Ron Dayne, when he made Heisman Trophy history for the Wisconsin Badgers 20 years ago, beat out some special college football players for the famed stiff-arm piece of hardware.
Here is how the 1999 Heisman Trophy vote turned out at the Downtown Athletic Club in New York:
Dayne won with 2,042 points, based primarily on 586 first-place votes, worth three points apiece. He also received 121 second-place votes at two points apiece.
The runner-up in 1999 was Joe Hamilton of Georgia Tech. He gained 285 second-place votes, by far the most second-place votes in the field. He finished with 994 points, making Dayne’s victory a comfortable one.
Joe Hamilton was a fine college player, but it’s the next four players on the Heisman voting list from 1999 which show how excellent Dayne’s season was. He beat out players we still remember today. One will be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The third-place finisher in the 1999 Heisman voting was none other than Michael Vick. He was a freshman who led Virginia Tech to that season’s BCS title game, the 2000 Sugar Bowl against Florida State. Vick — a predecessor to Lamar Jackson in playing style and overall dynamism on the field — electrified college football at a level few other players had matched. Ron Dayne’s 1999 season stood above Vick’s. That is a statement about the Wisconsin running back and his considerable quality.
The fourth-place finisher? Drew Brees of Purdue. Ever heard of him? I gather you might have. Before Brees won a Super Bowl and became a genuine NFL legend, he was a Purdue legend, winning the Big Ten one year after the 1999 season. He guided the Boilermakers to the 2001 Rose Bowl against Washington, giving him a piece of football immortality in West Lafayette and giving him his first great moment in black and gold (the college version) before moving to New Orleans and donning those same colors as a pro.
Chad Pennington — hardly an all-timer but not a scrub, either — finished fifth in the 1999 Heisman voting tally. Peter Warrick, arguably the best big-game player in the 1999 season, given what he did to lift Florida State to Bobby Bowden’s second national championship with the Seminoles, finished sixth. SIXTH!
Ron Dayne didn’t beat a weak Heisman field in 1999. He beat a strong one. This can’t be forgotten or diminished, 20 years later on Heisman Night.