In his acceptance speech Saturday night, Colorado Buffaloes two-way star Travis Hunter acknowledged the efforts of all the coaches, family members and supporters who helped him along the way to winning the Heisman Trophy.
But Hunter made special mention of one person who wasn’t there in New York for the glitzy ceremony.
‘I want to say something to my father. He’s not here and wasn’t able to make it but I know you’re watching on TV,’ he said. ‘Dad, I love you. For all the stuff you went through man … Now look at your oldest son. I did it for you, man.’
Hunter Jr.’s emotional words didn’t even begin to convey the struggles his family experienced before his moment of triumph.
Why wasn’t Travis Hunter Jr.’s dad at the Heisman Trophy ceremony?
Travis Hunter Sr. found out his son had won the Heisman the way most of the USA did, on television.
‘I don’t want to go,’ he said in a recent interview with the Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Network. ‘I want to be there when he gets married and when he gets drafted. I’m going to watch this from home.’
Hunter made his comments to the Post on Dec. 5, the day he was released from the Palm Beach County West Detention Center in Belle Glade, Florida. Travis Sr. was sentenced to 90 days in late September related to a 2023 arrest. He was released about three weeks early.
After seeing his son win college football’s most coveted award, Hunter told the Post it was always part of the plan.
‘I really don’t feel no different because I always know he could win, if he put his mind to win,’ he said. ‘He’s always had that … since he started playing football when he was 4 years old.
‘At the end of the day, I would always tell him he’s the best player anyway so he’s got to go out there and play like it. Every time I’d tell him that he’d go out there and play like he’s the best player in the world.’
Who is Travis Hunter Sr.?
Now 39, Travis Sr. was a football and track star for Boynton Beach High School in Florida in the early 2000s.
As a 15-year-old middle schooler in 2001, he ran the 100 meters in 10.82 seconds. A star football player on offense, defense and special teams, he had dreams of playing in college and perhaps the NFL.
‘I just want to play ball. I was supposed to go to Dodge, Kansas (for junior college after graduation), but I had two kids so I couldn’t leave them,’ he told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in 2008.
He did star in a semipro league in Florida, but never made it past that level.
In that context, Travis Hunter Jr. making it to play college football at Jackson State and then Colorado became even more special. Travis Sr. often attended his son’s games, but couldn’t the second half of this season. Instead, he watched them on TV at the detention center.
So it was no surprise his son got a little emotional in his acceptance speech.
‘All the times that you didn’t get to see me, or the times you did come to see my games. From not seeing probably two games in high school to seeing me on TV every weekend and coming to see me. That means so much to me,’ Hunter Jr. said.
‘I know you wanted to be here and you can’t, but trust me, I got you. I’m bringing the trophy home. I love you.’
