College Football 1993

1. Charlie Ward: Won Heisman Trophy. Won by the second widest margin ever at the time. He was a consensus All-American.

His won the awards for Player of the Year (Camp and Maxwell), and QB of the year (Unitas and O’Brien). He won the Sullivan award given to the “best amateur athlete” in the US.

He passed for 3032 yards, completed 69% of his passes including 27 TDs and just 4 Ints.

He was ACC Player of the Year.

He torched #15 Miami for 256 yards and a rushing and passing TD in 28-10 win. He finished the regular season in stomping rival #5 Florida 33-21. In Gainesville Ward smoked the Gators for 38-53 446 yards and 4TD tosses.

In the National title game in the Orange Bowl, he passed 286 yards.

Florida State won the National Championship 18-16 over Nebraska and finished the season 12-1, 8-0 as ACC Champs. Their only loss was 31-24 at #2 Notre Dame.

He directed and offense that scored over 41 points per contest.

Ward was also a basketball standout for the Seminoles.

2. Trev Alberts: Was a consensus All-American and the top defensive player in the nation.

He won numerous awards including Big 8 Male Athlete of the Year. Football News National Defensive Player of Year. He was the Big 8 Defensive Player of the Year.

He was the NCAA’s top linebacker garnering the Butkus and Lambert awards.

He put up staggering numbers with 96 tackles, and 21 of those behind the line. He had 15 sacks in 11 games.

In the National Title, Albert broke loose with three sacks while being named Orange Bowl defensive MVP.

Nebraska started the season 11-0 and won the Big 8. They lost 18-16 to #1 Florida St. and finished #3 in the final polls.

3. Heath Shuler: Was the runner-up in the Heisman voting. He was the SEC Player of the Year and a finalist for the QB of the Year.

He threw for 2353 yards 25 TDs and completed over 64% of his passes.

He passed for 355 yards and five TDs in a loss to #5 Florida.

Shuler threw for 215 and a score in a 45-10 route of then #13 Louisville.

He set a school record with 18 straight games with a TD pass, including all 12 in 1993.

Tennessee went 10-2, including 7-1 in the SEC (East co-champs). They lost to eventual #8 Penn St. in the Citrus Bowl. The Vols, who scored 40.3 points per game, finished #12 in the final poll.

MLB 1993

1. Paul Molitor: Was the World Series MVP for the Blue Jays. He was 12-24 in the six games with 10 runs scored and eight RBIs.

His two-run triple and solo HR sparked Toronto to a 10-3 Game 3 win and a 2-1 series lead

Molitor’s RBI double started the Blue Jays’ six run eighth inning rally in their epic 15-14 win in Game 4.

In Game 6 Molitor again started off the scoring in the 1^st with a triple, homered for the second time in the series in the 5^th, and singled in the bottom of the ninth, which set up Joe Carter’s Series winning walk-off, 3R-HR.

Against Chicago in the ALCS he was 9-23 (.391), with 7 runs and 5 RBIs. He had a 4-5, 3 RBI, 2 R Game 1 performance, as Toronto won 7-3.

In the regular season he was second in the MVP voting. He was an All-Star and Silver Slugger as a DH. He earned that status by leading the league with 211 hits, and finishing second in the AL in batting at .332, runs (121) and at bats (636).

At age 36 he had a career high 22 HRs, 111 RBIs (surpassed in 1996) along with 22 steals.

The Blue Jays had the best record in the AL with 95 wins and won the East by seven games over New York. They beat the White Sox in six games to win the pennant. Toronto won their 2^nd straight World Series 4-2 over the Phillies.

2. Barry Bonds: National League MVP for the third time in four years.

He was close to a triple crown. He led the NL with 46 home runs and 123 RBIs. He was 4^th in the league with .336 averages.

Barry topped the senior circuit in on base, and slugging percentage as well as walks and total bases (365). He was second in the league scoring 129 runs. Bonds swiped 29 bases.

He was the starting leftfielder for the NL in the All-Star game (2-3, 2 R), a Gold Glover and Silver Slugger.

The 1993 Giants won 103 games and finished a game behind Atlanta in the NL West. That was 31 more than 1992 when Bonds was not in San Francisco. The Giants finished six games ahead of East champion Philadelphia.

3. Frank Thomas: He won the American League MVP. He was ML Player of the Year, named by the Sporting News. He was a All-Star and Silver Slugger as a first baseman.

He posted a .311 average (6^th), 41 HR (3^rd), 128 RBI (2^nd), and 106 runs.

He finished in the top five in the AL in on-base and slugging %, OPS, total bases and walks.

In Game 4 of the ALCS Thomas helped Chicago tie the series at 2-2 with his game-tying home run in the sixth. The White Sox won 7-4. He was 6-17 in the series (.353) and walked 10 times (.593 OBP).

The White Sox won 94 games (eight more than 1992) and the AL West by eight games over Texas. They went to their first playoffs in a decade and lost in six games to Toronto.