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Ricky Williams is best-known for two things: bulldozing over defenders on the football field and giving up an NFL career to explore the wonderful world of weed. For those of us old enough to remember both things about the former Texas Longhorns running back, where he won the 1998 Heisman Trophy, it’s still kind of crazy to think how ahead of the game Williams was when it came to using the drug for recovery and such. But that’s a conversation for a different time.
When Ricky Williams decided to walk away from football for the marijuana biz, it seems as if he decided to go all-in, as the college football legend actually sold his Heisman Trophy to a private collector in 2014 for an unreleased price. Now, that same trophy is being auctioned off by that very collector — and it could fetch an incredible $500,000, which would set a new record price for sports memorabilia trophies.
The current owner of the trophy is Brian Hobbs, which is putting Williams’ trophy up for auction in October — and it’s one of the most rare pieces available because it’s the last trophy that’s allowed to be sold. According to the listing points, every honoree following Ricky Williams has been required to sign away the right to sell his Heisman, meaning they can’t earn a dime off the stiff-armed statue. That means Hobbs is expecting some major cash.
Per Yahoo! Sports:
“Any time you’re able to offer a Heisman at auction, it just doesn’t happen too often,” Heritage’s director of sports auctions Chris Ivy said, via the Associated Press. “The imagery that comes up when you think about it, it’s the most recognizable trophy without a doubt, even more so than the NBA or NFL championship trophies. People, when they see the (Heisman), they know what it is.”
The auction record for a Heisman belongs to Tim Brown’s 1987 award, which went for $435,763 last December. In the last year, Rashaan Salaam’s 1994 trophy went for $399,608, while Clint Frank’s 1937 award sold for $312,000.
While many of us don’t have a spare $500,000 lying around, if you do, you might want to place a bid on, arguably, the most recognizable award in all of sports — which would be a nice center piece for your kitchen table, if you ask me.