This vintage 7 x 9” b&w Univ. of Minnesota PR shot features the dashing image of College Football HOFer Bruce “Boo” Smith, the Golden Gophers’ All-American halfback and Heisman Trophy winner. Legend had it that Smith’s father Lucius, who’d played tackle and kicker for the school in 1910, had vowed after Michigan beat them for the national title that he would have a son who would avenge the loss. Boo Smith did just that, scoring on an 80-yard TD run to beat Michigan, 7-6, and cop the 1940 title, a ranking they’d retain in ’41 when he won the Heisman. Photo of Smith with an ear-to-ear grin, a towel on his left shoulder over his #54 uniform (which the school after his death in 1967 at age 47) and holding his helmet is signed, “With love always, Bruce” in gray marker. Photo is G-Vg w/some bunching of the right corner and a fold on the lower right corner. Verso has the stamping “U. of Minn. Photographic Laboratory” and has adhesive residue lining the edges.