The Heisman pose on the trophy was created from a live model, not an actual in-game photograph. The pose is based on former New York University running back Ed Smith, who posed for sculptor Frank Eliscu in the mid‑1930s.
Origin of the pose
Sculptor Frank Eliscu was commissioned by New York’s Downtown Athletic Club to design a trophy that embodied a powerful football player driving forward with a stiff arm. Eliscu asked his former high school classmate Ed Smith, then a standout NYU running back, to come to his studio in full gear and act out a running motion with a stiff‑arm, which became the model for the statue’s now‑famous pose.
Ed Smith’s role
Ed Smith simulated the distinctive combination of a lifted leg and extended stiff arm that characterizes the Heisman Trophy figure. Smith did not realize for decades that his modeling session had been used for what became the Heisman Trophy, learning of it only in the early 1980s when the history of the award was researched and publicized.
Making the pose famous
While Ed Smith created the original pose for the sculptor, former Michigan star Desmond Howard is widely credited with popularizing “doing the Heisman pose” as a celebratory gesture. In 1991, after a punt‑return touchdown against Ohio State, Howard imitated the trophy’s stance in the end zone, which turned the Heisman pose into a cultural phenomenon copied by many players and fans.