It's simple -- just like the two states it represents -- a 30-inch trophy with a wooden base and a brushed silver football on top. The new Heroes Game trophy was unveiled Wednesday at Memorial Stadium. It will go to the winner of the annual Nebraska-Iowa game, this year's edition to be played at 11 a.m. Friday.
The front displays the Heroes Game logo, and the trophy features themes of tradition, valor and victory. The back includes images of Nebraska's Memorial Stadium and Iowa's Kinnick Stadium and lists traditions of the two institutions and their football programs. The left side has small plaques or badges that will be dated and carry the names of the two citizen heroes chosen each year. The right side has badges that will be dated and carry the final score of each Heroes Game. The stone base of the trophy is etched with corn stalks.
Brenda Jo Schawang and her son Taylor visited the stadium and checked out the trophy Wednesday morning -- they gave their approval. "It's nice. You're Nebraska and Iowa, and you're simple; life is simple here," Brenda Jo Schawang said. "This trophy does the states justice -- it's the epitome of what we are." Schawang was born and raised in Humboldt but moved to Jacksonville, FL. It's the first time her grown son has been to the stadium. They said trophies aren't that big of a deal to them as fans, unless it's the big one with the crystal football on top -- the National Championship Trophy.
The Heroes Game trophy does have a football, just not crystal. The brushed metal football is etched with laurel leaves. In ancient Greece, a laurel leaf crown was awarded to the victors of the Olympic Games. Those were the heroes of their time and the laurel leaf crown was considered the symbol of a hero, an athletic department press release said. "The trophy itself is just a piece of metal; it's the bragging rights that matter," Taylor Schawang said.
Fans can view the trophy at the Husker Nation Pavilion from 8-10 a.m. Friday.
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