If Richard McNutt’s chances for a Heisman Trophy were slim before, they’re really hurting now.
The infamous “McNutt for Heisman” campaign has been put to a stop, just as the campaign was gaining momentum.
A little over a week ago, the leaders of the campaign received a letter on behalf of New York’s Downtown Athletic Club, which sponsors the Heisman program, that ordered the campaign to shut down and send them any remaining T-shirts immediately because of copyright infringement.
The T-shirts, which featured a picture of the Heisman Trophy with Ohio State junior cornerback Richard McNutt’s face superimposed over the trophy, violated the Downtown Athletic Club’s copyright rights. The residents of 221 E. Lane Ave. did not receive express written consent to use the image of the trophy.
In addition, according to the letter, the use of Richard McNutt’s name is “in violation of NCAA regulations and can interfere with his eligibility to play football at Ohio State.”
The letter also requested that Steve Jahn, a senior in communication who spearheaded the McNutt movement, send them “sales information including sales price and the total number of T-shirts that have already been sold, as well as your remaining inventory of T-shirts.”
The popular campaign was started by the occupants of 221 E. Lane Ave. in support of McNutt.
“We began the campaign because McNutt is the future of the NFL – and his name had a little to do with it, too,” Jahn said.
Jahn said that the campaign actually began last season but didn’t pick up momentum until this season. Interestingly enough, Jahn and other members of the campaign had never actually met McNutt prior to the start of the campaign.
“Last year we only made about 50 T-shirts, but this year, we couldn’t make them fast enough,” Jahn said.
At $11 per shirt (coincidentally, 11 is also McNutt’s jersey number), Jahn estimates that roughly 500 T-shirts were sold this year.
The problem that the Downtown Athletic Club and the NCAA had with the T-shirts was that Jahn and other campaign leaders were making a profit from the T-shirts.
Any money made from the T-shirts, however is pretty much gone. “Let’s just say that a lot of food and beer for the house were on McNutt,” Jahn said.
“At the start of the campaign, we had two goals, to meet (former OSU football player) Kirk Herbstreit and to make enough money to rent a hot tub for the Michigan game, and we were able to accomplish one of our goals. We met Herbstreit at the Hall of Fame Cafe earlier in the season,” Jahn said.
“You can’t commercialize players,” said Rick Van Brimmer, director of OSU trademark and licensing services. “He (McNutt) has a right to protect his name.”
Van Brimmer deals more specifically with licensing of the OSU logo on products. The McNutt for Heisman T-shirts did not use the OSU logo, but he said his office has been busy policing non-licensed products as well.
“There have been a number of illegal T-shirts being sold that promote Maurice Clarett for Heisman,” Van Brimmer said.
Van Brimmer said his office is usually concerned with items that are mass produced.
“If someone were to take a magic marker and say something about Ohio State on a T-shirt, that’s a freedom of speech right. However, if someone is mass producing Ohio State merchandise for sale, that is illegal, and at that point is when we become involved,” Van Brimmer said.
Van Brimmer said legal action taken against offenders ranges anywhere from voluntarily surrendering merchandise to getting into litigation.
When asked if they had sought legal advice, Tom Sulzer, a senior in business and resident of 221 E. Lane Ave., said, “We asked the guy at the T-shirt company what we should do, and he told us not to make any more T-shirts. I guess he’s been our legal counsel.”
Sulzer said the T-shirt company with whom they did business has “destroyed all evidence that we did business with them.”
Sulzer also said he had to return checks from six or seven people who had already mailed them orders for T-shirts prior to them receiving the letter from the Downtown Athletic Club.
Both Sulzer and Jahn said they were surprised that the campaign became so popular and has gone this far.
“We’ve been getting e-mails and T-shirt requests from people all over the country,” Sulzer said. “We’ve also been picked up by the national media, CBS “SportsLine” even did a story about us.”
McNutt himself said he is sad that the campaign has come to an end.
“It was fun while it lasted. It is nice to know I had people supporting me out on the field,” McNutt said.
McNutt said the campaign hasn’t had a major impact on his game this fall.
“This campaign hasn’t changed who Richard McNutt is and how Richard McNutt performs on the football field. I am the same person I was before, and I had no extra pressure,” he said.
The McNutt campaign also has its own Web site at www.221lane.com. Jahn said they are permitted to keep the Web site.
When asked whether or not he will try to promote any other OSU players for the Heisman Trophy in the future, Jahn isn’t closing the door on the idea.
“I’m a communications major, so I’ll be unemployed for at least the next four years. I might have to start promoting someone else.”
