Three things I know about the Heisman Trophy: 1) You can’t eat it, 2) it hasn’t been portrayed by Brian Dennehy and 3) no Kansas University football player has ever won it.

To tell the truth, Lawrence Municipal Airport probably will be a Braniff Airlines hub before the name of a KU player ever is inscribed on the trophy for the best player in college football.

Lots of former Jayhawks had the credentials to win the Heisman, but not a single one even has come close.

Gale Sayers? He didn’t finish in the Top 10 in the balloting during his halcyon days of 1964 and 1965. John Hadl? He finished seventh in the 1961 voting. Ray Evans? Not even a sniff.

How about Bobby Douglass? Nah. All Douglass did was lead the Jayhawks to their last league title. In the 1968 ballot, O.J. Simpson was first, Purdue’s Leroy Keyes second, Terry Hanratty of Notre Dame third, Penn State’s Ted Kwalick fourth and Ted Hendricks of Miami fifth. Hendricks was a linebacker. Douglass was nowhere to be seen.

Nolan Cromwell? The fleet-footed Cromwell was way back in the pack despite establishing NCAA rushing records for a quarterback in 1975 while operating the Jayhawks’ wishbone attack.

As a matter of fact, only one KU football player has ever wound up in the Top Five in Heisman Trophy balloting. No Jayhawk has ever finished higher in the Heisman voting than David Jaynes, a gifted passing quarterback who was fourth in 1973 behind John Cappelletti of Penn State, John Hicks of Ohio State and Roosevelt Leaks of Texas.

So Jaynes is the answer to the trivia question about the former Jayhawk who came closest to winning the Heisman. Hadl’s seventh place in 1961 was the second-highest placing. If you wanted to use an asterisk, though, you could add that Jack Mitchell, the Jayhawks’ head coach from 1958-66, was eighth on the 1948 ballot when he played for Oklahoma.

Obviously, the only way to collect enough votes to finish in the Top 10 is to do something to attract national attention. Jaynes did it in – believe it or not – an early-season defeat.

Jaynes threw for 394 yards as the unranked Jayhawks almost knocked off No. 9-ranked Tennessee on the fourth weekend of the season in Memphis. The powerful Vols with quarterback Condredge Holloway and tailback Haskell Stanback escaped with a 28-27 victory.

Later, Jaynes would guide the Jayhawks to attention-grabbing, nail-biting wins against Iowa State (22-20), Colorado (17-15) and Missouri (14-13). By the time the Jayhawks played North Carolina State in the Liberty Bowl, the Heisman ballots had been cast and Jaynes’ reputation as a cardiac quarterback no doubt appealed to the voters.

Jaynes was as talented a passing quarterback as I’ve ever seen, strong-armed and accurate. Smart, too. Unfortunately, Jaynes’ pro career was short. A shoulder injury – rotator cuff damage, as I recall – diminished his skills. Unlike Cromwell, Jaynes wasn’t going to earn any money with his feet.

Cromwell was the antithesis of Jaynes. He could run, but he couldn’t throw a lick. Like Jaynes, Cromwell gained early national attention by establishing an NCAA single-game rushing record for a quarterback in the third week of the ’75 season.

Jaynes’ 1973 team won seven games and earned a bowl bid. Same for Cromwell’s 1975 team. And yet Cromwell was ignored in the Heisman ballot :quot; probably because voters perceived quarterbacks as passers, not runners. A quarterback rushing for more than 1,000 yards in a season? Big deal. Quarterbacks are passers.

Perception is, of course, everything. And always will be. Hype helps, but a bombardment of blather never is the bottom line. It’s all about being in the right place at the right time, compiling stats, producing headlines and avoiding injuries.

Who’s to say some future Kansas football player won’t make a little of that magic?