Randy Isbelle: COMMENTARY: Potato State Trophy joins long list of unique college football awards

July 25 – When the new Potato State Trophy was revealed on Monday during Big Sky media day, it caused an uproar.

The 19.4 pounds of potato-shaped Douglas fir wood, resting on a wooden base with a metal cutout in the shape of the state of Idaho, will now be awarded to the winner of the Idaho/Idaho State football game.

The trophy was created when the title sponsor of the “Battle of the Summits” withdrew and did not allow the use of the trophy, forcing the change. A variation of the trophy featuring a Mr. Potato Head at the base of the previous stand was used last year, but a more permanent feature was needed.

Enter the giant potato.

Some would say playing for a giant potato trophy is a bit silly. However, I’ve been covering an annual basketball contest that gives the winner a golden toilet (aka the rivalry between Lewiston and Clarkston high schools), so who am I to judge?

In fact, what matters is the rivalry itself, and often a trophy that is not taken seriously can help spark interest.

There are several examples throughout college football history where the rivalry has been going on for over 100 years and they are fighting for something you wouldn’t expect.

One of the longest rivalries, meeting for the 103rd time on September 21, is between Texas Christian University and Southern Methodist University.

Since 1946, the two teams have been fighting over a large iron frying pan. It’s not a frying pan on a mantle or tanned or unique in any way. Just a standard iron skillet. Throughout the long rivalry, there have only been two iterations of the “trophy”. In 1993 the original frying pan was lost and had to be replaced.

The origin of the frying pan is hotly debated. TCU historians say the SMU student council proposed the idea and the Horned Frogs accepted. The Mustangs’ version of the story is much more fun.

Their legend states that a Mustang fan was frying frog legs in a frying pan in the parking lot before a game. Some small talk ensued and a TCU fan suggested that the winner of the game get the frying pan and frog legs. The frog’s legs were lost to the rivalry, but the frying pan remains.

After the two meet for the 104th time next year, the rivalry will go on “pause” as the Horned Frogs have decided to focus on other non-conference opponents. Another casualty in the ever-changing landscape of college football.

Big Ten rivals Ohio State and Illinois have played each other 103 times since 1902, but it didn’t become an annual rivalry until 1914. For the 14th meeting, the two schools decided to represent the long-awaited series between the two teams with a trophy.

The two schools decided to use a live turtle, an animal with a naturally long lifespan, to represent their vision. Unfortunately, due to the difficult journey, the turtle died two seasons later.

In 1927, a wooden variation was created and has been used ever since. The winning team writes the game’s final score on the turtle’s shell and when space runs out, a new wooden trophy is created. More than 10 wooden turtles were made.

Even in the Pacific Northwest there is a history of wild trophies. The rivalry between Oregon and Oregon State battled for a big platypus trophy.

Why a platypus?

Well, a platypus has a duck bill and a beaver tail, allowing both school mascots to be represented.

The trophy created by Warren Spady in 1959 was 60 centimeters wide and 45 centimeters high and was highly coveted by both teams. During the short period that the trophy was used for the rivalry, it was stolen back and forth.

The platypus was lost between 1961 and 1986, before being found in Leighton Pool, Oregon, and soon repurposed as a water polo trophy.

The trophy was rediscovered in 2005 and with the help of sports journalist John Canzano, the trophy was once again awarded to the winning team, but it appears to be an unofficial trophy, presented and presented by the school’s student body presidents.

Oregon and Oregon State no longer use the term “Civil War” to promote the rivalry, making it the perfect time for the platypus’ return.

A newer trophy that understands how to create buzz and use that buzz for good in the community is the $5 Bits of Broken Chair Trophy, presented to the winner of the Nebraska/Minnesota football game.

The trophy began unofficially in 2014 after the Twitter account of Minnesota mascot Goldy the Gopher and a Bo Pelini parody account called “Faux Pelini” jokingly debated over a bet for the next game.

Goldy offered, “If we win you give me $5, if you win I can break a wooden chair over your back.”

Pelini’s Twitter account agreed as long as everything could become a trophy and a new tradition was born.

Fans began bringing forms of the trophy idea into the game and Minnesota proudly displayed one of the trophies for an entire year after winning the game.

After Nebraska won the trophy in 2015, it went unused the following year. Fans came together to create a new trophy and decided to benefit charities linked to each university. Much like what the Golden Throne is capable of doing in the Lewiston/Clarkston area.

Over the past seven years, the trophy and charity pledge has raised more than $150,000.

The X social media page that represents the trophy, @ChairTrophy, loved the new potato trophy and said Idaho assistant athletic director Jerek Wolcott, who created it, “gets it.”

Hopefully fans support the new piece of wood and help make it a fun tradition between the Bengals and Vandals for years to come.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what the trophy looks like, what matters is what the trophy represents, and for the two Big Sky state rivals it represents the feeling that sponsors can’t dictate tradition.

Isbelle can be reached at 208-848-2268, risbelle@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyIsbelle.