Vince Lombardi Trophy facts for kids
| Vince Lombardi Trophy | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Sport | American football |
| Given for | Winning the Super Bowl, the championship game of the National Football League (1966–present) |
| Country | United States ( ) |
| Presented by | National Football League |
| History | |
| First award | January 15, 1967 |
| Editions | 54 |
| First winner | Green Bay Packers |
| Most wins | Pittsburgh Steelers (6), New England Patriots (6) |
| Most recent | Kansas City Chiefs |
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. The trophy is named in honor of NFL coach Vince Lombardi, who led the Green Bay Packers to victories in the first two Super Bowl games.
History
During lunch with NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle in 1966, Tiffany & Co. vice president Oscar Riedner made a sketch on a cocktail napkin of what would become the Vince Lombardi Trophy. The original trophy was produced by Tiffany & Co. in Newark, New Jersey. Others have since been handcrafted by the company in Parsippany, New Jersey. As of 2017, the trophy is produced at the Tiffany & Co Forrest Hills manufacturing facility in Cumberland, Rhode Island. The trophy was first awarded to the Green Bay Packers after they defeated the Kansas City Chiefs by a score of 35–10 to win Super Bowl I on January 15, 1967.
Even though it is a national tournament, the award was initially inscribed with the words "World Professional Football Championship". It was officially renamed in 1970 in memory of NFL head coach Vince Lombardi, who led the Packers to victories in the first two Super Bowl games, after his death from cancer. It was thus presented for the first time as the Vince Lombardi Trophy in Super Bowl V when the Baltimore Colts defeated the Dallas Cowboys 16–13. It has also been referred to as the "Tiffany Trophy" after Tiffany & Co.
Since Super Bowl XXX, the award has been 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.
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 Super Bowl V's, won by the then-Baltimore Colts. The city of Baltimore retained that trophy as part of the legal settlement between the team and the city after the Colts' infamous "Midnight Mayflower" relocation to Indianapolis, Indiana on March 29, 1984. Since then, both the relocated Colts and their replacement in Baltimore, the Ravens, have won the Super Bowl and earned trophies in their own right.
Since Super Bowl XLV, the Vince Lombardi Trophy is also prominently featured in the standardized logo design now used for all future Super Bowl games.
Appearance
The Vince Lombardi Trophy stands 22 inches (56 cm) tall, weighs 7 pounds (3.2 kg) and depicts a football (made the same size as a real football) in a kicking position on a three concave sided stand, and is entirely made of sterling silver.
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. It is then sent back to the winning team for them to keep. Smaller replicas are made for each person on the winning team.
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, only the NFL shield was on the front. Beginning with Super Bowl XXXVIII, the shield took on a frosted appearance. Starting with Super Bowl XLIII, the slightly redesigned NFL shield began appearing on the trophy, still with a frosted appearance. Other than the logo, the trophy has had no significant changes made since the first Super Bowl. While no franchise possesses all four versions, the Green Bay Packers, New England Patriots, New York Giants, and Pittsburgh Steelers have three of the four designs.
