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This Week Oregon Historical Society and University of Oregon Team Up to Display Heisman & Trophies

On exhibit at the Oregon Historical Society June 5-7, 2015 Free admission

Portland, OR – June 1, 2015 – The 2014 , presented to the University of Oregon in recognition of the accomplishments of , will be on display at the Oregon Historical Society (1200 SW Park Avenue, Portland) from Friday, June 5 through Sunday, June 7. Through a sponsorship donation from Nike, admission to the Oregon Historical Society will be free for the entire weekend.

**Just Added** Also on display will be the 2015 Rose Bowl Trophy, which the University of won when they defeated the Florida State University Seminoles in the Playoff semi-final game, which was played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California on January 1, 2015.

First awarded in 1935 by the Downtown Athletic Club of , the Heisman is presented annually to the NCAA football player whose performance exemplifies the pursuit of excellence with integrity. The practice of awarding two trophies each year began in 1968, with one trophy going to the chosen player and another to the school represented by the winner.

“We are delighted that the University of Oregon asked the Oregon Historical Society to be the venue to display the Heisman Trophy in Portland,” said Kerry Tymchuk, Executive Director of the Oregon Historical Society. “Thanks to the support of Nike, countless football fans can view the trophy and celebrate this exciting moment in Oregon sports history.”

The Heisman is named for John Heisman, who served as a college football coach for over three decades in the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-centuries, and who served as the first athletic director of the Downtown Athletic Club and the founder of the National Football Coaches Association. The iconic re-creation of a football player sidestepping and straight-arming his way to a was the creation of twentieth- century sculptor Frank Eliscu.

Following the exhibit at the Oregon Historical Society, the Heisman Trophy will return to Eugene, where it will eventually be put on permanent display at the University of Oregon Hatfield-Dowlin Complex.

Hours of the Heisman Trophy exhibit at the Oregon Historical Society are as follows:

Friday, June 5, 2015: 10am – 8pm Saturday, June 6, 2015: 10am – 5pm Sunday, June 7, 2015: 12pm – 3pm

Attendees can also prepare for the upcoming football season by purchasing merchandise from the mobile “Duck Store,” that will be set up at OHS all weekend. Deck yourself out in green and gold, and then buy a scoop of ice cream from Portland favorite Salt and Straw, who will be on site on Friday, June 5. A percentage of sales will benefit Special Olympics Oregon, who will also be at OHS throughout the weekend providing information on upcoming events and volunteer opportunities.

About the Oregon Historical Society

For more than a century, the Oregon Historical Society has served as the state’s collective memory, preserving a vast collection of artifacts, photographs, maps, manuscript materials, books, films, and oral histories. Our research library, museum, digital platforms & website (www.ohs.org), educational programming, and historical journal make Oregon’s history open and accessible to all. We exist because history is powerful, and because a history as deep and rich as Oregon’s cannot be contained within a single story or point of view.