Hlas column: College football has too many traveling trophies (like Cy-Hawk), not enough tradition behind them

The Cy-Hawk Trophy is being replaced.

That's getting something half-right. Getting rid of the trophy altogether would be the best solution.

That won't happen, of course. A corporate sponsor will commission a new trophy. The Iowa Corn Growers Association apparently will be involved. More dollars will change hands in amateur sports.

The number of traveling trophies in college football should be decreased, not increased. The more there are, the less value each carries. Rivalry trophies should evolve naturally and have a slice of history behind them.

Floyd of Rosedale is, to me, the perfect rivalry trophy. For one thing, it couldn't be more distinctive. A big bronzed pig? Fantastic!

But the back story is what makes it. Feelings between Minnesota and Iowa were bad in 1935. Minnesota gave Iowa running back Ozzie Simmons, a black man, some cheap shots in their 1934 game. Black players were few and far between in the sport in 1934.

The following year, the two teams were unbeaten when they met in Iowa City late in the season. Minnesota Coach Bernie Bierman was getting threatening letters from Iowa fans and got police protection while in Iowa.

In a show of statesmanship that our elected leaders could learn from, Minnesota Gov. Floyd Olson wired Iowa Gov. Clyde Herring (yes, the governors were named Floyd and Clyde) and said “Minnesota folks are excited about your statement about the Iowa crowd lynching the Minnesota football team. I have assured them that you are a law abiding gentleman only trying to get our goat ... I will bet you a Minnesota prize hog against an Iowa prize hog that Minnesota wins.”

Minnesota won the game, Bierman got in and out of Iowa without a scratch, and his players were a lot more sporting toward Simmons during and after the game. Herring got a prized hog from Rosedale Farms in north central Iowa to give to Olson. That pig took on the name “Floyd” in a shoutout to Olson.

Floyd's short, happy life ended not long after that, so a sculptor created the trophy that has endured. How could a hastily manufactured piece of hardware with a corporate sponsor's name attached ever hope to equal that?

Iowa and Wisconsin needed to bother with the Heartland Trophy, a brass bull that goes to the winner of their game. Which, by the way, isn't even being contested this year or next.

That trophy was introduced in 2004. The Hawkeyes and Badgers had played each other in football since 1894, yet there's no evidence of a bull ever having a role in any of their games.

It has been a great natural rivalry, with state borders and all. But they needed to slap together a trophy with a bronze bull to add something to it?

And about that name. The Heartland Trophy? Really? You've got a fairly ferocious-looking bull, and you're giving the trophy a gooey handle like “Heartland?” What, was “The Warm and Fuzzy Trophy” name taken?

Which brings us back to the Cy-Hawk Trophy. As names go ... terrible. We all know the trophy itself wasn't too wonderful, since even the two schools opted to junk it.

But you don't need a replacement. These things should come to you, not the other way around. If you do force them, at least give them some sort of meaningful context.

The Old Oaken Bucket (Indiana-Purdue) came from an Indiana farm and is believed to have been used in the Civil War. The Little Brown Jug (Minnesota-Michigan) dates back to Michigan inadvertently leaving a water jug in its dressing room at Minnesota after their 1903 game.

Michigan Coach Fielding Yost told Minnesota he wanted the jug returned. Minnesota told him he had to win it back. A tradition was born. It has yet to be ditched for a jug sponsored by Pillsbury or Ford Motors.

Iowa and Iowa State will have a new trophy on the line when they meet in September. You can't fight these things when money is involved.

But at least give it a better name. The Cy-Hawk Trophy ... terrible.