Reggie Bush Biography

Football Player

Name at birth: Reginald Alfred Bush II

Reggie Bush won the 2005 Heisman Trophy as a running back at the University of Southern California, then skipped his senior year to sign a six-year contract with the New Orleans Saints worth a guaranteed $26.3 million. He gained 6,617 all-purpose yards in college and joined USC's impressive list of past Heisman honorees, including his teammate, Matt Leinart (2004), Carson Palmer (2002), and the infamous O.J. Simpson (1968). Starting in 2006, news organizations alleged that Bush and his family had accepted as much as $300,000 in cash and goods from a prospective sports marketer while he was at USC -- which, if true, would have violated student-athlete regulations. Bush has denied wrongdoing, the alleged source of the payments has sued, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association is investigating. Meantime, knee injuries caused him to miss 10 games in the 2007 and 2008 seasons.

Extra credit: Bush starred in football and track at Helix High School, La Mesa, California... His charitable contributions in New Orleans reportedly have included 12 Hummer vehicles given to agenices working on hurricane recovery... He has been linked romantically to socialite Kim Kardashian.

Other famous former USC students include America Ferrera, James Dobson and LeVar Burton.