Palmer the ultimate underdog on Heisman journey 40 years ago

Pop quiz to anyone over the age of 45...

If you remember that quarterback Vinny Testaverde from the University of Miami won the 1986 Heisman Trophy as Division 1-A college football's best player, do you know who came in second?

Paul Palmer.

Temple University's Paul Palmer. 

It's a head scratcher, isn't it -- given there are far too many down years in the program to forget than those worth remembering.

Yet, Palmer put together one of the most stirring underdog stories in college football history up until that point for a program that was an afterthought in the minds of everyone involved with the sport, thousands of alumni, staff, teachers and administrators -- with the possible exception of university president Peter "Sugar Bowl within 5 years" Liacouras.

Palmer's run to the record books began with the Owls' season opener at Penn State, a 45-15 drubbing where he accounted for more than 200 all-purpose yards despite the loss.

In a 2-week span starting 40 years ago last week, Palmer set an NCAA record (which has since been broken) of rushing for a combined 688 yards in victories over East Carolina (349 yards in a 45-28 road win) and 239 yards vs. Virginia Tech at Norfolk (29-13 win).

The splurge helped Bruce Arians (yes, THAT Bruce Arians who later coached in the NFL for Arizona, Tampa Bay among other clubs) team rise to 5-2 on the year heading into three touch matchups with Syracuse, Boston College and Alabama. He added 187 yards (27-24 loss to the Orangemen) and 212 yards (38-29 home loss to the Eagles), respectively, setting a new NCAA mark for rushing yardage in three AND four consecutive contests.

With the Owls finishing up the season at 6-5, Palmer completed his senior ledger by leading all of Division I football in yards on the ground (1,866), rushing touchdowns (15), plays from scrimmage (358) as well as all-purpose yards (2,633) -- breaking USC back Marcus Allen's previous record. 

How uphill of a battle was it to get a small back from a small school without any games on national television to get noticed? In addition to the requisite public relations outreach, the university even published a comic book "Temple University Football Featuring the Adventures of Paul Palmer," a 16-page work.

"Some people thought I may have been too small to play high school ball," Palmer said to the Daily News in August of 1986, ahead of his sterling senior season. "Everyone thought I was too small to play college ball. And then, when the pros come around, they're saying the same things. I like to think of it as quality, not quantity."

The rest of the country might not have known about Palmer, but the small circle of rivals who scheduled Temple football during its years in the deep waters of the D-1 independents sure did. 

Syracuse head coach Dick MacPherson compared Palmer to diminutive running back "Little" Joe Morris, who went on to win a Super Bowl with the New York Giants. West Virginia's Don Nehlen stated Palmer "may be the most dangerous running back in college football." 

Even the once-sainted Joe Paterno complimented Palmer after his season-opening breakout performance, adding "I think the best way to shut him down is to keep your own offense on the field."

In addition to being Heisman runner-up, Palmer was also 2nd in Maxwell Award voting, was a consensus First-Team All-American while earning MVP honors for both the Hula Bowl and Blue-Gray game.

Maybe even bigger than coming so close to winning the Heisman, Palmer finally reached a national audience through NBC's traditional Bob Hope Christmas Special, where every All-American was introduced and the subject of a witty barb from Bob's writers:

Of note, Palmer was 22 years old here, Hope 83.

Also of note, The Boz. And the Haircut of The Boz.

Was it a bit disrespectful to slot the nation's leading rusher as the second-to-last student-athlete honored during this part of the special? Probably. But when you've got guys from Oklahoma, Penn State, Ohio State, the U, Nebraska, Hawaii and Purdue, little ol' Acres of Diamonds was gonna be pushed to the back of the line. 

While Palmer was drafted by Kansas City and played just 41 games for the Chiefs, Cowboys and Lions over three seasons, and an infamous quote about intentionally fumbling the ball to get his coach fired came back to haunt both he and the coach in question, the biggest disappointment in his story was that Temple had all 6 wins from '86 vacated due to Palmer's discovered ineligibility.

In the summer of 1988, according to multiple sources, it was revealed Palmer signed with agent Norby Walters prior to the expiration of his collegiate eligibility. That set off a chain of events which, among other things, led to the university expunging Palmer's accomplishments from the school's record books and Liacouras asking Palmer to reimburse the university for the cost of his scholarship that senior season. 

"We are forfeiting these games to set an example," Liacouras was quoted as saying at the time. "We believe in good sportsmanship in an amateur setting at whatever cost. Even though the university did not know or have reason to know this violation, our team benefited by using a player ... who was not eligible."

Years in between softened Temple's stance, and Palmer was eventually welcomed back after a period of reflection and public remorse. The talented tailback was inducted into Temple's athletics Hall of Fame in 2000 and in 2018, became the first student-athlete in school history to gain a spot in the College Football Hall of Fame. 

At present, Palmer is the Owls' all-time leader in all-purpose yards (6,613), rushing yards (4,895), rushing attempts (935), total career points (264), 100-yard rushing performances (21) and 200-yard days (6).