Reggie Bush Won the 2005 Heisman Trophy, Returned It in 2010, and Now Wants It Back
Why Did Reggie Bush Lose his Heisman Trophy? With New Rules, Should He Get It Back?
Reggie Bush was once punished for something that is now utterly high quality and applicable. So why does not he have his trophy?
By Brandon WetherbeeFeb. 23 2024, Published 3:21 p.m. ET
Reggie Bush
It seems kinda bizarre that one in every of the largest college soccer gamers of all time, anyone that’s in the College Football Hall of Fame, used to be stripped of his Heisman Trophy for off-field advantages. Non-criminal off-field benefits. Benefits the NCAA is now OK with.
Reggie Bush won the 2005 Heisman Trophy. He gave it back in 2010 to the NCAA. Since 2021 he has been vocal about wanting it back. Now there's even a defamation lawsuit.
Reggie Bush accepting the 2005 Heisman Trophy
Why did Reggie Bush lose his Heisman Trophy?
Reggie voluntarily returned his Heisman back after an NCAA investigation found he gained advantages of 1000's of greenbacks and a vehicle that weren't allowed at the time. Due to new NCAA rules, all of that is now allowed.
In 2021, the NCAA clarified that, even with their new rules, Reggie may not be getting his Heisman back. According to ESPN, the NCAA mentioned that "Bush's 2005 season records remain vacated by the NCAA and, as a result, under the rule set forth by the Heisman Trust and stated on the Heisman Ballot, he is not eligible to be awarded the 2005 Heisman Memorial Trophy."
Reggie Bush
What Reggie stated when he gave the statue back in 2010 reverberates in 2024.
"One of the greatest honors of my life was winning the Heisman Trophy in 2005,” Reggie said in 2010. “For me, it was a dream come true. And I know that any young man fortunate enough to win the Heisman enters into a family of sorts. Each individual carries the legacy of the award and each one is entrusted with its good name. It is for these reasons that I have made the difficult decision to forfeit my title as Heisman winner of 2005."
Reggie by no means sought after to provide the trophy back.
In an episode of the NFL Players: Second Act podcast released on Jan. 26, 2023, the operating back talked at period about the award. “I did not want to give it back. So let me just move ahead and say that this was once not one thing that I wanted to do. It was once just one thing in that time frame I felt used to be the proper factor to do.”
Later on in the episode he talks about how sooner or later, he expects the trophy to come back back to him. “But do I imagine it's gonna come back? I've at all times felt that manner in my center of hearts. I've always felt like that, , [...] I always felt like as soon as the details come out, you know, the trophy is gonna come back.”
Reggie filed a lawsuit towards the NCAA for defamation in August 2023. In October 2023, the NCAA filed a motion to push aside the case. A couple of months later, Reggie used to be honored by the College Football Hall of Fame.
Reggie Bush was not too long ago inducted in the College Football Hall of Fame.
In December 2023, Reggie used to be inducted in the College Football Hall of Fame. His Hall of Fame biography starts, "One of the most dynamic players in the history of college football, Reggie Bush helped Southern California claim two national championships and a 37-2 record during his three years playing in Los Angeles." It does no longer point out him successful (or returning) the Heisman Trophy.
What's fascinating about this bio is that a kind of aforementioned nationwide championships that Reggie helped USC win was once vacated as a part of the sanctions levied in opposition to USC following the same NCAA investigation that resulted in Reggie returning the Heisman.
Once again, Club Shay Shay is shaping the conversation.
NFL Pro Football Hall of Famer, ESPN talking head, and host of the wildly in style Club Shay Shay podcast Shannon Sharpe had Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel on his Feb. 22, 2024 episode. Johnny, no stranger to controversy, absolutely believes Reggie must be given his Heisman back. “It’s felony now, what Reggie did then is legal now. In the grand scheme of items, I probably did method worse than Reggie,” Johnny says.
Based on what Johnny says on the show and on Twitter, it turns out like fellow Heisman Trophy winners need Reggie to be back with them. “The manner I was informed, the last 3 or 4 years, I’ve been walking back into the Heisman, rallying the board, speaking with the guys, there’s chatter, there’s chirp going round, nobody in this group, this Heisman fraternity, sits rights with us that Reggie ain’t up there with us. He deserves to be up on that level with us. Without a doubt.”
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