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Vince Lombardi Trophy

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Vince Lombardi Trophy
File:NFL-AFL World Championship Trophy (Superbowl I).jpg
The trophy awarded to the Green Bay Packers after their victory in Super Bowl I
DescriptionWinning the Super Bowl
LocationSuper Bowl (rotates cities)
CountryUnited States
Presented byNational Football League
First awarded1967
Currently held byGreen Bay Packers
WebsiteSuperBowl.com

The Vince Lombardi Trophy is the trophy awarded each year to the winning team of the National Football League's championship game, the Super Bowl.

History

During a lunch with NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle in 1967, Tiffany & Co. vice president Oscar Riedner made a sketch on a cocktail napkin of what would become the Vince Lombardi Trophy. Since then the trophy has been exclusively handcrafted by Tiffany & Co. in Parsippany, New Jersey.[1] The trophy was first awarded to the Green Bay Packers in 1967 (when the Super Bowl's official designation was the AFL-NFL World Championship Game) after they defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10.

Initially inscribed with the words "World Professional Football Championship" and generally referred to as the world championship trophy, it was officially renamed in 1970 in memory of legendary Green Bay Packers head coach Vince Lombardi after his sudden death from cancer and to commemorate his victories in the first two Super Bowls.[2] In 1971, it was presented for the first time as the Vince Lombardi Trophy in Super Bowl V when the Baltimore Colts defeated the Dallas Cowboys 16-13.[3]

Since Super Bowl XXX, it is presented to the winning team's owner on the field following the game. Previously, it was presented inside the winning team's locker room. In the case of the community-owned Packers' two titles since Super Bowl XXX, the team's President & CEO has accepted the trophy. At every Super Bowl, two Lombardi trophies are present in the unfortunate event that one is accidentally destroyed in celebration.

Unlike trophies such as the Stanley Cup and the Grey Cup, a new Vince Lombardi Trophy is made every year and the winning team maintains permanent possession of that trophy, with one notable exception being the trophy that the then-Baltimore Colts won in Super Bowl V. The city of Baltimore, Maryland retained the trophy the team had from that Super Bowl as part of the legal settlement between the team and the city after the Colts' infamous "Midnight Mayflower" move to Indianapolis, Indiana on March 29, 1984. Since then, both the Colts and the Baltimore Ravens have won the Super Bowl and earned trophies in their own right.

Appearance

The Vince Lombardi Trophy stands 22 inches (56 cm) tall, weighs 7 pounds (3.2 kg) and depicts a regulation-size football in kicking position on a stand with three concave sides. It is made entirely of sterling silver and takes approximately four months and 72 man-hours to create.

The words "Vince Lombardi Trophy" along with the roman numerals of that year's Super Bowl are engraved on and the NFL shield is affixed onto the base. After the trophy is awarded, it is sent back to Tiffany's to be engraved with the names of the participating teams, the date, location, and the game's final score.[4] It is then sent back to the winning team for them to keep.

For the first four championship games, both the NFL and the AFL logos were in the center of the trophy. Starting from Super Bowl V through XLII, the old NFL shield has been on the forefront. As of Super Bowl XLIII, a newer, modernized NFL shield (with eight stars and a rotated football designed akin to that atop the trophy) replaced the older logo. Otherwise, the trophy has had no significant changes made since the first Super Bowl. The Green Bay Packers are the only team with all 3 versions having won Super Bowls I, II, XXXI, and XLV.

Teams with the most Vince Lombardi Trophies

Main article: List of Super Bowl champions

The Pittsburgh Steelers hold the most Vince Lombardi Trophies, with six. The San Francisco 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys are tied for second with five Vince Lombardi Trophies apiece. The Green Bay Packers are in fourth with four.

Although no team has ever won three straight Super Bowls, two teams have won three Lombardi trophies in four years. They are the Dallas Cowboys (1992, 1993, 1995) and the New England Patriots (2001, 2003, 2004).

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vince Lombardi Trophy.
  1. ^ http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_company_makes_the_trophy_for_the_Super_Bowl
  2. ^ Tanier, Mike. "Excess Reigns at Super Bowl and That's No Ballyhoo," The New York Times, Sunday, January 31, 2010.
  3. ^ http://www.ixgames.com/super_bowl_trophy/
  4. ^ http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09253/996737-51.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml
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