On December 4 1938 1938 Heisman winner Davey O’Brien
If no one ever brought up the 1938 Heisman Trophy that Davey O’Brien won, that was fine with him. Not that he held any grudges. Far from it — Davey O’Brien was shy. “My father was a very modest person,” said David O’Brien, 64, who runs a non-profit foundation in Fort Worth. “He would talk football with anybody who wanted to talk. If someone wanted an autograph, he would always give it to them. To my knowledge, he never went back to any of the award ceremonies.” Davey O’Brien — who preferred David, by the way — became an FBI agent and then went into private business. He never embraced his celebrity. He just accepted it. David O’Brien recalls his dad’s Heisman sitting on a shelf in the family home. “We had loads of friends. People would always drop in and look at it,” he said. After the Texas Sports Hall of Fame inducted Davey O’Brien in 1956, he donated his Heisman and all of his other trophies. They are on display in the museum in Waco. The gift illustrated how the Heisman belonged to Davey O’Brien yet never defined him, right up to the day he died in 1977. Some years ago, David O’Brien gave a talk on behalf of his foundation, which helps home buyers in the Fort Worth area. “This elderly man came up to me. He told me he had worked in the pro shop or as a caddy at Shady Oaks [Country Club],” O’Brien said. “My father loved golf.” The man said that he and O’Brien’s father walked to the parking lot at the same time. The man couldn’t help himself. Like everyone else in Fort Worth, Davey O’Brien meant something to him. He asked the Heisman winner a question. “He talked to me for 30 minutes,” the man said. “I will never forget that.” Said David O’Brien: “For me, that’s the kind of memory I love. That’s the very best of my father.” — Ivan Maisel
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