2005 Heisman to remain vacated
The Heisman Trophy Trust announced on Wednesday that the 2005 Heisman Trophy would not be awarded to anyone. The ruling comes after the Reggie Bush, who was the awards' original winner in 2005, agreed to relinquish the award.
Bush, currently a member of the New Orleans Saints, was asked to forfeit the Heisman after the NCAA came down with heavy sanctions on Bush’s former college the University of Southern California. The sanctions were regarding USC offering improper benefits
for both Bush and former basketball star O.J. Mayo.
It was not certain as to whether or not the Heisman Trophy Trust was going to pass the award along to another nominee from that year. However, their statement on Wednesday made it clear that the trophy will remain vacated.
The Trust released a statement saying, “As a result of Reggie Bush’s decision to forfeit his title as Heisman winner of 2005, the Trustees have determined that there will be no Heisman Trophy winner for the year 2005.”
The only other likely candidate would have been former Texas Longhorn quarter back and current quarter back for the Tennessee Titans Vince Young. However, Young finished a distant second to Bush in voting and has said that he still considers the award Bush’s
and would not have accepted it.
Bush mentioned in a statement that he could not have won the Heisman on his own and it took the help of his teammates, coaches and fans and for those reasons he was willing to part with the award.
Bush took some time to relinquish the reward to the Trustees as he originally scoffed at the notion that he should return the trophy. However, after USC returned the replica pressure began to mount and in the end Bush was forced to part with the award.
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