Slab of Bacon
Encyclopedia
| Slab of Bacon | |
| Teams | Wisconsin Badgers Wisconsin Badgers football The Wisconsin Badgers are a college football program that represents the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision and the Big Ten Conference. They play their home games at Camp Randall Stadium, the fourth-oldest stadium in college football... Minnesota Golden Gophers Minnesota Golden Gophers football The University of Minnesota Golden Gophers are one of the oldest programs in college football history. They compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision and the Big Ten Conference. The Golden Gophers have claimed six national championships and have an all time record of 646–481–44 as... |
| Originated | 1930 |
| Ended | 1943 |
| Trophy Series | Minnesota leads, 11-3 |
| Final Holder | Minnesota |
| Final Resting Place | Wisconsin |
| Current Trophy | Paul Bunyan's Axe Paul Bunyan's Axe Paul Bunyan's Axe, named after the mythical giant lumberjack Paul Bunyan, is a prize awarded every year to the winner of the college football game between Minnesota and Wisconsin.-History:... |
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The Slab of Bacon was a traveling trophy
Trophy
A trophy is a reward for a specific achievement, and serves as recognition or evidence of merit. Trophies are most often awarded for sporting events, from youth sports to professional level athletics...
that passed between the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
Badgers
Wisconsin Badgers
The Wisconsin Badgers are the collegiate athletic teams from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. This NCAA Division I athletic program has teams in football, basketball, ice hockey, volleyball, soccer, cross country, tennis, swimming, wrestling, track and field, rowing, golf, and softball...
and University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
Golden Gophers
Minnesota Golden Gophers football
The University of Minnesota Golden Gophers are one of the oldest programs in college football history. They compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision and the Big Ten Conference. The Golden Gophers have claimed six national championships and have an all time record of 646–481–44 as...
football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
teams, given annually to the winning team immediately upon the conclusion of the game. It was the first symbol of one of the most heated rivalries in college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
and is most-played rivalry in Division I-A football, with 120 editions dating back to 1890.
Creation
The Slab of Bacon was created in 1930 as a way for the universities to commemorate their rivalry. The Slab of Bacon was a piece of black walnutBlack Walnut
Juglans nigra, the Eastern Black walnut, is a species of flowering tree in the hickory family, Juglandaceae, that is native to eastern North America. It grows mostly in riparian zones, from southern Ontario, west to southeast South Dakota, south to Georgia, northern Florida and southwest to central...
wood carved with a football topped by a letter W or M, depending on which end it was hung from. It was carved by Dr. R. B. Fouch of Minneapolis. Scores of each Wisconsin–Minnesota game were printed on the back of the trophy. When the trophy changed hands, it was presented to the winning school by a sorority from the losing school.
Lost and replaced
After the Gophers' 1943 victory, a ceremonial exchange was supposed to take place, but the officials involved could not find each other on the field. Wisconsin sent the trophy to Minnesota's locker room. The Gophers' coach at the time, Dr. George HauserGeorge Hauser
-External links:...
, refused to accept it, stating he believed "such trophies should be out for the duration" (of World War II).
The trophy disappeared and was replaced by Paul Bunyan's Axe
Paul Bunyan's Axe
Paul Bunyan's Axe, named after the mythical giant lumberjack Paul Bunyan, is a prize awarded every year to the winner of the college football game between Minnesota and Wisconsin.-History:...
in 1948.
Found
The Slab of Bacon was missing until 1994, when it was discovered in a storage room at the Wisconsin Athletic Department during a renovation of Camp Randall StadiumCamp Randall Stadium
Camp Randall Stadium is an outdoor stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. It has been the home of the Wisconsin Badgers football team in rudimentary form since 1895, and as a complete stadium since 1917. It is located on the center-southern region of the University of Wisconsin campus. The stadium seats...
. Although allegedly "lost," it had been maintained: as the scores of every Wisconsin-Minnesota game from 1930 through 1970 were evident on the back of the slab.
The Slab of Bacon is currently housed in the Wisconsin football office at Camp Randall Stadium. "We took home the bacon," then-head coach Barry Alvarez
Barry Alvarez
Barry Alvarez is a former American football player and coach and currently the Director of Athletics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He served as the head football coach at Wisconsin for 16 seasons from 1990 to 2005, compiling a career college football record of 118–73–4...
said, "and kept it."