Heisman Presentation To Be Held in Different Location

The Heisman Trophy presentation has been moved from the Downtown Athletic Club to the New York Marriott Marquis because of damage to the building in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The building, located a few blocks from the World Trade Center site, wasn’t seriously damaged but the elevator system was declared unsafe. Jim Corcoran, president of the Downtown Athletic Club, said Friday that the elevators should be fixed by the Dec. 8 ceremony honoring college football’s top player, but the club would be hard-pressed to prepare the 71-year-old building for Heisman Trophy-related events scheduled for Dec. 7-10.

It will mark the first time in 67 years that the trophy will be presented somewhere other than the Downtown Athletic Club.

“While the damage to the building is something that should be easily repaired in time, we do not feel that we can adequately have the club ready for an event of this magnitude by Dec. 8,” Corcoran said.

Eleven Downtown Athletic Club members were among the victims of the attacks. Five members who died worked at Cantor Fitzgerald LP, a bond-trading firm that lost about 700 employees.

The last time Oregon played at home a month ago, the Ducks were struggling.

They had to rally to beat USC, 24-22, for their third consecutive close victory. They couldn’t run the ball, and their defense was giving up yards at an alarming rate.

Three more victories later, No. 5 Oregon returns to Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore., having answered its critics.

A win today over Stanford would extend the nation’s longest home winning streak to 24 games, but the Ducks say winning on the road has toughened them for the rest of the season.

“We gained some things,” Coach Mike Bellotti said of the victories at Utah State, Arizona and California. “That will hopefully make us a better team at home, where we get the crowd, and the Autzen Stadium aura and magic. It is nice for us to play at home. The road has been good to us, though.”

Stanford (3-1, 2-1 in the Pac-10) is a far better opponent than Arizona and Cal, who lost to Oregon (6-0, 3-0) by a combined score of 111-35. Behind quarterback Randy Fasani, the Cardinal are averaging 444 yards, fourth-best in the conference.

Oregon has 828 yards rushing the past three games after gaining 323 the first three.