Johnny Rodgers Kicks Off Fight to Get ‘Hostage’ Heisman From Lawyer

Just what is a Heisman Trophy worth?

To 1972 winner Johnny Rodgers, the 55-pound bronze statue is a priceless treasure, worth going to court over. Rodgers filed suit Thursday in small claims court in San Diego to retrieve his trophy from attorney Henry Ramirez, who he says has been holding it “hostage” since a court hearing last year.

To Ramirez, that same trophy is quite valuable--not because it reminds him of glory days on the college gridiron, but because he figures it could entice Rodgers into paying his $15,000 bill for services rendered.

Ramirez represented Rodgers in a sentencing hearing in February, 1987, after the former University of Nebraska football star was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon. He encouraged Rodgers to bring the Heisman Trophy to the hearing, he said, “because I was trying to impress upon the judge that it’s not possible to earn one of these things and not be worthy of something.” At the conclusion of the hearing, Rodgers went to jail and the trophy went home with Ramirez.

“It wasn’t as if I calculatedly took it,” Ramirez said Thursday. “My son was there with me in the courtroom, and I think he got very attached to it.” After Rodgers was taken into custody, Ramirez said, the teen-ager asked, “ ‘Dad, what are we going to do with this?’ I said, ‘Well, don’t leave it there.’ ”

Resting Quietly in Garage

The trophy now rests in his garage, and his once-awed son has gone off to the Army, Ramirez said, adding that Rodgers owes him the $15,000 and keeping the trophy to encourage payment “is starting to sound like a pretty good idea.”

The man once known as “Johnny R. Superstar” has other ideas.

“It was only just a sentencing,” Rodgers said, claiming that Ramirez agreed to handle the final stages of the case for $5,000. Rodgers said he has paid the attorney $3,000 of that amount. “I got ridiculed for bringing the trophy into court, and now he’s charging me $15,000 for going to court one or two times. . . . It’s just bizarre.

“It’s not worth $15,000 just because it’s bronze. I went to a little bit of trouble to get it, and it’s been worth far more than that to me.

“To me, that trophy is priceless. I can’t imagine that he’d think he’s just going to keep it, because I’m definitely not going to give him $15,000,” Rodgers said with an incredulous laugh.

He is now out on bail pending an appeal of his conviction. He had acted as his own attorney during the trial, unsuccessfully defending himself against allegations that he brandished a gun at a Cox Cable technician who came to his home in October, 1985, to turn off service for non-payment of $200.

In addition, Rodgers was convicted of being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm, stemming from holding up a gas station in Nebraska in 1971.

Rodgers brought the trophy, which he won as a running back at Nebraska, to the sentencing hearing in February, 1987, and set it conspicuously on the defense counsel table.

Superior Court Judge Jack Levitt was not impressed.

“No credit will be given for the Heisman Trophy. . . . He will be treated like any other American citizen,” Levitt said before sentencing Rodgers to six months in jail and fining him $1,000. Levitt had found Rodgers in contempt of court twice during the trial and had chided him for his “flippant, contemptuous attitude.”

Ramirez, who had stepped in during the sentencing hearing, said he worked hard to win a bail hearing for Rodgers, which resulted in his release from jail after only two months. Ramirez claims that while he was working on the case after the sentencing, he complained to his client that the work was becoming expensive.

“He said, ‘Hey, you’ve got my trophy, why don’t you just hang on to it?’ ” Ramirez said. “I said, ‘Johnny, I don’t need the trophy, I just want to get paid.” Ramirez said that Rodgers, since his release from jail, has not called him to discuss either the trophy or the money owed.

Ramirez said he had “no idea” Rodgers was going to sue him for the trophy and said he had not been served with legal papers. Asked whether he would be willing to return the Heisman, Ramirez said, “I’ll probably let a judge decide that.”

Rodgers had a different story of how the confusion over the trophy took place. Rodgers said he was aware that Ramirez took the trophy home and said he had called his attorney from the jail to arrange to have his wife pick it up. Ramirez asked to keep the prize a while longer, explaining that his son was having some friends over who wanted to see it.

“At that point, I didn’t have much choice, nor did I mind, really,” Rodgers said. Rodgers said he called again a couple of months ago and discovered Ramirez had raised his bill and was not willing to return the trophy.