Purdue’s almost-Heisman era

When one thinks of Purdue football, the words ‘Heisman Trophy’ don’t usually come to mind.

After all, no player from the Big Ten school has ever won the award and, in recent years at least, the Boilermakers haven’t had the kind of success we usually associate with Heisman winners.

But there was once a (brief) era when Purdue players were in the thick of the Heisman hunt every year. Those were the years 1965 to 1969, when the Boilermakers produced five top 10 Heisman finishes, three Heisman runner ups and one third-place finish under head coach Kenneth “Jack” Mollenkopf.

While the Heisman is given annually to college football’s ‘most outstanding’ player, it doesn’t mean other players who compete for the trophy aren’t also outstanding in their own right. And the players from Purdue who challenged for the Heisman during that period were some of the best players in college football history.

First, there was quarterback Bob Griese. The future NFL Hall of Famer led the Boilermakers to their only Rose Bowl win in 1966 as he thew for 1,888 yards and 12 touchdown pases en route to being named a consensus All-American for the second time. After placing eighth in the Heisman vote in 1965, he was the Heisman runner up in 1966 behind Steve Spurrier of Florida.

Then came Leroy Keyes, an outstanding running back and defensive back for the Boilermakers from 1966 to 1968. Keyes was named Most Valuable Player of the Big Ten Conference in 1967 after rushing for 986 yards with 13 touchdowns and catching 45 passes for 758 yards and six TDs while leading the Boilermakers to an 8-2 record. He finished third in the Heisman vote that year behind Gary Beban and O.J. Simpson, tallying 1,366 points — a total that would be enough to win the Heisman in some seasons.

In 1968, Keyes became the first player in Purdue history to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season (1,003) while equaling the school record with 14 rushing touchdowns. The 6-3, 210-pounder also played cornerback and finished second in the Heisman to Simpson with 1,103 points. In the end, Keyes would go down as one of the best players to never win a Heisman.

But Purdue wasn’t finished challenging for the trophy. In 1969, quarterback Mike Phipps threw for 2,527 yards and 23 touchdowns while adding 218 yards and eight scores on the ground as he finished a close second to Oklahoma’s Steve Owens in the Heisman vote. Phipps came closer than any other Boilermaker to winning the Heisman, totaling 1,344 points to Owens’ 1,488.

Producing three different Heisman runner ups in four years is something no other school has accomplished. While there’s no trophy for finishing second, it’s a testament to the success of Purdue in those years, when it went a combined 40-10-1 in a very tough Big Ten conference.