Finalists Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes II talk at Willow Brook Country Club during the Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award at Willow Brook Country Club on Jan. 11, 2017 in Tyler. The two athletes will meet again Sunday night in Super Bowl LVII.

NFL quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts have long been winners, but on Jan. 11, 2017, they both lost out.

The two are meeting in Super Bowl LVII on Sunday, but in Tyler on that night six years ago the two stars finished behind the 2016 Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award winner, D’Onta Foreman of the University of Texas.

The three were finalists for the fourth-annual award, along with Oklahoma junior quarterback Baker Mayfield and Oklahoma wide receiver Dede Westbrook.

Foreman was a junior running back for the Longhorns while Mahomes was a junior quarterback at Texas Tech. Hurts was a freshman QB at Alabama.

Mahomes, Hurts and Foreman were all in attendance at the gala at Willow Brook Country Club in Tyler.

The Tyler Rose himself, Earl Campbell the 1977 Heisman Trophy winner from the University of Texas and Pro Football Hall of Famer, was on hand to present the award.

Now on Sunday in Glendale, Arizona, either Mahomes or Hurts will come out a winner this time.

Longtime Morning Telegraph Sports Editor Phil Hicks enjoyed reflecting back on that 2017 night in Tyler and sharing his memories with the rest of the newspaper team. Every year when we cover the Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award Banquet, we know the athletes in that room will go on to do incredible things, and it’s a special feeling to be part of it. Along with their accomplishments on the gridiron, what stands out about players like Mahomes, Hurts and other finalists for this award is their character.

Six years have passed since Mahomes and Hurts stood in that room of the Willow Brook Country Club and so many more accolades have been added to their resumes, but some things haven’t changed. They still possess those enduring characteristics that define Earl Campbell and got them nominated in the first place — integrity, performance, teamwork, sportsmanship, drive, community, tenacity to persist and determination to overcome adversity and injury in pursuit of reaching goals.

No matter what the final score says on Sunday, these two Texas-bred athletes will still end the night in the win column.