The Heisman Memorial Trophy was displayed in the lobby of the Downtown Athletic Club in the late 20th Century.
Every year, on a certain Saturday evening in December, a ceremony occurs. The ceremony is held to initiate a new member of a distinguished fraternity. An exclusive affair, it is not held in secret and is broadcast to millions through television and the internet. This fraternity, now known as the Heisman Trust, has awarded the Heisman Trophy to the best college football player in the nation for over eighty years. The athletes associated with this award are astonishing. The names of the winners and even the runner-ups are well known to the masses. Creating the Heisman Trophy has put the Downtown Athletic Club in the annuals of history. The yearly ceremony was held in their impressive building until 2001 when one of the worst days in US history closed its doors forever.
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The Downtown Athletic Club (also known as DAC), was a private athletic and social club, created in the 1920s for the wealthy businessmen of Wall Street. The club commissioned architects Starrett and Van Vleck, who had designed the American Stock Exchange Building, to build the magnificent Art Deco-styled 35-story structure. When it opened in 1930, it included a 137-room hotel, seven banquet rooms, and a large dining room on the upper levels. On the lower levels, there was a gym, card, and billiard rooms, a miniature golf course, bowling lanes, tennis courts, and an Olympic-sized swimming pool. At the time, the 12th-floor pool was the highest elevated aquatics facility in the world*
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In 1935, members of the Downtown Athletic Club decided to create a trophy that would award the best college player after the end of each football season. Originally called the DAC trophy, its name would change the following year to honor the club's late athletic director, John Heisman. The Heisman Memorial Trophy would be presented every December at the Club's headquarters until 2000.**
On the morning of September 11th, 2001, a few blocks away from the Downtown Athletic Club, the World Trade Center was hit by terrorists. While the Club escaped structural damage, the surrounding area would be blocked off to public access. The Downtown Athletic Club had been in the process of renovations. The windows and doors were open when the blocks surrounding the World Trade Center were consumed by smoke, debris, and ash. As part of the exclusion zone. this section was restricted due to the obvious danger for months. Thus allowing the building to sink into disrepair.***
Basketball Court in the Downtown Athletic Building via New York Architecture
By the late fall of 2001, the Club knew it was impossible for the Heisman Trophy ceremony to be held in that location. It would be moved to the Marriott Marquis Hotel near Times Square for that year and moved to other locations in the years that followed. Sadly, it was never held in the Downtown Athletic Club again. The Club had been in and out of foreclosure due to the expense and upkeep of their building for decades. The disrepair from 9/11 was the final straw. The building was sold and the Heisman Trust was created to carry on the award.
Removing the Heisman Portraits via New York Architecture
The beautiful Art Deco Structure remains. It has been repaired and renovated but little of the original interior features were left intact. The building was converted into condominiums in 2006. The new Downtown Club has 288 condos. There is a gym and a yoga studio as part of the amenities. But there is no longer the pool or miniature golf course and of course, the yearly Heisman Trophy presentation. In 2009, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission chose the Downtown Athletic Club for landmark status. The Heisman Memorial Trophy ceremony has been held in various locations in New York City. Maybe one day it will find its way home to the Club.
What to know more? Here is a good place to start:
Sources:
*Wayne Drehs for ESPN.com ESPN.com: NCF - Drehs: Closing time (espncdn.com)*A Home for
***Paul Doyle for The Hartford Courant HEISMAN SHAKEN TO ITS FOUNDATION - Hartford Courant
Photographs:
Top photograph: Heisman Trophy: Heisman Trust