Ex-USC Star Reggie Bush Files Defamation Lawsuit Against NCAA

The legendary Trojans running back forfeited his award in 2010.

Over a decade after becoming the only player to ever be stripped of the Heisman Trophy, former USC running back Reggie Bush is fighting back.

Bush is alleging the NCAA defamed him in a new lawsuit against the organization, he announced in a press conference Wednesday. The suit, filed in a Marion County, Ind. court, seeks the reinstatement of Bush’s records from 2003 to ’05.

In the lawsuit, Bush says that the NCAA’s reasoning for punishing him in 2010—the claim that he participated in a “pay for play” scheme with the Trojans—is “patently false.”

A lengthy NCAA investigation into USC in 2010 concluded that Bush had taken benefits from a sports agent while with the Trojans, and resulted in penalties for USC including the vacation of 14 wins and Bush’s dissociation with the school from 2010 to ’20.

With USC’s 2005 season scrubbed from the record book, the Heisman Trophy Trust ruled Bush ineligible to have received the trophy, which he forfeited in Sept. ’10. The organization has maintained that Bush could get his award back if his records were restored.

Bush rushed for 1,740 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2005, a season in which the Trojans went 12–0 before losing to Texas in the Rose Bowl. He won the Heisman a year after finishing fifth in the voting, garnering 705 more votes than Longhorns quarterback and runner-up Vince Young.