Archie Griffin Interview

Illustration: AskMen

Quick Bio

What does it take to succeed? Jim Clash's new e-book The Right Stuff: Interviews with Icons of the 1970s and 1980s shares nuggets of wisdom from great men who've taken big risks to do amazing things.

What exactly is the right stuff? Other than the name of a famous movie and book about the space race, it’s a state of mind. The term is a throwback to a time when character really counted -- when men routinely risked their lives not to get rich, bloviate or self-aggrandize, but for their country, science and exploration.

Clash is a seasoned adventurer. In reporting for Forbes and other publications over the last two decades, he has skied to the South Pole; driven the Bugatti Veyron at its top speed of 253 mph; flown in a MiG-25 at Mach 2.6 to the edge of space; visited the North Pole twice; and climbed the Matterhorn, 23,000-foot Aconcagua and virgin peaks in Antarctica and Greenland. He has also purchased a ticket from Virgin Galactic Airways to fly into suborbital space in 2013.

Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel (aka "Johnny Football") isn't in the Super Bowl this year, but he likely will be some time in the future. In 2012, he won the coveted Heisman Trophy, given annually to the best college football player, as a freshman. If Manziel doesn't turn pro early, he potentially has three more shots -- as a sophomore, a junior and a senior.

In fact, only one person has ever won the Heisman more than once. In 1974 and 1975, Archie Griffin, then a running back for the Ohio State Buckeyes, won it as a junior and a senior.

Griffin's mark was thought untouchable until 2007 when Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow became the first sophomore to win it. That gave Tebow two more shots -- as a junior and a senior -- to pick up a second.

But the following years weren't as stellar for Tebow, now in the NFL with the New York Jets, and Griffin is still the only player since the inaugural Heisman was given out in 1935 to have won twice. Only time will tell if Manziel can equal or best that mark.

After graduating, Griffin was a first-round draft pick for the Cincinnati Bengals. He played there seven seasons (1976-1982) -- was even part of the Bengals Super Bowl XVI appearance in 1981 -- but never became the big NFL star that he had been in college.

Still, the man is legend, and I had a rare chance to talk football with him -- including his thoughts on whether the BCS should be replaced by one more akin to the NFL's playoff system. (At press time, the BCS announced a change is planned for 2014/15, going to a semi-playoff system, undoubtedly influenced by Alabama's 42-14 trouncing of Notre Dame in the national championship game.)

Jim Clash: It's getting on four decades since you won the Heisman twice. Can anyone do that again?

Archie Griffin: I guarantee somebody else will win the Heisman Trophy twice. If you can win as a sophomore, win as a junior and stay your senior year [without leaving early for the pros], it’s possible you can even do it three times. I really believe that. It’s just a matter of it happening.

JC: Does a day go by in your life now when someone doesn't say the word Heisman?

AG: Really, I can’t think of a day without someone mentioning it, other than maybe a Sunday when I’m around the house just with my family.

JC: Where do you keep the trophies?

AG: With two, I can keep one at home and the other at The Buckeye Hall of Fame Café. I figure more people will see it there than in my home. And I do get lots of comments from people who've seen it there.

JC: In 1974, I was at the University of Maryland with the great defensive lineman Randy White, who later became a Dallas Cowboy and nine-time NFL Pro Bowl pick. But in Heisman voting that year, he only finished ninth. Why do linemen continually get snubbed?

AG: It’s running backs and quarterbacks who win because those positions put up the big numbers. With running backs, you can count yardage, touchdowns; with quarterbacks it’s the number of completions and touchdowns thrown. Those are measurement statistics people seem to use in their Heisman voting. Linemen get sacks and things like that, but remember they didn’t even start counting sacks until the 1970s. I do believe somewhere along the line, though, there will be winners from offensive and defensive linemen positions.

JC: Can you recall instances where voting was close there?

AG: If you think of 1973, my sophomore year when I finished fifth in the voting, we [Ohio State] had an offensive lineman, John Hicks, who finished second. [Ohio State’s] Orlando Pace was an offensive lineman who finished fourth [in 1996]. So people are aware of such players. It’s just a matter of getting them to the forefront so voters pick them. One of the reasons Charles Woodson, a defensive back at Michigan, won [in 1997] is because he returned kicks and punts, statistical ways he was measured. He also played some wide receiver, another statistic people can look at. But you are absolutely right that linebackers and linemen -- and their sacks and the number of tackles they get -- should be considered.

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