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Report: Bush to be stripped of 2005 Heisman
The Heisman Trophy Trust is expected to strip former USC running back Reggie Bush of his 2005 Heisman Trophy and leave the award vacant, Yahoo Sports reported.
Two sources close to the trust said the organization is completing its investigation and will agree with the NCAA's finding that Bush accepted improper benefits while at USC and was ineligible during the 2005 season, according to the report. The NCAA cited USC for "lack of institutional control" and handed the Trojans four years' probation, a two-year bowl ban and a reduction in football scholarships.
"I can tell you the Heisman Trophy trust has made no decision regarding the Reggie Bush situation," Robert Whalen, executive director of the Heisman Trophy Trust, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The president of the Heisman Trophy trust, William J. Dockery, reiterated that the reports were inaccurate.
"The status of the USC/Bush matter remains unchanged. Any reports to the contrary are inaccurate," Dockery said.
ESPN's Chris Fowler told "SportsCenter" that although members of the eight-person trust have had informal conversations among themselves about what to do about Bush's Heisman, "they certainly have not made any decision" about rescinding it.
"They haven't made a decision. No announcement is imminent," Fowler said Tuesday. "They have not had any formal meetings about this."
New York attorney William Dockery, the organization's president, has said the Heisman Trophy Trust meets on the second Tuesday of every month.
Bush would become the first player in the 75-year history of the Heisman Trophy to have the award taken away.
In July, USC president C.L. Max Nikias ordered the school's athletic department to return its copy of Bush's 2005 Heisman to the Heisman Trophy Trust. Nikias also ordered the school to remove nearly all references to Bush and former basketball player O.J. Mayo, including murals, as part of the NCAA's directive to disassociate the school from the athletes.
As that time, Bush had not been asked to return his copy and the Heisman Trophy Trust said it had not yet decided whether Bush would be stripped of the award.
Bush met with Heisman representatives last month at the New York law offices of Emmet, Marvin & Martin, the sources said, according to the Yahoo report.
The sources declined to discuss the details of that meeting, according to the report.
Last week, Texas coach Mack Brown said former Longhorns quarterback Vince Young, who finished second in the 2005 Heisman voting to Bush, should be given the award if Bush is stripped. Young led the Longhorns past USC to the BCS national championship that year, after Bush was awarded the Heisman in a landslide.
The NCAA ruled that Bush received lavish gifts from two fledgling sports marketers hoping to sign him. The men paid for everything from hotel stays and a rent-free home where Bush's family apparently lived to a limousine and a new suit when he accepted his Heisman in New York in December 2005.
In July, when USC said it would give back its copy of the 2005 trophy, the Heisman Trophy Trust said it had no timetable on a decision and would make no additional statements on the matter.
"The Trust will be considering the issues raised in the USC/Reggie Bush matter, and after reaching a decision will publish it, but due to the complex issues involved and the Trust's desire to reach an appropriate decision, no definitive timetable has been established," the trust said. "Until the matter has been fully considered and a decision is reached, the Trust has no further comment."
Source: AP