Joe Theismann (born
September 9,
1949) is a former
American football quarterback and current
television football announcer. He played football for the
University of Notre Dame and was a runner-up in the
1970 Heisman Trophy voting which went to
Jim Plunkett of
Stanford University. Late in the season, the original pronunciation of his surname,
"THEEZ-man," was altered to rhyme with "Heisman," which he has continued to use since then. Whether this was done by Theismann himself, as many have suggested, or at the behest of Notre Dame officials is unclear. During his collegiate career, the smallish Theismann (just 6'-0", 180 lb/1.83 m, 82 kg), led the Fighting Irish to a 20-3-2 record. He was inducted into the
College Football Hall of Fame in
2003.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Theisman