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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - One day after reclaiming his stripped-away Heisman Trophy, former USC star running back Reggie Bush returned to Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Thursday to celebrate a long-fought victory.
With the Heisman Trophy sitting in front of him, Bush said it was the first time his children have even seen the prize.
"The first thing they said was, `Dad, it's big,"' Bush said with a smile. "And it's heavy."
Bush first lifted the trophy in 2005, capping an epic season in which he led to the Trojans to the national championship game. The prize was stripped away five years later amid an improper-benefits scandal that also saw the NCAA wipe Bush's accomplishments from the record books.
On Wednesday, however, the Heisman Trust announced that it was reinstating Bush's award, noting "enormous changes in the college football landscape," particularly the landmark new rules allowing players to secure lucrative endorsement deals and payment for use of their name, image and likeness.
The Heisman Trust agreed to return Bush's trophy, and a replica to be placed on display at USC.
Bush said that when he was presented with the trophy again Wednesday, he was "excited" that "a bunch of former Heisman Trophy winners" were there.
"It just showed me the fraternity, that the fraternity was real," Bush said. " ... And that's really why we love this game so much, you know, the athletes, because we get a chance to build a fraternity that most people don't get a chance to be a part of. You get a chance to do something that's unique. You get a chance to be a part of a team that's unique, that's different. And it all has helped me and shaped me to become the man I am today."
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. "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."
Bush was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2023. He gained more than 2,000 yards from scrimmage and scored 18 touchdowns in the 2005 college football season. He received 784 first-place votes in the 2005 Heisman Trophy campaign, the fifth-most in Heisman Trophy history, and led USC to the national title game, which it lost to Texas.
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 college athletic-oversight 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.
During Thursday's news conference at the Coliseum, Bush's attorneys called on the NCAA to "do the right thing" and reinstate his records.
"NCAA, colleges and universities that profited billions, Power Five conferences, smaller conferences -- do the right thing," attorney Levi McCathern said. "Don't be on the wrong side of history."
Attorney Ben Crump added, "When is the NCAA donna get on the right side of history?"
"There are people who never dreamed this day would happen," Crump said. "There are people who said that this day would never happen. There are people who tried to prevent this day from ever happening. Well, we just got six words to say to them, brother, we got your Heisman Trophy back."
Bush played for USC from 2003-05, helping the Trojans to a share of the 2003 national championship and the 2004 national championship, which it vacated in connection with the NCAA investigation.
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," McCathern said Thursday. "Never. He played because he loved it. He played because he had a gift. He played for his teammates."