Reggie Bush threw the ceremonial first pitch to USC teammate and fellow Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart before Friday evening’s Dodgers-Cincinnati Reds game at Dodger Stadium.
The first pitch came three weeks after The Heisman Trust’s April 24 announcement that it would return the trophy Bush won in 2005, citing “enormous changes in the college football landscape” after he was required to forfeit it in 2010.
The rules governing college athletes and compensation have changed dramatically in recent years, allowing many players to land lucrative endorsement deals and payment for the use of their name and image.
Bush forfeited the trophy after USC was sanctioned by the NCAA, which determined he received improper benefits from the university during his college career from 2003 to 2005.
Bush had long campaigned for the return of his Heisman, denying any wrongdoing during his playing days but then stepping up his protests upon the loosening of rules for compensating college athletes. He filed a defamation lawsuit against the NCAA last year, accusing the organization of falsely claiming he had a “pay-for-play” arrangement while playing for the Trojans. That case is still pending.
The suit focuses on a 2021 statement by the NCAA when it declined to reinstate Bush’s collegiate records, citing a “pay-for-play arrangement.” At the time, officials with the Heisman Trust had indicated they would consider returning Bush’s Heisman if the NCAA would reinstate his records, but the NCAA refused.
According to the NCAA investigation, Bush, his mother and stepfather accepted thousands of dollars in cash and free housing from a would-be marketer while Bush was playing for USC beginning in December 2004. He and his family were also given an automobile, air travel, hotel lodging, transportation and other benefits, according to the NCAA’s 67-page report.
Bush’s attorneys, however, refuted the results of the NCAA probe, insisting Bush never received any payment or benefit from USC.
“This man was not paid for play,” attorney Levi McCathern said at a news conference at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum April 25. “Never. He played because he loved it. He played because he had a gift. He played for his teammates.”
Bush ran for 1,740 yards and 16 touchdowns in the 2005 season, averaging 8.7 yards per carry, as the Trojans won their first 12 games of the season, only to lose to Texas in the national championship game.
Bush said that during his fight to have his Heisman returned, he knew he “just had to keep fighting, keep going, keep believing, never give up — all the things that they teach you in football.”
“I think that’s what’s unique about this situation,” he said at the Coliseum news conference. “You learn so much about how to fight on that football field and in the locker room with your teammates, and in the weight room with your teammates. You learn how to fight, how to come back.
“And that’s why, you know, during our run, we didn’t just blow teams out. There were games we had to fight to come back. There were games where it didn’t look good, but we believed in ourselves. We believed in us. … And so you get all these little experiences of just how to fight and how to succeed and how to overcome and how to just live life, honestly.”