The commercialization of the Heisman Trophy was initially met with some skepticism. The late Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, former vice president of the University of Notre Dame, once told The New York Times the Heisman “was not designed as a vehicle for selling soap or beer.”

The prestige of the trophy seemed to be in danger as television rights were shopped for the presentation of college football’s most-coveted individual prize. It had done just fine without sponsorships and television since its inception in 1935, honoring college football immortals like Davey O’Brien, Doak Walker and Ernie Davis.

In 1952, Oklahoma running back Billy Vessels was the first of five Sooners to capture the award. One of his teammates, Merrill Green, fondly recalls the days playing alongside Vessels with memories of the tough and rugged tailback that highlighted the early stages of the Bud Wilkinson era.

“(The Heisman Trophy) was not that prominent, especially back in our part of the country,” Green said. “It was not like, ‘Gee, looks like Billy’s probably going to win to the Heisman,’ like today. You start about (October), people start thinking about who the possible candidates are for the Heisman. That didn’t happen at all.”

It wasn’t to say the Heisman Trophy wasn’t a big deal. It just wasn’t the presentation fans have come to tune into each December with myriad cameras and lights shining on a handful of college football’s finest players with their coaches and families behind them and the past winners in attendance, waiting to initiate the next member into one of sports’ most-exclusive fraternities.

The humble roots of the Heisman Trophy, however, lend to its significance today.

“There’s so much tradition tied up in that award, that all of a sudden you get this sense that this is something that’s going to happen that is going to forever impact the life of the person who wins it,” Mossman said of seeing the live ceremony. “They talk about that a lot when you’re up there. Once you’re a Heisman winner, that’s really what you are the rest of your life. You’re going to be identified as that.”