Bruce Smith's 1941 Heisman Trophy up for auction at Super Bowl 54

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per John:

Many items will be up for auction during Super Bowl 54, including Minnesota Golden Gophers halfback Bruce Smith’s 1941 Heisman Trophy.

Super Bowl week isn’t all about the two teams playing in the big game on Sunday evening. It’s about celebrating all facets of the game of football, regardless of the teams playing in it. During the week leading up to Super Bowl LIV down in Miami, FanSided‘s Mark Carman spoke with Dave Hunt of Hunt Auctions about some incredible that will be up for auction this week.

You could see on the table at radio row where Carman and Hunt were sitting at prominently featured, yes, a Heisman Trophy. Yes, that is a real Heisman Trophy. This one once belonged Bruce Smith, former Minnesota halfback who won the Heisman in 1941 when he ran for 473 yards and five touchdowns and threw for 320 yards and two touchdowns.

Hunt said the Heisman presentation was handed out two days after Pearl Harbor and is expected to go for at least $250,000.

Also on the table was a game-worn helmet San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jerry Rice wore in a Super Bowl.

fansided.com

1941 Heisman Trophy up for auction at Super Bowl 54

Many items will be up for auction during Super Bowl 54 in Miami, including Minnesota Golden Gophers halfback Bruce Smith's 1941 Heisman Trophy.
fansided.com fansided.com

Go Gophers!!
 



I hope a donor of the university will buy it and donate it to the university for history.
 

My dad was a friend of his. Would be nice to be able to secure that and put it on display at the U
 


GophersInIowa said:
I'm assuming the family is auctioning it? It's too bad but the money is hard to pass up. Has anyone ever seen Smith of Minnesota?

en.wikipedia.org

Smith of Minnesota - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
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A few interesting factoids:

1. They had to cut the 1941 Heisman Trophy ceremony short (as mentioned above, it was two days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor) because President Roosevelt would be giving a radio address to the nation at 9 pm.

2. The actual Heisman trophy awarded to Bruce Smith has a missing pinky finger - so it should be easy to tell if this is authentic!

3. The Smith family sold the trophy in 2005 due to financial need - so this may be the firm who purchased it then; or perhaps it's changed hands again since then?

A great idea would be for the U to either purchase it outright or work with a donor who's willing to put up the money and donate it to the U. If the Smith family doesn't have it, its rightful home is at the Athletes Village!
 

PJparty said:
I hope a donor of the university will buy it and donate it to the university for history.
Click to expand...
Fantastic idea! I was as Twinsfest this weekend and paid for a special tour with the Twins curator. The Twins are the only team in pro sports to have a curator. He talked about a very old and rare bobblehead that he wanted to obtain for the Twins collection very badly for a long period of time. It finally came up for auction and he said the Twins ponied up the necessary money to obtain it. Maybe the U could do something similar.
 

dpodoll68 said:
A few interesting factoids:

1. They had to cut the 1941 Heisman Trophy ceremony short (as mentioned above, it was two days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor) because President Roosevelt would be giving a radio address to the nation at 9 pm.

2. The actual Heisman trophy awarded to Bruce Smith has a missing pinky finger - so it should be easy to tell if this is authentic!

3. The Smith family sold the trophy in 2005 due to financial need - so this may be the firm who purchased it then; or perhaps it's changed hands again since then?

A great idea would be for the U to either purchase it outright or work with a donor who's willing to put up the money and donate it to the U. If the Smith family doesn't have it, its rightful home is at the Athletes Village!
Click to expand...
Cool, thanks for sharing!

Even if the person that buys it doesn't donate it but at least allows the U to display it. But I imagine part of the fun of purchasing it is being able to display it at your home.
 

Got to imagine a Minnesotan would value this the most. Hope it ends up in a display case for 5 star recruits to touch.
 




is expected to go for at least $250,000.


I really didn't expect it to go for that much.
 

Hopefully one of Rashod Bateman/Tanner Morgan can end our Heisman drought this year.
 





Taji34 said:
Looks like all the Bruce Smith stuff did not sell. The University should reach out and snatch it all up.
Click to expand...


I thought the trophy was kinda pricey... but then again Rickey William's trophy sold for half a million so who the hell knows...
 

$250k seems low given how it’s such a unique and recognizable item, with age and history on its side to boot.

That’s cheap compared to what some simple baseballs have gone for, the rare art/antiques market, or the few other Heismans ever sold.
 

Amazing how everyone wants someone else to step up and spend the money to secure this...
 

Perhaps the older the trophy the last value especially if it not a named player. Yes I'd like to see someone with deep pockets pick this up for us. It would be a cool gesture.
 


I should know this, but I don't. Doesn't the school also get a Heisman trophy? If so, does the U already have one?
 

The booster club show get theses Smith items, jerseys, trophy. I bet they could raise the funds from us fans...
 


I remember seeing Bruce Smith's Heisman in a display case at Bierman back in the 80's.
 

I cannot find any info on a school also getting a Heisman Trophy. I do not think they do, but I could wrong. I believe that Heisman winners display their trophies at their school, and that is how these are being seen at the universities of the winners. For example, Vinny Testaverde's Heisman is on display at the University of Miami.
 

The schools absolutely get a duplicate today! What isn't known is when did the practice of awarding a duplicate to the school start. I did find an unsourced reference that said that duplicate trophies started in 1967.
 

It's nearly 2:30 so I've been drinking and all and .....

Isn't there a Heisman at TCF ... already? For someone?

Shoeless Bo Jackman or something?


Could we be talking about buying a heisman we already have?
 

Ok, maybe We have a copy of the Heisman trophy. How about the 1940 and 1941 National Champions signed footballs? That sure would look good in the Football trophy case!
 

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