Davey O ' Brien Award The Davey O ' Brien Award , officially the Davey O ' Brien National Quarterback Award , named after Davey O ' Brien , is presented annually to the collegiate American football player adjudged by the Davey O ' Brien Foundation to be the best of all National Collegiate Athletic Association quarterback s . The Davey O ' Brien Hall of Fame is housed at The Fort Worth Club in Fort Worth , Texas . The annual awards dinner and trophy presentation is held there as well usually in February . In 1977 , directly after the death of O ' Brien , the award was established as the Davey O ' Brien Memorial Trophy , and was given to the most outstanding player in the now - defunct Southwest Conference . Earl Campbell won the trophy in 1977 , Billy Sims in 1978 , and Mike Singletary won it twice in 1979 and 1980 . In 1980 , it was renamed to the Davey O ' Brien Award , and from 1981 onwards it has been awarded to the nation ' s top quarterback annually . The only people to have won the award twice are Danny Wuerffel of Florida , Ty Detmer of Brigham Young , and Jason White of Oklahoma . Davey O ' Brien . Robert David " Davey " O ’ Brien was born in Dallas , Texas on June 22 , 1917 . As a youth he quarterbacked a sandlot football team self - named the Gaston Avenue Bulldogs , and he spent several summers at the Kanakuk Boys ’ Kamp near Branson , Missouri . At , he was an All - State selection who led Woodrow Wilson High School to the state playoffs in 1932 . O ’ Brien enrolled at Texas Christian University in 1935 but sat on the bench behind Sammy Baugh . In 1937 , O ’ Brien ’ s first season as starting quarterback , TCU fell to a mediocre 4 – 4 – 2 record , but O ’ Brien was named to the All - Southwest Conference first team . O ’ Brien had 1 , 457 passing yards , a Southwest Conference record that stood for ten years , and only four interceptions in 194 passing attempts . In 1938 , he led TCU ' s Horned Frogs to their first undefeated season , including a 15 – 7 victory over Carnegie Tech in the Sugar Bowl , and the national championship . The O ’ Brien completed 110 of 194 passes for 1 , 733 yards and 19 touchdowns . O ’ Brien was named to thirteen All - America teams and became the only college football player to win the Heisman Trophy , Maxwell Award , and Walter Camp trophies in the same year . When he went to New York to accept the Heisman Trophy , Amon Carter and other Fort Worth boosters hired a stagecoach to carry him to the Downtown Athletic Club . After graduating from TCU , O ’ Brien signed a $ 10 , 000 contract with the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League . In his rookie season with the Eagles , he passed for 1 , 324 yards in eleven games , breaking fellow TCU alum Baugh ’ s NFL record and was named first - team quarterback on the National Football Leagues ’ All - Pro Team . The Eagles gave him a $ 2 , 000 raise , but he retired after the 1940 season to join the Federal Bureau of Investigation . After completing his training , he was assigned to the bureau ’ s field office in Springfield , Missouri . O ’ Brien was a firearms instructor at headquarters in Quantico , Virginia , and spent the last five years of his FBI career in Dallas . He retired in 1950 and went to work for Haroldson L . Hunt in land development and later entered the oil business working for Dresser - Atlas Industries of Dallas and eventually started his own business . Davey O ’ Brien was named to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1955 and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 1956 . In 1971 O ’ Brien was diagnosed with cancer and underwent surgery to remove a kidney and part of his right lung . He succumbed to cancer on November 18 , 1977 . Other awards for quarterbacks . The Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award is awarded to seniors . The Manning Award has been given since 2004 . The Sammy Baugh Trophy is awarded annually to the nation ' s top college passer , not necessarily the top quarterback . The Touchdown Club of Columbus also presents a Quarterback of the Year award to the top quarterback .