The year was 1990, and BYU football was coached by legend LaVell Edwards and led by junior quarterback Ty Detmer in one of the most consequential football seasons in program history.
Some may even say a magic season. A season that stunned the nation.
Detmer had the talent, stats and on-field ability, but it took a team of public relations professionals to make sure the nation knew it.
This month marks the 35th year anniversary of Detmer winning the Heisman Trophy, a moment that changed and shaped BYU football.
But what many may not know is the behind-the-scenes journey it took to get there.
“When people ask me, what did you do for a living, Ralph?' And I've learned to answer, 'Have you heard of Ty Detmer?' 'Yeah.' 'Then I say, 'Oh then I did my job,'” said former BYU sports information director Ralph Zobell.
Detmer was making an impact. He finished his career with 15,031 passing yards, 121 touchdowns breaking 59 NCAA records during his time at BYU.
“Ty put up numbers that NCAA football had never seen before,” said longtime Provo Daily Herald and Deseret News reporter Dick Harmon. “He would just go out every Saturday and throw for about 300 yards and three or four touchdowns, and he’d do it every week. You could count on it.”
BYU had won the national championship in 1984 and produced several Heisman contenders, yet nothing had sealed the deal. Something was missing.
“We were not televised nationally as much," Zobell said. "Even though we did have TV games, people just didn’t know the score until later, so maybe they didn’t get to watch Ty on TV. Exposure was critical."
These campaigns pushed BYU’s sports information directors to get creative in the 1980s, including posing quarterback Jim McMahon in old-school football gear in the Heisman stance becoming one the most asked for photos in BYU history — something that in today’s digital world would have gone viral.
Still, BYU wasn’t a nationally known or widely watched program compared to many others.
“If I could wave a magic wand and change one thing that would help us in the Heisman campaign, it would be to change the Mountain Time Zone to the Eastern Time Zone,” Zobell said.
Perhaps their most creative idea helped them strike gold with Detmer doing something new and little unique. Before the 1989 Holiday Bowl against Penn State, BYU sent media outlets cardboard "ties" with information about Detmer and referencing quotes from renowned coaches.
The ties featured statements such as, "Five good reason the Heisman race should end in a Ty"; "The official Heisman Ty"; and "Here's one Ty you'll like this holiday season."
“We actually had a ton of stories all around the country about that promotion. Here’s one from USA Today: It says, 'BYU gets jump on Heisman Trophy and talks about our cardboard Tie,'” said former BYU athletic director Val Hale.
In 1990, Hale was serving as associate athletic director for external affairs and was heavily involved in Detmer's Heisman Trophy campaign.
“It was very effective. It was unique, timely and clever,” Harmon said of the campaign.
The SID team kept the campaign going, sending more cutouts that summer and during the following season. The cutouts quickly became one of the most recognizable parts of BYU football.
“Here’s a letter one of the media sent to our athletic director. He said, ‘Your clever mailing piece on your quarterback Ty Detmer is one of the best I have ever seen in the 35 years I have been covering college football. Congratulations. We plan to mention it in an upcoming issue of Football News. We just wanted you to know we appreciate such ingenuity. It certainly caught our attention,’” Hale said.
BYU continued the campaign by creating “Ties for Ty” that fans could purchase and wear at sporting events, launching them for BYU’s nationally televised home opener of the 1990 season against No. 1 Miami — a game that shifted how the nation viewed BYU.
“One of the biggest things to ever happen in BYU sports history was that Miami game,” Zobell said.
BYU upset No. 1 Miami 28-21 after the Hurricanes came to Provo as nearly two-touchdown favorites. Detmer completed 38 of 54 passes for 406 yards and three touchdowns.
“Ty Detmer to me is unbelievable,” Miami coach Dennis Erickson said following the game, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The win allowed superlatives about Detmer to fly and proved he was more than just hype.
“We upset Miami and he immediately became the Heisman frontrunner,” Hale said.
Not only did Detmer's performance stun the nation, but the game against the defending national champions drew nearly 66,000 fans, many of whom were wearing Ty’s Ties. The victory launched BYU into a successful campaign that continued to build momentum.
The Cougars ended the season with a 10-3 record, with losses to Oregon, Hawaii and Texas A & M. Detmer passed for 5,188 yards and 41 touchdowns leading BYU in an historic season.
But it wasn’t just about publicity or on-field performance. Detmer was also known for his kindness and down-to-earth personality.
“The thing about Ty Detmer back then is that he was such a genuine person,“ Harmon said. “He was such a good person that people latched onto him real easily. I started covering him after his junior year in high school at Southwest High School in San Antonio, and corresponded with him and some of his coaches all throughout his senior year before he came to BYU."
Harmon recalled a personal story.
“I asked Ty if he would come speak to our scout troop, and it was out by a lake, almost halfway to Price, Utah. I didn’t think he’d come. I just thought I’d ask him," he said. "But within 20 minutes of the time I asked him to be there, he had driven all the way out there by himself, and came out and spoke to about a dozen Boy Scouts and the leaders that were there, and then he drove home.”
As part of his likability, BYU created posters of the standout quarterback for fans.
“It’s hard to describe how popular Ty was in our community. He had this aw-shucks personality, the Southern drawl, and he was so humble and likable," Hale said. "Everybody loved him, and so whenever we did something, people ate it up. And these two posters we printed — I don’t know how many thousands of them — just about every young boy in Utah had one hanging on his wall."
Detmer eventually found himself on the cover of Sports Illustrated. But just like every other aspect of the campaign, his Heisman win was unique.
He was the frontrunner, yet BYU had to travel to Hawaii for its final regular-season game, leaving Detmer unable to attend the award ceremony in New York City on Dec. 1, 1990.
“The schedule that we had to play in Hawaii meant we did a lot of teleconferencing for interviews," Zobell said. "Every week we would have a teleconference with him, and multiple reporters would get on. So by the time we were in Hawaii, it was routine."
The team threw Detmer into the pool following the announcement, celebrating to the fullest. Many even say the celebration was so intense it contributed to BYU’s loss to Hawaii.
“I was there in Hawaii when he received word about the Heisman Trophy. They announced it right by the pool at the Princess Kaiulani Hotel, the Sheraton," Harmon said. "It was such a big day for BYU, and it drained the whole team. They were celebrating and so happy that when they went out against Hawaii, they didn’t play very well at all. They got kind of embarrassed, and then they were in the Holiday Bowl."
Yet nothing — not even losing the last two games of the season — could diminish what the Heisman did for BYU.
“He was a phenomenal quarterback and a great person, and he won it on his own merit,” Hale said. “But it was something that had been building up for the school, and then finally, we ended up winning it. It kind of put an exclamation point on our football program.”
Detmer’s Heisman Trophy helped solidify BYU's place as a nationally recognized program.