On December 6 2004 2004 Heisman winner Matt Leinart
USC junior quarterback Matt Leinart came to New York for the announcement of the winner of the 2004 Heisman Trophy as the favorite. He had led what remains the best team of Pete Carroll’s nine seasons with the Trojans to an 11-0 record. He would finish the season with 3,322 yards and 33 touchdown passes. Leinart’s introduction to college football’s most exclusive club bowled him over. “I got to meet Gino Torretta [1992] last night, which was pretty cool,” Leinart said on the night he won, “and Desmond Howard [1991] and Archie Griffin [1974-75]. I couldn’t remember some of the guys. I wasn’t born.” Leinart looked over at USC’s athletic director, who won the Heisman in the Dark Ages, 1965. “Mike Garrett,” he said to some laughter. “Eric Crouch [2001] and Rashaan Salaam [1994]. You just never picture yourself up there. Those guys you watch when you’re a little kid, and they’re your heroes.” Especially for a little kid like Leinart, who grew up overweight and cross-eyed, wearing Coke-bottle glasses and the psychic bruises that come from being teased. Perhaps that’s why Leinart sounded in awe when he won. In the days before his NFL career, he never seemed impressed with his celebrity. He knew how the other half lives. “Kids are very cruel,” Leinart’s mother, Linda, said. “I told him, ‘Some day, you won’t wear glasses. Some day, you will be tall and handsome. You just have to be patient.” The transformation began in middle school. It may have been completed when Matt Leinart picked up the 25-pound trophy that will be linked with him forever. Every mother thinks greatness is destined for her son. But this? “Never,” Linda Leinart said, “in a million years, could you ever.”
— Ivan Maisel
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