Old Ironsides (trophy)
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Old Ironsides was the trophy awarded for the three-way college football rivalry between the
Penn State Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Penn State Lady Lions basketball, Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot ...
, the
Pittsburgh Panthers The Pittsburgh Panthers, commonly also referred to as the Pitt Panthers, are the athletic teams representing the University of Pittsburgh, although the term is colloquially used to refer to other aspects of the university such as alumni, facul ...
, and the
West Virginia Mountaineers The West Virginia Mountaineers are the athletic teams that represent West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia. The school is a member of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. The Mountaineers have been a membe ...
. Although Old Ironsides is the most distinctive aspect of the rivalry, the trophy was long predated by the significance of the universities' collegiate football matches. In 1984, staff from the Penn State Athletics Department informed their counterparts at Pittsburgh and West Virginia that the trophy went missing at some point while in Penn State's possession. The resulting searches yielded no trace and the Old Ironsides trophy was lost. As a result of the reduced frequency of competitions between the schools and the disappearance of Old Ironsides, the triangular rivalry is largely viewed in the scope of the individual head-to-head rivalries and not a unified competition between all three. The three schools were often referred to as the "Tri-State Big Three" or simply the "Big Three". This naming both predated and coexisted with the Old Ironsides trophy. Prior to and concurrent with the attached trophy, the winner of the triangular rivalry was named the "district Big Three champion".


Series history


District championship era (1881–1950)

In 1881,
Pennsylvania State College The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1855 as Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Pe ...
played its first collegiate game against Lewisburg where they won 9–0. This was the first team fielded by any of the Big Three. The
Western University of Pennsylvania The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, hom ...
(WUP) introduced football in 1890 and
West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia, United States. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Ins ...
introduced football in 1891. The first game played between any of the three was on November 6, 1893, when Penn State defeated WUP 32–0. The rivalry between the three schools rapidly formed as Pittsburgh, then WUP, regularly battled West Virginia and Penn State, who played an imbalanced series in Pittsburgh. Notably, Penn State versus West Virginia became an extremely heated rivalry as the two met in 1904, 1905, 1906, 1908, and 1909 in State College. WVU was shut out each time. They met again at
Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx in New York City. It is the home field of Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. The stadium opened in April 2009, replacing the Yankee S ...
in 1923. The result was a 13–13 tie. In 1900, the first rivalry qualifying season took place as Western University played both Penn State and West Virginia. Western University lost both matchups, making the first result a split championship between Penn State and West Virginia. In 1904, the first full round-robin took place, meaning each of the three teams played both of the others. West Virginia went 0–2 in the rivalry, Penn State went 1–1, and Western went 2–0 as part of their undefeated 1904 campaign. By 1908, the battle between the three was considered a championship and representative of supremacy in Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia and a 1921 article from ''The Pittsburg Press'' referred to a triangular rivalry between the schools as they competed for the "sectional title". By the 1930s, the trio was simply referred to as "the east's Big Three" Over time, Central and Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and eastern Ohio became considered the
Tri-State district The Tri-State district was a historic lead-zinc mining district located in present-day southwest Missouri, southeast Kansas and northeast Oklahoma. The district produced lead and zinc for over 100 years. Production began in the 1850s and 1860s ...
for college athletics. Pittsburgh (formerly WUP), Penn State, and West Virginia were the district's powerhouses and the title of "Big Three" was synonymous with their dominance of the district's less prominent collegiate teams: the "
Little 15 "Little 15" is a song by the English electronic music band Depeche Mode, released on 16 May 1988 as the fourth single from their sixth studio album, '' Music for the Masses'' (1987). The song was never intended to be a single; in fact, it barely ...
" also sometimes called "West Penn Class B" and annual battles for the "district championship". Local newspapers frequently included a spot in the sports section of their daily paper which included the overall and head-to-head records of the Big Three and Little 15/West Penn Class B. The two groups were also sometimes referred to as the "Tri-State Big Three Conference" and "West Penn Class B Conference" respectively. The Tri-State district also included a scoring title awarded to the player from a Big Three school with the most points scored over the course of a given season. The district title or district championship was not replaced by the Old Ironsides trophy, although it was eventually pushed out of relevance in favor of the battle for the trophy. The title coexisted with the trophy for years as a distinct rivalry and competition.


Old Ironsides trophy era (1951–1984)

The Old Ironsides trophy was introduced to the Big Three championship in 1951 by the Pittsburgh Junior Chamber of Commerce to be given to the winner of the round robin. Upon its introduction it was believed to be the heaviest trophy in the world at 150 pounds, although some sources place the trophy at 200 pounds. The 4 foot tall trophy consists of a 3 foot tall
stainless steel Stainless steel, also known as inox, corrosion-resistant steel (CRES), or rustless steel, is an iron-based alloy that contains chromium, making it resistant to rust and corrosion. Stainless steel's resistance to corrosion comes from its chromi ...
triangular prism In geometry, a triangular prism or trigonal prism is a Prism (geometry), prism with 2 triangular bases. If the edges pair with each triangle's vertex and if they are perpendicular to the base, it is a ''right triangular prism''. A right triangul ...
mounted onto a one inch thick stainless steel triangular base. On each side of the trophy is a plaque at the top of the trophy's body. Each plaque represents one of the three schools as their name appeared at the time of the trophy's introduction (Pennsylvania State College became Pennsylvania State University in 1953). Smaller plaques were annually placed underneath the large plaque to mark years in which the team had had a shared result or an outright victory. Atop the pillar sits a "nearly regulation sized" football presumably also made of stainless steel. The trophy was traditionally awarded to the victorious team's head coach, or a chosen position coach in the case of then Penn State quarterbacks coach
Joe Paterno Joseph Vincent Paterno (; December 21, 1926 – January 22, 2012), sometimes referred to as JoePa, was an American college football player, athletic director, and coach. He was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions football, Penn ...
following the 1964 season, at the annual Pittsburgh
Junior Chamber of Commerce The United States Junior Chamber, also known as the Jaycees, JCs or JCI USA, is a leadership training service organization and civic organization for people between the ages of 18 and 40. It is a branch of Junior Chamber International (JCI). ...
banquet or Curbstone Coaches awards banquet in the Roosevelt Hotel or the Sherwyn Hotel. The Roosevelt Hotel has since been repurposed a high-rise apartment complex called "The Roosevelt Building" and the Sherwyn Hotel is now
Point Park University Point Park University is a private university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Formerly known as Point Park College, the school name was revised in 2004 to reflect the number of graduate programs being offered. In 2021, it had a total undergraduate ...
's Lawrence Hall. There is also at least one instance of the presentation taking place at the weekly Junior Chamber of Commerce luncheon in the Old Vienna Restaurant. During the 1952 season, the trophy was presented by former Pitt halfback Emil Narick to The University of Pittsburgh's athletic director Tom Hamilton. Hamilton was head coach for the Panthers in their 1951 season during which Pitt defeated both Penn State and West Virginia, thus winning the first year of competition for Old Ironsides. Unlike subsequent seasons, the inaugural presentation of the trophy was done during halftime of that season's
Backyard Brawl The Backyard Brawl is an American college sports rivalry between the University of Pittsburgh Panthers and the West Virginia University Mountaineers. While historically a rivalry between the two schools' football programs, the term "Backyar ...
prior to the universities' marching bands taking the field. West Virginia went on to win that game 16–0. From its inception the trophy was met with little fanfare from fans or media. Coverage of the trophy largely novelty; the mentions focused on its size and weight, in particular the difficulty of transporting the trophy. There was little to no coverage outside of the tri-state area and within ten years of the trophy's use, the originator of the idea was unknown. Despite all this, the teams and coaches turned out to the annual ceremonies awarding the victor and fought for possession of the monolith. A 1975 article in Penn State's ''
Daily Collegian The ''Daily Collegian'' is a student-produced news outlet, with a newspaper and website, that is published independently at the Pennsylvania State University. The newspaper is printed once a week during the fall and spring semesters, and not at ...
'' student newspaper reported that the trophy had sat in "its homely location between the men's and women's rooms in the upstairs hallway of
Rec Hall Recreation Building, often referred to as Rec Hall, is a field house on the University Park campus of the Pennsylvania State University, within the borough limits of State College. The building was opened on January 15, 1929, and remains in act ...
for 10 years." The trophy had not been updated since 1970 and the article describes the trophy's poor condition in minor detail. The Pittsburgh Junior Chamber of Commerce sponsored Old Ironsides at its introduction and in each year it was officially presented. Additionally, the "Jaycees" as they are called were also tasked with organizing the presentation until the ceremony was handed off to the Curbstone Coaches. From the conclusion of the 1981 season through the 1983 season, Penn State retained possession of the trophy. When the West Virginia Department of Athletics requested the trophy be handed over by Penn State in 1984, a search of their office and museum proved fruitless. Similar searches by The University of Pittsburgh and West Virginia University also yielded no trophy. Since then, there have been no public efforts to locate the trophy. The fate of the Old Ironsides trophy is unknown.


Champions

In seasons where all three clubs competed against at least one of the others, the team with the best head-to-head record is dubbed the champion. From 1951–1984, the Old Ironsides trophy was awarded to the winner of the round-robin between Penn State, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia. In cases where there is no single best record the trophy was retained by the previous winner, though trophy retention is not equated with outright championships. There was no official method of tiebreaking,* so in rivalry-qualifying years (seasons where each club plays at least one in-rivalry game) which end with a two or three-way tie it is ruled a split championship. Win counts were frequently counted in total seasons with at least a share of the trophy. Prior to the introduction of the Old Ironsides trophy, there were no split championships. If no team possessed an outright superior record in a qualifying season, no champion was named and no shares or claims were recognized. * Apparent exceptions to tiebreaking, trophy retention, and split championships do exist. Note that in 1959 each team ended 1–1 in-rivalry but the trophy was reported by one source as being awarded to Pittsburgh, however the trophy remained at Penn State during that time implying retention. That season is considered a split championship in record keeping.


District championship era (1881–1950)

''Only seasons with at least one district game shown''


Team statistics in championship years (1881–1950)


Old Ironsides trophy era seasons (1951–1984)


Team statistics in trophy years (1951–1984)


See also

*
Backyard Brawl The Backyard Brawl is an American college sports rivalry between the University of Pittsburgh Panthers and the West Virginia University Mountaineers. While historically a rivalry between the two schools' football programs, the term "Backyar ...
*
Penn State–Pittsburgh football rivalry The Penn State–Pittsburgh football rivalry is a long-standing American college football rivalry between the Penn State Nittany Lions and Pittsburgh Panthers. The game played in 2019 was the 100th edition of the rivalry game. Penn State has no ...
*
Penn State–West Virginia football rivalry The Penn State–West Virginia football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Penn State Nittany Lions and West Virginia Mountaineers. Penn State leads the series 50–9–2. Penn State and West Virginia have met 60 times ...
*
List of NCAA college football rivalry games This is a list of List of sports rivalries, rivalry games in college football. The list also shows any trophy awarded to the winner of the rivalry between the teams. NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision ...


References

__FORCETOC__ {{DEFAULTSORT:Old Ironsides (trophy) College football rivalries in the United States College football rivalry trophies in the United States Penn State Nittany Lions football Pittsburgh Panthers football West Virginia Mountaineers football