Several people gathered Saturday afternoon around a replica of Johnny Lattner’s Heisman Trophy in the lobby of the Guglielmino Athletics Complex at Notre Dame.
During the impromptu tribute, the older visitors educated the younger ones about Lattner’s accomplishments that, at least around here, hardly have washed away with time in the 62-plus years that have passed since he won college football’s most coveted award in 1953.
Lattner, a Fenwick High graduate, died early Saturday, according to the school. He was 83. He had been diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2014.
“You might die of anything,” Lattner’s wife, Peggy, told the Tribune that year. “The bad news is that he has the disease; the good news is, at his age, it doesn’t travel very fast.”
A moment of silence was observed in Lattner’s honor before the Irish’s basketball game against Louisville.
Lattner’s original bronze prize was lost during a fire at a restaurant Lattner owned in 1968. His replacement trophy has lost some of its finish over the years, but none of its shine.
That’s because it became something of a traveling trophy during Lattner’s later years, making appearances at charity events. Lattner’s daughter, Maggie Skiver, became the trophy’s keeper.
Four years before the electrical fire that destroyed his Heisman, Lattner was credited with helping save 25 people from a burning apartment building on the West Side.
Lattner was a consensus All-American on both offense and defense during his junior and senior seasons at Notre Dame, where he was a halfback, defensive back and returned kicks. He also played basketball for the Irish for four games during the 1951-52 season and scored the winning basket in overtime against New York University at Madison Square Garden.
He is the only player born and raised in the Chicago area to win the Heisman, and is one of seven Notre Dame players to win the Heisman. He and Florida’s Tim Tebow are the only two-time winners of the Maxwell Trophy, also awarded to college football’s best player.
Legendary Notre Dame coach Frank Leahy described the 6-foot-1, 190-pounder as a “bread-and-butter ball carrier,” words that appeared under Lattner’s face on the cover of Time magazine in 1953.
Lattner left Notre Dame as the school’s all-time leader in all-purpose yards with 3,095, a record that stood until 1979, the year Lattner was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
He also had 13 interceptions, third-most in school history to this day.
“One of the reasons I went to Notre Dame was because a lot of people from Chicago would go there,” Lattner told the Tribune in 2014. “In those days, in the stadium’s 70,000 capacity, 40,000 of them would be from Chicago. It’s like playing in front of your home crowd every week.”
Lattner ran for 651 yards and nine touchdowns and had 14 catches for 204 yards during his senior season in 1953, when he helped the Irish to a 9-0-1 record under coach Frank Leahy.
He led Fenwick to two Prep Bowls while playing under legendary coach Tony Lawless.
The Steelers made him the seventh overall pick in the 1954 NFL draft and he was an All-Pro game selection as a kick returner in his only season in the league.
“The only reason I played (in the All-Pro game) was because they needed a former Heisman (winner) for the name,” Lattner joked to the Tribune in 2014.
Lattner enlisted for two years in the Air Force after his rookie season, part of an ROTC commitment.
A knee injury suffered during an exhibition game while playing for an Air Force team forced Lattner to retire after he ran for 237 yards and five touchdowns on 69 carries and caught 25 passes for 305 yards and two touchdowns in his only NFL season.
Lattner was born in Chicago on Oct. 24, 1932, the youngest of three children who grew up on the West Side. He often was a fixture at Fenwick sporting events, which many of his grandchildren attended.
“My dad was a great father and a great father-figure to us,” said Tim Lattner, the second of Lattner’s four sons. “We always strove to do our best, but he never put any pressure on any of us to play sports at all.”
Lattner strayed from the Chicago area for two years when he was running backs coach at the University of Denver, but otherwise stayed near the place he loved to call home.
There, he was in the restaurant business for a while before serving as vice president of a graphics company.
“I never even thought of moving anywhere else,” Lattner said.
Lattner is survived by Peggy, whom he married in 1958, their eight children and 25 grandchildren.
Visitation will be 3 p.m.-9 p.m. Friday at Fenwick’s Lawless Gymnasium, 505 Washington Blvd. in Oak Park, according to the school, with his funeral at noon Saturday at St. Vincent Ferrer Church at 1530 Jackson Ave. in River Forest.
Chicago Tribune’s Rich Mayor and Pioneer Press’ George Wilcox contributed.
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