Ranking Mizzou’s traveling trophies

With the Tigers’ regular season coming to a close against Arkansas, Mizzou will once more face off against the Razorbacks for one of the larger traveling trophies out there. Since Mizzou is bowl eligible and out of playoff contention while Arkansas is 2-9 and has already fired their coach, there really isn’t a whole lot of intrigue about this last game of the season. Instead, let’s dive deeper into the topic of traveling trophies. Mizzou has historically played for six different traveling trophies, though one is lost and two have been dormant since 2010-11. We’re going to spend a bit of time ranking those six trophies based on their meaningfulness to Mizzou.

To rank the trophies, we’ll take a look at how each trophy fits into three categories:

1. Rivalry: What is the level of rivalry between the two teams?

2. Story: What is the history behind the trophy?

3. Novelty: Is this something unique to Mizzou and the other team? Is it cliche? Contrived?

We’ll rank each category 1-6, then add up the points. The trophy with the most points will be #1, second most points #2, etc. Get it? Got it? Good. Let’s do it.

6. Mayor’s Cup

The trophy between South Carolina and Mizzou is based not on any kind of shared history or rivalry, but rather geography. In case you didn’t know this, Mizzou’s and South Carolina’s campuses are located in towns called Columbia. Wow. Neat. Cool. There are also 51 other Columbias in the U.S., both cities and counties. Hardly novel. The genesis of the trophy was the mayors of the two respective cities at the time hoping to earn minor political points by “wagering” a trophy. So exciting and unique (not.)

The rivalry between South Carolina and Mizzou has interestingly been pretty close and fun since the Tigers joined the SEC in 2012, but with the removal of divisions and the move to nine conference games, the two teams will only play each other every other year moving forward.

• Rivalry: 2

• Story: 2

• Novelty: 1

Trophy score: 5 points

5. Battle Line Trophy

When it comes to contrived rivalries and invented trophies, this one might be number one nationally with a bullet. The trophy between Arkansas and Missouri is entirely driven by corporate sponsorship, with Shelter Insurance’s logo even displayed on the hardware itself. The only reason this one doesn’t rank at the bottom of the list is that, despite the Hogs’ best efforts on and off the field, this rivalry actual makes some sense from a geographic perspective. That and the novelty of the actual hardware itself. This thing is f***ing huge. It is easily five feet tall and more than 100 pounds. Most trophies, when won, get carried and passed around the team. This one takes four girthy football players to lift off it’s mount (which even comes with wheels). Plus the neat addition that the winning team gets to add the middle “battle” line in their color. Not amazing, but kinda fun. Anyway, not a huge fan of the whole enterprise, but it could be worse.

• Rivalry: 3

• Story: 1

• Novelty: 2

Trophy score: 6 points

4. Telephone Trophy

Dating back to 1959, this trophy is the result of a snafu in state-of-the-art technology (some things never change.) Somehow, the phone lines from the coaches boxes to the sidelines in Ames, Iowa were wired so that both Mizzou and Iowa State coaches could hear conversations from the opposing teams. The problem was fixed before the game started, but Northwestern Bell Telephone Company decided to commemorate the whole thing with a trophy. See, corporate sponsorships aren’t a new thing! It seems a bit cuter though when they happen 66 years ago. The Iowa State-Mizzou rivalry is pretty defunct at this point, which hurts the trophy’s overall rating, but it’s a fun, if dormant, trophy.

• Rivalry: 1

• Story: 3

• Novelty: 4

Trophy score: 8

3. Victory Bell

Probably the least-known of the Mizzou traveling trophies (here in 2025 at least,) the Victory Bell harkens all the way back to 1892, when it was stolen from a Nebraskan church by Husker frat guys (once again, somethings never change.) The bell was passed around Nub Greek organizations as a prize for winning intramural competitions until 1926 when Mizzou’s Chester Brewer proposed a traveling trophy between the two schools for football. Nebraskan administrators repurposed the bell as a trophy and it has been passed back and forth from Lincoln and Columbia (mostly Lincoln, sadly) ever since.

This is a cool, really old trophy, even if the actual trophy itself isn’t all that unique. Sadly, this rivalry had been dormant since Nebraska destroyed the Big 12 in 2010 by jumping ship to the Big Ten. Regardless, if the two teams ever play again, this trophy will hopefully get dusted off and put back up for grabs.

• Rivalry: 4

• Story: 4

• Novelty: 3

Trophy Score: 11

2. Tiger-Sooner Peace Pipe

Dating back to 1940, a genuine Native American peace pipe was donated by a 1923 Mizzou grad to be used as a traveling trophy. The peace pipe, in the form of a tomahawk, was believed to be more than 100 years old as of 1940 and had belonged to the Pawnee tribe of indigenous peoples who lived throughout the Great Plains.

As problematic as the genesis of the pipe may be, the truth is that it is a really damn cool piece of history. Sadly, the absent-minded Okies seem to have lost the invaluable artifact some time between 1974 and 1975. The Sooners won the game in ‘74 and thus took possession of the pipe. They did not bring it to the 1975 game and it has been lost ever since. Now that the Oklahoma-Mizzou rivalry has been renewed annually in perpetuity (for now, at least,) it would be fun if it were to magically reappear in some dusty closet in Norman. Probably won’t happen, but who knows!

• Rivalry: 5

• Story: 5

• Novelty: 6

Trophy Score: 16

1. Border War Drum

In what should be a surprise to no one, the Border War Drum tops this list. First and foremost, I mean, it’s kansas. Anything that helps celebrate beating those dweebs is going to shoot all the way to the top of the list. Also, it’s got a pretty cool story too.

In 1937, the kansas University Letterman’s Association presented an authentic Native American tom-tom drum to the winner of the Border War football game each year. Mizzou won the first several match ups and held onto the drum until the trophy was forgotten during the World War II era. The tradition resumed in 1947 until the drum disappeared in the 1980s. Thankfully the Taos tribe of New Mexico built a new drum. The original was eventually found in the basement of the now defunct Read Hall on Mizzou’s campus and sits in the College Football Hall of Fame.

• Rivalry: 6

• Story: 6

• Novelty: 5

Trophy score: 17