In Tennessee, They Call It The Great Heisman Heist Volunteers Fans Decry The Fact Manning Was Not Annointed By The Football Media

Peyton Manning’s legions of fans - including the Tennessee governor - are carrying a Heisman-sized chip on their shoulders.

“I think it stinks,” Gov. Don Sundquist said. “I think the Heisman award has been diminished.”

Charles Woodson’s selection on Saturday night as the nation’s top college football player prompted irate calls to radio talk shows across Tennessee, angry newspaper columns and crude campus graffiti. An editorial cartoon in The Chattanooga Times on Monday depicted sports writers as “The Heistmen.”

In Knoxville, students watched the televised presentation from dorm rooms, fraternity houses and at nightspots along the row of eateries and bars next to campus.

“When they announced Woodson’s name, it was like a huge collective gasp. Everybody went into shock,” said Tausha Carmack, vice president of the Student Government Association.

At Knoxville Center mall, holiday shoppers crammed department stores with television sets to watch. They booed loudly when the winner was announced.

The Downtown Athletic Club in New York, which presents the trophy, was flooded with faxes and phone calls, many abusive.

“I’ve only been here five years, but I can say I’ve never had one phone call after the Heisman, one way or the other,” said Sean Ingram, who handles publicity. “This is a new one for me.”

Several full-page ads have run in The Knoxville News-Sentinel, including one Sunday from a local bank declaring: “We’ve always believed Peyton is the best. We still do.”

Graffiti disparaging Heisman voters appeared Monday on an elephant-sized boulder on the Tennessee campus. By noon, school maintenance workers had painted over it.

Knoxville radio station WNOX, the morning show that normally sticks to politics and religion, resembled a sports talk show as the phone lines lighted up.

“There will be no news story that gets this kind of attention from the public, no matter what happens today,” said Mike Keith, who hosts a sports talk show.

Throughout his career at Tennessee, Manning has endeared himself to fans. Whether setting passing records on the field, reading to children at a public school, signing autographs for hours, buying pizza for students waiting in line for football tickets or leading the school band in “Rocky Top” after victories, he has become a state icon.

All that has fans asking: How could Manning lose the Heisman - and lose so convincingly?

“There are more theories on this than the Kennedy assassination,” Keith said. “My own personal theory is that many of the national media just got sick and tired of hearing all the good stories about Peyton Manning.”

In a column Sunday in The Tennessean, David Climer wrote Woodson’s selection “smacked of more style than substance.

“He (Manning) is an ambassador for college football at a time when the game can use a few kind words on its behalf,” Climer wrote.