Sam Bradford joins prominent club
Davey O’Brien award List of winners includes Aikman, McMahon, Jason White

By Jake Trotter Comments 19
Published: February 17, 2009

FORT WORTH, Texas — The significance of winning the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award didn’t hit Sam Bradford until Sunday when he met Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Theismann.

Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford poses with the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award in Fort Worth, Texas, on Monday. AP Photo

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"It’s pretty crazy,” Bradford said. "After my conversation with Joe Theismann, I went back to my room and looked at the list.

"That’s when I realized just how prestigious of an award this really is.”

Oklahoma’s Heisman quarterback officially joined another prominent club Monday when he was honored as the 2008 Davey O’Brien winner during a dinner at the Fort Worth Club in downtown Fort Worth, Texas.

The Davey O’Brien, named after TCU’s Heisman quarterback of the late 1930s, has annually gone to the nation’s top college quarterback since 1981.

Among the previous O’Brien winners in attendance Monday were Jim McMahon, Troy Aikman and former Sooner quarterback Jason White, who won the award twice in 2003 and 2004.

"Jason White is someone I grew up idolizing and watching at Oklahoma,” Bradford said. "To think that I joined another group with him and so many other football players, it’s pretty humbling.”

Theismann, who won a Super Bowl with the Washington Redskins in 1983, was in town to receive the Davey O’Brien Legends Award, which "recognizes a college or professional quarterback who has made a significant contribution to the game of football.”

"Sam and I were talking (Sunday) night a little bit about the Davey O’Brien Award,” said Theismann, who was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003. "In our conversation, I talked about it this way: ‘All you need to do is look at the people who have gone before you and it tells you about the prestigious nature of this award.’ ”