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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/NorthwestPurple on 2023-10-09 17:07:49.
The Toledo Cup national championship trophy is going to be in the news a lot this year, with Georgia going for #3. But this recent story about Minnesota’s threepeat had another interesting trophy tidbit:
Tucked away in another trophy case inside the Larson Football Performance Center is the 1935 national championship trophy. The football on it looks more like a rugby ball and the football player atop the ball looks a lot like the figure on the Heisman Trophy. The inscription reads, ‘Minnesota National Football Champion, 1935, Presented by National Italian American Civic League’.
You may have heard of the rather informal way the national championship was determined in the past. Yes, the National Italian-American Civic League selected its own national champion and presented its own trophy. Here’s the trophy for 1935:
Gophers to Receive Title Trophy [image]
The NIACL awarded a national championship trophy in 1935 and 1936. This is a full 6 years before the Associated Press, which awarded its first trophy in 1941.
They also awarded a different trophy for the outstanding Italian-American Athletes. In 1938-1939 it was won by Joe Giallombrado, gymnast, at the University of Illinois. Who would win it in football in 2023?
A. R. Rizzuto Trophy for outstanding Italian-American athlete of the year, 1939
Here are some modern pictures of the Italian-American national championship trophy, on display in a past version of the Minnesota trophy case. It’s sitting in front of the “Knute Rockne Intercollegiate Memorial Trophy”, the second trophy awarded by the Dickinson System (and precursor to the first traveling AP Trophy).