O.J. Simpson's 1968 Heisman Trophy Sold to Reno Collector in 2018

O.J. Simpson's 1968 Heisman Trophy was sold to a sports memorabilia collector in Reno in 2018.

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

O.J. Simpson's 1968 Heisman Trophy no longer lives in a Philadelphia bank fault.

According to ESPN's Ryan McGee, the man that purchased the trophy in 1999, Tom Kriessman, admitted he no longer owns it. 

Kriessman, a Philadelphia sheet-metal wholesaler, purchased the trophy at an auction for $255,000. He kept it in a vault and previously confirmed to ESPN that he was still the owner of the award. Kriessman later said he sold the trophy to Rick Reviglio, president and general manager of a construction wholesale supplier in Reno.

Both men told ESPN that Reviglio purchased the trophy in secret from Kriessman in 2018 and it is part of Reviglio's private sports memorabilia collection. They did not disclose how much he paid for it.

People close to Reviglio told ESPN that Simpson's Heisman Trophy was his "white whale." His personal memorabilia collection includes a chair thrown by Bobby Knight in 1985, a stick used by a USA Hockey player to score against the USSR in the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" game and a baseball signed by an unnamed pope.

"I have no interest in selling the Heisman and it is my express goal to continue adding to my collection so that someday my children's children and their children have one of the finest American sports memorabilia collections ever known," Reviglio wrote to ESPN in an email.

Simpson won the 1968 Heisman Trophy after rushing for 1,880 yards and 23 touchdowns as a sophomore at USC. It was in his possession until it was auctioned off in 1999. He sold his belongings to pay $33.5 million in compensatory and punitive damages after he was found liable for the deaths of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman in 1997 in a civil suit.