Flanked by his family and legal team, Reggie Bush celebrated the return of his Heisman Trophy on Thursday during a press conference at the venue where he earned it: the Los Angeles Coliseum.
The great and longtime NFL running back from USC spoke to reporters for the first time since the Heisman Trust reinstated the 2005 award he earned when he helped the Trojans to a Pac-10 championship and the national championship game. He did so with his Heisman Trophy by his side.
“I never believed the lies that were told about me, that were spread about me, the things that were said about me,” Bush said. “I didn’t believe it for a day.”
Forest and his lawyer Ben Crump vowed to proceed with a defamation lawsuit against the NCAA, which canceled USC’s 2004 national championship season and many of Bush’s individual achievements, leading to the forfeiture of his Heisman Trophy in 2010. The NCAA determined that Bush was ineligible for games in which he played due to impermissible benefits of marketing agents.
The college athletics landscape has changed dramatically since then, with athletes openly receiving compensation for the value they provide in the form of NIL deals.
The Heisman Trust returned the trophy to Bush in Jacksonville on Wednesday, along with a statement from President Michael Comerford citing that changing landscape in his decision to do so.
“We are thrilled to welcome Reggie Bush back to the Heisman family in recognition of his collegiate achievements,” Comerford said in a statement. “We have considered the tremendous changes in college athletics in recent years and decided that now is the right time to reinstate the trophy for Reggie. We are so pleased to welcome him back.”
The decision came years after Bush initially requested the return of his trophy in 2021. In his 2021 statement, Bush called for action from Comerford and the NCAA, claiming that “I have ‘solely’ won because of my hard work and dedication on the football field.”
In 2023, Bush filed a defamation suit against the NCAA, in part over a 2021 statement from the organization that characterized his time at USC as a “pay-for-play” scheme. Crump on Thursday called on the NCAA to join the Heisman Trust in clearing Bush’s name.
‘The Heisman Trust did the right thing’ Crump told reporters. “They got on the right side of history. When will NCAA get on the right side of history?”
Bush repeatedly said Thursday that he earned his college honors and did not cheat.
“You can’t get to this or a national championship by cheating,” Bush said, pointing to his Heisman Trophy.
He posed with the trophy for photos with his three young children.
“Today is the first time they saw the Heisman Trophy,” he said. “The first thing they said was ‘dang, it’s big.'”
He then reiterated that his Heisman Trophy and his achievements were all deserved.
“I’ve never cheated in this game,” Bush said. “Ever.”
The NCAA has not publicly discussed reinstating Bush’s Heisman Trophy.
