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.
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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 in January 15, 1967, following the 1966 regular season (when the Super Bowl's official designation was the AFL-NFL World Championship Game) after they defeated the Kansas City Chiefs, 35-10.
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, 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 the 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" move to Indianapolis 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.
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Appearance
The Vince Lombardi Trophy stands 22 inches (56 cm) tall, weighs 7 pounds (3.2 kg) and depicts a 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.
Teams with the most Vince Lombardi Trophies
The Super Bowl is currently played in early February (the game originally took place in early to mid-January), culminating a season that generally begins in September of the previous calendar year. For example, Super Bowl 50, which was played on February 7, 2016, determined the league champion for the 2015 NFL season. The years shown below refer to the season, not the date that the Super Bowl was actually played.
The Pittsburgh Steelers (1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, 2005, 2008) are first with six Vince Lombardi Trophies. The Dallas Cowboys (1971, 1977, 1992, 1993, 1995), the San Francisco 49ers (1981, 1984, 1988, 1989, 1994), and the New England Patriots (2001, 2003, 2004, 2014, 2016) are tied for second with 5 each. The Green Bay Packers (1966, 1967, 1996, 2010) and the New York Giants (1986, 1990, 2007, 2011) are tied for third with four each. The Oakland Raiders (1976, 1980, 1983), the Washington Redskins (1982, 1987, 1991) and the Denver Broncos (1997, 1998, 2015) are tied for fourth with three each.
Although none of these teams have ever won three straight Super Bowls, two of them have won three Lombardi trophies in four years and one twice in three years: The Dallas Cowboys (1992, 1993, 1995) and the New England Patriots (2001, 2003, 2004) and (2014, 2016). The Pittsburgh Steelers won four Super Bowls in six years (1974, 1975, 1978, 1979).
Presentation ceremony
Beginning with Super Bowl XL, a special Lombardi Trophy ceremony takes place. A former NFL player, usually a past Super Bowl MVP or notable figure of the host city's franchise, brings the Lombardi Trophy to the center of the stadium, as he walks past members of the winning team.
The players, along with the Super Bowls in which they participated in the Lombardi Trophy presentation ceremony, are listed below.
- Super Bowl XL Presentation - Bart Starr (MVP, Super Bowl I and Super Bowl II)
- Super Bowl XLI Presentation - Don Shula (former Miami Dolphins head coach)
- Super Bowl XLII Presentation - Doug Williams (MVP, Super Bowl XXII)
- Super Bowl XLIII Presentation - Joe Namath (MVP, Super Bowl III)
- Super Bowl XLIV Presentation - Len Dawson (MVP, Super Bowl IV)
- Super Bowl XLV Presentation - Roger Staubach (former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and MVP, Super Bowl VI)
- Super Bowl XLVI Presentation - Raymond Berry (former Baltimore Colts split end)
- Super Bowl XLVII Presentation - Richard Dent (MVP, Super Bowl XX)
- Super Bowl XLVIII Presentation - Marcus Allen (MVP, Super Bowl XVIII)
- Super Bowl XLIX Presentation - Kurt Warner (former Arizona Cardinals quarterback and MVP, Super Bowl XXXIV)
- Super Bowl 50 Presentation - Terrell Davis (MVP, Super Bowl XXXII), who handed it to Joe Namath (MVP, Super Bowl III), who handed it to Lynn Swann (MVP, Super Bowl X)
- Super Bowl LI Presentation - Willie McGinest, who handed it to Michael Strahan
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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