A version of this post was originally published in 2016.
It’s the final game of the season. The clock winds down. The whistle blows, the buzzer sounds, time runs out, and it’s over: one team wins it all. Along with the excitement and glory of finishing first, winning teams often receive a trophy to honor their achievement. For professional teams, the trophies are often beautiful works of art and quite valuable. Some have colorful histories every bit as exciting as the contests they honor.
Youth sports team members often receive individual trophies when their teams win a tournament or championship. But the trophies for professional sports are much too expensive for one to be made for each player (although some sports like baseball and football sometimes give each player a fancy ring to wear instead). Instead, one trophy is given to the entire team. The Larry O’Brien Trophy is given each year to the winner of the National Basketball Association series winner. Standing two feet tall and weighing sixteen pounds, the gold plated figure looks like a basketball about to fall into a net (or a fancy garbage can, if you're feeling less charitable toward basketball). A new one is made for each year’s winning team. The NBA first awarded a team trophy in 1978. It was renamed for a former NBA commissioner in 1984.
The Commissioner’s Trophy goes to the winner of baseball’s World Series. Like the O’Brien Trophy, a new trophy is made each year. Made of sterling silver but covered with a gold plating, the Commissioner’s Trophy features thirty flags representing each of the major league baseball teams. It is two feet tall and weighs about thirty pounds. The first Commissioner’s Trophy was given in 1967.
The Vince Lombardi Super Bowl Trophy is also made each year for the best professional football team. It is a sterling silver trophy about the same size as the basketball and baseball trophies. It features a full-size football perched atop a silver column.
Some sports don’t make a new trophy each year. Instead, there is a single trophy. The winning team gets to keep the trophy for the year they are the champions. Soccer’s FIFA World Cup trophy is given to the winner of the World Cup competition. Like the Olympics, soccer’s World Cup is held every four years. Soccer has a rich history. Its original trophy was designed in 1930. Known as the Jules Rimet Cup, it was about 14 inches high. It featured a base made of blue stone, supporting a gold woman’s winged figure with a cup above her.
The Rimet Cup led an exciting life. During World War II as German troops marched across Europe, an Italian soccer federation official hid the trophy in a shoe box under his bed to keep it from falling into enemy hands. In 1966, the trophy disappeared while on display in England. It was later found buried near a tree, dug up by an enterprising dog named Pickles. The FIFA trophy disappeared again in 1983 while in the possession of the Brazil team. It was never found and is assumed to have been melted down by the thieves.
When the original FIFA trophy disappeared, it was not the only soccer trophy in existence. After Brazil had won the World Cup for the third time in 1970, they won the right to keep the trophy forever. FIFA ordered a new trophy made for subsequent winners. The new trophy was called the FIFA World Cup Trophy and the trophy rules were changed at that time. The trophy was no longer given to the winning team. Instead, the original trophy stayed with FIFA and replicas were given to the winning teams. The 1974 design is about 14 inches tall, made of 18-carat gold with a green stone base. It features two figures standing with arms upraised, embracing the globe. The trophy is engraved with the names of past winners.
Hockey’s trophy also has a colorful history. The hockey trophy is known as the Stanley Cup, named for Lord Stanley, Earl of Preston, one of the game’s early supporters. The first Stanley Cup was awarded in 1892. It was not designed by an artist or sculptor – Lord Stanely just went out and bought a silver cup for the princely sum of $50. It resembled the bowl-like piece atop today’s trophy. Winners’ names were simply scratched into the silver with a knife or a nail. The original cup is now on display at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.
From 1890-1930 thick silver bands were added to the base of the cup to accommodate more winners’ names. The trophy underwent some changes, but eventually came to its modern form in 1958. It is by far the largest of the major sports trophies, at three feet tall and about 35 pounds. The largest silver bands, or rings, that make up the base take thirteen years to fill with the names of the winners. Once a ring is filled, it is removed and sent to the Hall of Fame for safekeeping. It is replaced with a blank ring and the process begins again.
The Stanley Cup is given to the winning team for the year they are champions. Each team member is allowed to take the trophy home for one day to share with friends and family. This has resulted in some interesting adventures for the cup while it is in private hands, including being drop-kicked onto the frozen Rideau Canal during a post-championship celebration in Ottawa.
Despite wars, thieves, and enthusiastic athletes, these trophies from the world of sports hold great meaning for the fans and players of the game. Hoisted aloft, glittering in the glare of camera flashes, they truly represent the fun and excitement of winning. That's all well and good, but in my next post which btw is just in time for the Super Bowl, I'll explain why they're really smiling by sharing with you the amount of money the players earn when their team becomes league champion.
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