THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 1, 1996 TAG: 9606010359
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Tom Robinson
LENGTH: 69 lines
Old No. 40 still hops along, you bet, jogging an uneven giddy-up down to the first base coaches box. Cartilage trouble in his right knee was repaired just last year. And then he's still on the mend from hernia surgery, too.
But at 62, the red hair, the ruddy face, the twinkling eyes and quick smile of the college football hero remain, reminding you that he is who he is, and always will be.
Howard Cassady wears the uniform of the New York Yankees Triple-A team, the Columbus Clippers, now. He's been a utility man on George Steinbrenner's payroll since 1976, and a Columbus coach since '90.
The last 20 years aren't his legacy, though. That was forged more than 20 years before, when the nation knew no bigger name in college football than ``Hopalong'' Cassady.
In 1955, Cassady won the Heisman Trophy as an Ohio State running back and defensive back. The same year, he was voted athlete of the year by the Associated Press, sandwiched between Willie Mays in '54 and Mickey Mantle in '56.
No college athlete since has received that AP honor. And until O.J. Simpson in 1968, no player earned as many Heisman votes, 2,219, as Cassady.
If he had to become linked with a lifetime traveling buddy, Cassady has found the Heisman, which resides in the foyer of his Tampa, Fla. home, welcome company.
``The Heisman meant the most to me,'' Cassady said Friday at Harbor Park, a few hours before the Clippers and Tides squared off. ``Because it's not voted on by one group of people. It's not just Sports Illustrated or the Associated Press. What makes it special is it's voted on by people from all over the country.''
Each week, he still hears from people from all over the country. The mail is steady, mostly football cards with autograph requests and return envelopes. Many are cards that Cassady never knew existed and surely doesn't get any money from.
But that's OK. Cassady long ago realized that just because he bore the nickname of another Columbus, Ohio star William Boyd, the movie cowboy Hopalong Cassidy, it didn't mean he'd gather Boyd's millions.
``I got his nickname but not his money,'' Cassady said, smiling.
Still, when the Detroit Lions drafted him No. 1, Cassady said he nabbed a $15,000 salary and a $15,000 bonus, the largest NFL bonus to that time. He did eight years with the Lions, one each with the Cleveland Browns and Philadelphia Eagles and another partial season with Detroit before becoming a manufacturer's rep full-time.
He sold steel to Steinbrenner's shipbuilding company, further solidifying a relationship that began at a Columbus air force base when Steinbrenner was a lieutenant and Cassady was an ROTC student in flight training.
Steinbrenner brought Cassady, a former college shortstop, aboard as a conditioning coach in '76. Since then, he has scouted and coached and made personal appearances for Steinbrenner and the Yankees.
``This is great,'' Cassady said. ``They pay you to keep in shape. And it's a lot of fun to work with the kids and scout the Big 10.''
Young at heart as he is, Cassady's all too aware that he is suddenly Ohio State's oldest surviving Heisman winner. Six have won, but Cassady's attended the funerals of Les Horvath (1944) and Vic Janowicz (1950) in the last year.
``I'm getting closer to that end of the bench,'' Cassady said. ``Guys start dying, you move down a little.''
But if you're Hopalong Cassady, you keep bouncing along, bum knee and all, No. 40 on your back. You have, after all, a name to live up to. ILLUSTRATION: L. TODD SPENCER
The Virginian-Pilot
Howard ``Hopalong'' Cassady: ``What makes it (Heisman Trophy)
special is it's voted on by people from all over the country.'' by CNB