played only three years to finish in the top 10 in rushing yards.
His Heisman trophy year was his last at UGA. He signed to play with the New Jersey Generals, part of the new USFL. The 20-year-old broke hearts of Georgia fans.
“This is indeed a sad day for Georgia,” Vince Dooley said at the time. “Herschel Walker has meant so much to our program the past three years.”
The Georgia Senate decided to wear red and black armbands in “mourning” for the loss.
Walker went on to play for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League. In the NFL, he also played for the Minnesota Vikings, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1999.
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