Nice Men Win Heisman Creating Videos, Posters Not Enough; Candidates Must Also Be Friendly

There are posters, videos and postcards to mail, nicknames and slogans to create. There are tutoring sessions with speech professors, lightning bolts piercing the sky and fullbacks pulling jeeps by ropes.

The college football season has barely started, yet publicity departments already have churned out volumes of material in the hope of making their Heisman Trophy candidates household names.

The fruits of those labors eventually will land in your lap, a sound-bite lateral zooming from your Zenith and onto your sofa.

This year’s Heisman winner will need big statistics, a high ranking from his team and a publicity staff that knows how to get ahead in advertising.

“Now, with the electronic age, a nobody can go to a candidate in a real hurry,” said Kent Partridge, Auburn’s media relations director.

The candidates have impressive numbers. Nebraska’s Lawrence Phillips ran for 1,722 yards, Florida State’s Warrick Dunn gained 1,026, Auburn’s Stephen Davis had 1,263. And Texas A&M’s Leeland McElroy (707 yards), Purdue’s Mike Alstott (1,188), quarterbacks Ron Powlus of Notre Dame (1,729 yards passing), Danny Kanell of FSU (2,781) and Danny Wuerffel (1,754) of Florida enter the season with big expectations.

But, in the end, what will separate these players?

While on-field achievements attract the most attention, some players need more publicity because they either come from smaller schools or their names just don’t ring a bell.

“Mike has good statistics, but he’s a fullback,” Purdue’s Mark Adams said. “Just getting him the publicity and getting Purdue on the tips of people’s tongues is a challenge.”

Television is the most important commodity. The schools that frequently play on TV have better chances to publicize their players. If you play quarterback or running back at Notre Dame, you are a Heisman candidate. Other national schools such as Nebraska, Penn State, Michigan and Florida State also have an advantage.

“I don’t want to sound conceited or anything, but we don’t do anything special,” Nebraska’s Chris Anderson said of her two contenders: Phillips and quarterback Tommie Frazier. “I think a black-and-white photocopy of their stats is just as impressive as a color one.”

Texas A&M has a bona fide contender in McElroy, whose flashy moves, quickness and strength make him one of the best running backs and returners in the country. Many Heisman voters missed McElroy’s best moves because the Aggies were not on television last season due to NCAA probation. Nonetheless, he is the leader in the preseason Scripps Howard News Service Heisman Trophy poll.

A&M officials did something they never had done for an individual athlete. They produced a 6-minute videotape of McElroy’s exploits over the past two seasons and mailed 300 copies to Heisman voters and other media members. The video opens with a crash of lightning and the heading, “Lectric Leeland.” They also will send out weekly postcards with a picture of McElroy and his updated statistics.

A&M officials, as well as other schools, advised McElroy on how best to handle himself during interviews. During the summer, McElroy sometimes talked twice a week with professor Rick Rigsby, a former sports anchor who teaches speech communication at A&M.

“Other than that, the team needs to do well,” said Alan Cannon, A&M’s media relations director. “We’re at that point where he has gotten mentioned, and people around the country know about him. With the video, we figured that was the best way to re-introduce Leeland to some key people around the country.”

McElroy and the others have their hands full juggling media requests with practices, film sessions and games. And for players who are shy or intimidated by interviews, the Heisman race is a grind. But they also know the hype is necessary.

“I realize that it’s going to mean a lot of attention, but I’m not going to even think about it,” McElroy said. “The individual records will come along if I take care of what I have to do to help us win the national championship.”

National rankings and TV appearances are critical, but some players need additional help.

With Davis, Auburn had to work on his box-office appeal. Though he averaged 5.7 yards a carry and scored 13 touchdowns last season, Davis never has been a media darling. In fact, he often has been unfriendly to reporters, has missed scheduled interviews and speaks so softly that reporters have trouble hearing him.

During the summer, Partridge called Davis into his office for a 40-minute chat. Partridge said he told Davis that if he wanted to be a Heisman contender then he needed to make some changes. If he didn’t, well, he wouldn’t have a chance.

“I told him, ‘People have got to like you, and, quite frankly, Steve, they don’t,”’ Partridge said. “‘Say it comes down to you and Lawrence Phillips, and you both have 1,800 yards. The guys voting from across the country, they’re going to call the people down here with votes and ask them about you. They have to come away thinking you’re a pretty good kid.”’

Partridge and Davis emerged from their meeting with an agreement. Davis is featured on posters and postcards, and Partridge will send out a video if Davis piles up big statistics early.

“We have an understanding now,” Partridge said. “He’s getting over it; some by choice, some not by choice. I told him to smile more during interviews. He’s smiling more now than he ever has.”

Times have changed. In 1971, when Auburn quarterback Pat Sullivan won the Heisman, he appeared only once on television before votes were tabulated. The only hype his school put out was a preseason brochure that included a simple biography.

And when it was announced that Sullivan had beaten Cornell running back Ed Marinaro by 52 votes in one of the closest Heisman races ever, Sullivan learned he had won by watching the ceremony on TV. In those days, candidates were not flown to New York for the trophy presentation.

This year’s award will be presented Dec. 9 at the Downtown Athletic Club in New York.

“There is much more visibility now, because college football has changed a lot in 25 years,” said Sullivan, now the head coach at Texas Christian University. “With the emergence of cable and all the networks being involved, there is so much more attention on it. You look at the last couple of years, starting with Barry Sanders, and people have come out of nowhere to win it.”

Like all past winners, Sullivan gets a Heisman vote. He said he is unmoved by the stacks of literature, full-color posters and videos he receives.

“There is an awful lot of money being spent on that,” Sullivan said. “I get bombarded with all that stuff, but I don’t pay any attention to it. You’re going to vote for a guy based on his production on the field.”

These days, the most important aspect in the Heisman hype is getting a candidate on the preseason lists. Once a player’s name gets ingrained in the minds of voters, his numbers will do the rest.

“We’re in an enviable position, because we’re ranked No. 1 and we’ll be seen on television a lot,” said Florida State’s Rob Wilson, who plans very few extra promotions of Dunn and Kanell. “Our players’ names are out there, but they’re going to hurt each other. It’s like having two Republicans running for the same office.”

Sports publicists say there is a fine line between promoting and hyping. They say overselling a candidate can do as much harm as underselling. Though gimmicks have worked - among the best sent to voters were the ties trumpeting Brigham Young quarterback Ty Detmer - most reporters do not need any more clutter on their desks.

“In this day and time, I think the voters are knowledgeable,” Cannon said. “You need to get to the guts of the matter about why this kid should be a Heisman candidate. The ties for Ty Detmer was a perfect match, but I don’t see a 6-foot Leeland McElroy poster giving him any more votes.”

But it’s difficult for publicists to discern when enough is enough - or when too much is not enough.

Last year, Alcorn State spent about $25,000 getting quarterback Steve McNair national recognition. The school sent videos, flyers, brochures, postcards and posters with the slogan “II Air is Divine” to national media outlets. On top of that, McNair generated his own campaign by completing 356 of 612 passes for 5,377 yards and 47 touchdowns.

Derick Hackett, working primarily by himself in the sports information office, said he put in 12-hour days, sometimes 75 hours a week, handling interview requests and publishing promotional items. Yet for all McNair’s accomplishments and Hackett’s media blitz, McNair never overcame the obstacle of playing for an NCAA Division I-AA team, losing to Colorado running back Rashaan Salaam.

“We had to fight the stereotype that players at a I-AA school aren’t as good,” Hackett said. “I thought it was very unfair. It was a label we had to cross over, and the label was thrown on us by writers who don’t cover I-AA football. I think it’s funny that there’s a big difference in perception of what the writers think and what the NFL scouts think. We hope we’ve at least opened the door for I-AA players.”

Purdue is fighting a similar battle with Alstott. Although he was the school’s first player since 1976 to rush for more than 1,000 yards last season, Alstott is a fullback, and only four fullbacks have won the Heisman, the last being Texas’ Earl Campbell in 1977.

Complicating the matter is the fact that Purdue does not attract the attention of Notre Dame or the other traditional Midwestern powers. So publicist Adams took an aggressive approach. The Boilermakers’ media guide has a picture of Alstott on the cover with the title, “Can a Fullback Win the Heisman Trophy?”

The school also mailed a brochure and a 5-minute video, and will send updated postcards.

Included in the video and the releases are Alstott’s unique training methods, such as pulling a jeep around parking lots and sprinting with tires strapped to his waist. Still, Alstott has been missing from many preseason lists.

He can only hope that when the time comes to mark ballots, his statistics carry as much weight as the jeep.

“If that’s the way they learn about him, that’s fine,” Adams said. “It makes for a more interesting story.”