While the victor at the French Open takes home a replica this year’s Grand Prix trophy is awarded, there is one unique, irreplaceable trophy of which only the replica remains: Floyd the pig.
Before there was a Floyd of Rosedale Trophy, given annually to the winner of the Iowa-Minnesota college football game, there was a live, snorting prize hog called Floyd of Rosedale, named for the governor of Minnesota and the Iowa farm where the animal once lived.
Floyd’s career as a living trophy was a short one. He was the price of a wager on the 1935 Hawkeyes/Gophers game between Governor Clyde Herring of Iowa and Minnesota Governor Floyd B. Olson, but died of cholera a year after the game.
Sports athletes are among the most competitive bunch of people – especially if they are fighting for one of the most coveted trophies of all time. In the case of Minnesota and Iowa football fans, this has to be the Floyd of Rosedale – a trophy that has been passed from one team to the other over the years. Find out more about the importance of this title to the players and their fans from Tyler Mason’s article.
Other strange trophies exist. Two football teams fight it out for a cannon. Yes, it’s true – the prize awarded to the winning team is a 545 pound gun with a fifty-five millimeter barrel. How in the world did that happen? ‘Fremont Cannon Among Many Odd Rivalry Trophies in College Football’ by Dave Toplikar explains the history behind the cannon and also writes about several other strange trophies.