Mike Garrett

Michael Lockett Garrett (born April 12, 1944 in Los Angeles, California) is a former American collegiate and professional football player who won the 1965 Heisman Trophy as a tailback for the University of Southern California Trojans. Garrett also played professional football for eight seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs and San Diego Chargers. From 1993 until 2010 he was the athletic director at USC.

College career
A two time All-American, Garrett set numerous NCAA, Pac-8 Conference and USC records in his career by amassing a then unheard of 3,221 yards and scored 30 touchdowns. Garrett also led the nation in rushing in 1965 with 267 carries for 1,440 yards. He also caught 36 passes, returned 43 punts, returned 30 kickoffs and threw 6 passes. Two of his passes went for touchdowns. Garrett was awarded the 1965 W.J. Voit Memorial Trophy as the outstanding football player on the Pacific Coast. He won the Heisman Trophy after the 1965 regular season. In 1985 he was voted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Garrett signaled the dawn of the "Tailback U" era, where USC produced a stream of top tailbacks included Heisman winners O.J. Simpson ('68), Charles White ('79) and Marcus Allen ('81); as well as Heisman runners-up Anthony Davis ('74) and Ricky Bell ('76).

Mike Garrett is a member of The Pigskin Club Of Washington, D.C. National Intercollegiate All-American Football Players Honor Roll.

Professional career
Garrett went on to star in the American Football League playing for the Kansas City Chiefs (1966–1969) and the NFL Chiefs in 1970 before he was traded to the NFL San Diego Chargers (1970–1973). He was a two-time AFL All-Star in 1966 and 1967. Garrett played in the first ever AFL-NFL World Championship Game (Super Bowl I) with the Chiefs after the 1966 season. He contributed 17 rushing yards, 3 receptions for 28 yards, and 2 kickoff returns for 43 yards in their Super Bowl I loss. Garrett won a World Championship ring with the Chiefs in the last AFL-NFL World Championship Game (Super Bowl IV), when the AFL's Chiefs crushed the NFL's Vikings 23-7. Garrett was the top rusher of Super Bowl IV with 11 carries for 39 yards and a touchdown, also catching 2 passes for 25 yards and returning a kickoff for 18 yards. In his 8 professional football seasons, Garrett rushed for 5,481 yards, caught 238 passes for 2,010 yards, returned 14 kickoffs for 323 yards, and returned 39 punts for 235 yards. Overall, Garrett gained a total of 8,049 yards and scored 49 touchdowns (35 rushing, 13 receiving, 1 punt return).

After professional football
After his professional football career, Mike Garrett earned his Juris Doctor from Western State University College of Law in 1986, but never took the bar exam. He was the director of business development for the Great Western Forum, worked in the district attorney's office in San Diego and worked in various management positions. He also did color commentary for USC football telecasts.

In January 1993, Garrett returned to USC to become its sixth athletic director. He came under fire when he hired the heavily-criticized Pete Carroll as head football coach in 2001, but redeemed himself when USC returned to status as a dominant football power. In 2005, he allowed safety Darnell Bing who was at USC at the time to wear his retired number 20 for his senior season. In 2010 the USC football program was hit with severe NCAA sanctions, and USC self-imposed sanctions on its basketball program, in the wake of allegations about violations involving former USC stars Reggie Bush and O.J. Mayo. These sanctions have been criticized by some NCAA football writers,    including ESPN’s Ted Miller, who wrote, “It's become an accepted fact among informed college football observers that the NCAA sanctions against USC were a travesty of justice, and the NCAA’s refusal to revisit that travesty are a massive act of cowardice on the part of the organization.”  On July 20, 2010, USC's incoming president, Max Nikias, announced major changes in the athletic department, including Garrett's replacement (effective August 3, 2010) by businessman and former USC quarterback Pat Haden.

Garrett is a Board Member for the Lott IMPACT Trophy, which is named after Ronnie Lott and is awarded annually to college football's Defensive IMPACT Player of the Year.

Personal
Garrett graduated from Roosevelt High School in Los Angeles, California.

Garrett was a brother of the Alpha Kappa Chapter of the Alpha Phi Omega fraternity while a student at USC.

Garret was a resident of Aliso Village housing projects