The original 1935 plaster cast of the Heisman Trophy sculpture will be up for auction on Dec. 10 — the date this year’s award is announced — as part of Sotheby’s and SCP Auctions’ sale of “Important Sports Memorabilia and Cards.”

When members of the Downtown Athletic Club originally conceived the idea of an annual award to honor the most outstanding college football player, Frank Eliscu, a then-23-year-old New York native, was commissioned for the work. Ed Smith, a leading player on the 1934 New York University football team, assisted Eliscu as his model.n addition to the Heisman Trophy sculpture, Eliscu, who died in 1990, compiled a prominent list of works throughout his career, including the creation of President Gerald Ford’s inaugural medal and a state gift for the late Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. His “Cascade of Books” is mounted on the front of the James Madison Library of Congress in Washington.

Posted: 11|25|05 at 9:37 am. Filed under: US News.