Tua Tagovailoa’s childhood dream becomes reality at Heisman festivities

NEW YORK >> It might have been the first time in Heisman Trophy history that one of the finalists arrived on a knee walker mobility device.

But there was Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, his knee on a pad and recovering left ankle elevated, scooting across the palatial wood-paneled seventh floor of the New York Stock Exchange Friday propelled by his right foot as onlookers and the two other Heisman finalists watched.

Nothing, not even ankle surgery earlier this week, it seemed, was going to keep Tagovailoa from a round of Friday’s Heisman festivities, which included a press conference and ringing the closing bell on Friday’s trading at the NYSE.

Some elements of the weekend-long spectacle he might be forced to miss, Tagovailoa acknowledged, but not this. “It has been my childhood dream to be here.”

And when it was time to mount the stage that displayed the trophy on a stand, Tagovailoa gamely made his way, sans the device with Alabama logos, up the steps for his opportunity to touch and pose with the iconic bronze statue. First with his fellow finalists, Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray and Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins. Then, by himself.

As he gazed reverentially at the 84th Heisman that is a symbol of being anointed the most outstanding college football player in the land, Tagovailoa was asked if he’d pose with a shaka sign, but initially demurred. “I don’t think they want me to,” he said respectfully before finally acquiescing with a smile.

Whether it finds a way to his Ewa Beach home and display at his alma mater, Saint Louis School, will be announced tonight on national television.

But there was Tagovailoa taking in and relishing the moment Friday afternoon. “It is just a blessing. It is a blessing just to be here. I mean, it is awesome,” Tagovailoa told the assembled media.

“I watched the Heisman (announcement show) since I’ve been watching football growing up,” Tagovailoa said. “I got to see a good amount of the winners, including Marcus Mariota.”

When Mariota was awarded the trophy by a landslide in 2014, Tagovailoa, then a sophomore at Saint Louis, said he followed the proceedings at a watch party at the school, much like the one that will be held in his honor tonight.

“I definitely did think about it, dreaming about being on this stage, this platform,” Tagovailoa said.

In order to make that possible and still aim for sufficient recovery to appear in the Dec. 29 College Football Playoff game against Oklahoma, the Crimson Tide spared no amenity or expense.

He flew from Atlanta, site of Thursday night’s College Football Awards Show, where he picked up two other awards, on a private plane tended to by the school’s top sports medicine official, Jeff Allen, the associate athletic director for sports medicine, and the requisite rehab equipment. “It has been amazing,” Tagovailoa said.

Tagovailoa said, “I don’t think I’ll go into detail, but things have been looking really good for my (ankle).”

When he isn’t on stage or meeting with Heisman officials, Tagovailoa said he is getting treatment in his hotel room overlooking Times Square. Between them, they have kept him so busy that Tagovailoa said he has had scant time to fully reflect on the whirlwind week.

But says he has no doubt that winning the Heisman would stand for more than just his excellence. To win the Heisman, Tagovailoa said, means “being able to represent something bigger than just myself.” He would be a representative “of the University of Alabama, my team, my family, my culture (in) Hawaii back home and everything I stand for.”

No matter how he arrives at the podium.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820