Bronze Turkey History
Named by ESPN, one of "the five weirdest trophies in sports."
It's been kidnapped. It's been broken. In its life span, it's suffered more indignities than should be expected.
It's the Bronze Turkey, and it's the beloved symbol of the sixth-longest college football rivalry in the nation.
The exact date of the first game may have been forgotten, but the rivalry between Knox and Monmouth Colleges that began on a football field in 1888 is etched in the collective memory of the two schools.
Knox can lay claim to the inception of today's symbol of football supremacy by virtue of former player Bill Collins, who in 1928 persuaded the Galesburg Register Mail and the Monmouth Review Atlas to donate $40 each toward a trophy to be presented to the winner of the annual contest. Symbolizing the fact that the annual game was then held on Thanksgiving Day, the trophy was topped by a large bronze turkey on an ebony base. Each year, the Bronze Turkey was formally presented at the home basketball game of the victor, that is, when the bird could be found.
