Reggie Bush is finally getting what he deserves after all of these years.
Former University of Southern California superstar Reggie Bush has been fighting to get his Heisman trophy back for years, and finally, on Wednesday, the Heisman Trust made a final decision.
According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Bush is “getting his 2005 Heisman Trophy back… with a formal “reinstatement” of the trophy coming today,” he wrote on Wednesday morning.
Thamel added, “the decision comes amid what the Heisman Trust calls ‘enormous changes in the college football landscape.”
After an NCAA investigation revealed that Reggie Bush’s family had improperly received gifts while he was a standout player for USC, Bush lost his Heisman Trophy. In the modern era of name, image, and likeness pay in collegiate athletics, this kind of breach is now permissible.
This is an excellent decision that likely would’ve never come if not for the support of others over the years.
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Former Texas A&M star Johnny Manziel announced last month that he would be boycotting the Heisman Trophy ceremony until Reggie Bush’s award was restored. Manziel, who won the Heisman in 2012, implored the NCAA to “do the RIGHT thing.”
“Doesn’t sit right with my morals and values that he can’t be on that stage with us every year,” Manziel wrote in a social media post. “Reggie IS the Heisman trophy.”
1995 Heisman winner Eddie George signed a petition calling for the award to be returned to Bush.
“In college sports, NIL is above board now,” George said to FOX Sports’ Keyshawn Johnson on Johnson’s podcast, “All Facts, No Brakes.” “[Athletes getting compensated] is something that happened way before Reggie, during Reggie’s time, and now that it’s deemed as legal, I think it’s time to give him his Heisman Trophy back.”
Reggie Bush Filed A Defamation Lawsuit Against The NCAA
Back in 2023, Bush filed a lawsuit accusing the NCAA of defamation. He also asked the collegiate sports governing body to reinstate his football records so he could get his 2005 Heisman Trophy back.
Bush claimed the NCAA defamed him and insisted he was never paid to play football while at the University of Southern California.
In a separate petition to the NCAA, Bush’s attorney, Ben Crump, called their decision on his client a “flawed” and “sloppy” investigation.
As we saw, the NCAA finally made the right decision.
