DAPHNE, Ala. — Like a War Eagle, Cameron Newton flew into the face of adversity en route to a dominant season for himself and his Auburn teammates, and he will be honored at the United States Sports Academy with a painting from a man who went to battle for his fellow artists.

Rick Rush of Tuscaloosa, Ala., the 2011 American Sports Art Museum and Archives Sport Artist of the Year (for painting) will unveil an authorized painting of Newton, the 2010 Heisman Trophy winner, highlighting an art show at the Academy’s Daphne campus at 5 p.m. Jan. 6.

Rush will be honored along with ASAMA’s two other Sport Artists of the Year — Harry Weber, sculptor and John Rezner, ceramics — at the annual art show honoring the annually-decorated artists.

The illustration of the Auburn quarterback will soon be released as a poster. While Newton, the academy’s 2010 Alabama Male Athlete of the Year, may have inspired many Auburn fans to bellow out the University’s famous “War Eagle” battle cry, painting Newton is not the biggest feather in Rush’s cap. The man known as “America’s Sports Artist” will be forever remembered by his contemporaries as the man who went to court and successfully fought for their right to capture the images of those who make history, in sport and otherwise.

Rush won a significant court battle for his right to draw, paint and sell the images of star athletes when Tiger Woods sued for royalties on a painting Rush made of the golfer when he won the 1997 Master’s golf tournament.

In 2009, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Rush’s favor, finding the paintings to be a form of artistic expression, and the protection of such works under the First Amendment to outweigh whatever interest the state may have in enforcing the right of publicity.