Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup
Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company | |
Location | Unknown |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Presented by | American Professional Football Association |
History | |
First award | 1920 |
Final award | 1920 |
Most recent | Akron Pros |
Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup was a silver trophy donated to the American Professional Football Association (renamed the
History
According to the September 17, 1920, founding meeting minutes of the NFL–APFA, the trophy was a silver
The
What happened to the cup afterwards remains a mystery. The minutes of APFA and NFL meetings never mention it again.[2] Aside from its description as "a silver loving cup", the Brunswick-Balke-Collender trophy remains a mysterious object.[5] The only known visual depiction of the trophy is a picture that appeared in two newspapers from the era.[citation needed]
Replacement
Starting with the 1934 Championship game, 13 years after the original was awarded, a replacement trophy was finally commissioned, and the league's championship team from that season onward received the Ed Thorp Memorial Trophy. The trophy was named after Ed Thorp, a noted referee, rules expert, and sporting goods dealer. Thorp died in 1934, and a large, traveling trophy was made that year, passed along from champion to champion each season with each championship team's name inscribed on it (just like its predecessor). Teams would also receive a replica trophy that would not have only the name of that team engraved on it. The trophy was long thought to have been awarded last to the Minnesota Vikings in 1969. Afterwards the Ed Thorp Memorial Trophy went missing, just like its predecessor nearly 50 years earlier.[6] The original Ed Thorp trophy was eventually found in the possession of the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame, and also includes the team names of all of the winners through the 1967 Packers (who won Super Bowl II), raising doubts as to whether the Vikings (or the Baltimore Colts, who had won the NFL title in 1968) had ever won the trophy.[7] The Vikings did win a trophy for their 1969 championship, but surviving evidence released in 2020 suggests it was yet another trophy.[8]
Since 1970, the league has issued the
See also
- List of National Football League awards
References
- ISBN 978-0-19-511913-8.
- ^ a b c d Carroll, Bob (1982). "Akron Pros 1920" (PDF). Coffin Corner. 4 (12). Professional Football Researchers Association: 1–4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-11-27.
- ^ "Once More, With Feeling" (PDF). AFPA Research. 4. Professional Football Researchers Association: 1–8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-11-26.
- ^ a b "Happy Birthday NFL?" (PDF). Coffin Corner. 2 (8). Professional Football Researchers Association: 1–4. 1980. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-02-06.
- ^ a b Price, Mark J. (April 25, 2011). "Local history: Searching for lost trophy". Akron Beacon Journal.
- ^ "Minnesota Vikings: The Curse of the Ed Thorp Memorial Trophy". Bleacher Report. Bleacher Report. October 8, 2010. Retrieved 2012-02-28.
- ^ "The mystery of the ed Thorp Memorial Trophy". Archived from the original on 2017-01-28. Retrieved 2017-02-05.
- ^ Lawrence, Justin (August 27, 2020). "1969 Trophy Emerges". Instagram.com. IG. Retrieved August 27, 2020.