1960 Heisman winner Joe Bellino dies
Former Navy running back Joe Bellino died Thursday. He was 81.
Bellino won the 1960 Heisman Trophy and was the first Navy player to win the award given to the most outstanding player in college football. Bellino rushed for 834 yards that season and also had 280 receiving yards and 22 total touchdowns. Navy went 9-2 that season and was 11th in the country in scoring with nearly 24 points per game.
Bellino was by far the most prolific member of Navy’s offense in 1960. He averaged five yards a carry and had nearly 600 yards more than the Midshipmen’s second-leading rusher.
Navy’s only losses that season came to Duke in the regular season and Missouri in the Orange Bowl.
One of two Heisman winners at Navy
Bellino, who played for three seasons in the NFL with the then-Boston Patriots from 1965-67, won the Heisman in a landslide over Minnesota offensive lineman Tom Brown. Former Chicago Bears tight end and coach Mike Ditka was sixth in the voting.
Roger Staubach is the only other Navy player to win the Heisman Trophy. Staubach won the 1963 Heisman by an even bigger voting margin.
‘An incredible role model’
Bellino, a Massachusetts native, was nicknamed “the Winchester Rifle” for his speed. Tom White, a former roommate of Bellino’s and ex-basketball player at Navy, told the Annapolis Capital-Gazette that Bellino was “an incredible role model.”
“Joe was an incredible role model for the entire Naval Academy and what it means to live an honorable, ethical life,” White told the paper. “Joe was the same person from the time I met him plebe year until the end. He never changed. Joe treated everyone with respect, regardless of their position in life.”
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
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