Frank Eliscu

rdf:langString Frank Eliscu

rdf:langString Frank Eliscu (July 13, 1912 – June 19, 1996) was an American sculptor and art teacher who designed and created the Heisman Memorial Football Trophy in 1935 when he was only 20 years old. The first Heisman Trophy, a strong young bull of a football player cast in bronze, was presented to a college football player in 1935, and is considered one of the greatest honors a college athlete can receive. Over the years the Heisman Committee has paid tribute to Eliscu and his creation several times, and in 1985, the Heisman Committee invited him to speak at the 50th Anniversary Heisman ceremonies. Eliscu amassed a body of work that spans from public fountains to ex-President Gerald Ford's inaugural medal (later given as a gift to Leonid Brezhnev when Ford visited Russia), to the five-story bronze frieze that decorates the glass panes above the doors to the Library of Congress. This massive sculpture won the Henry Hering Memorial Medal from the National Sculpture Society. Eliscu also is represented in the Metropolitan Museum of Art with his Sea Treasures. A resident of New York and later Sarasota, Eliscu died in Sarasota, Florida on June 19, 1996 at the age of 83.