Spalding Trophy
Spalding Trophy vs. Pitt—
The Spalding Trophy was the first to be given to the winner of a Penn State “rivalry” game, in this case, the one with the University of Pittsburgh. The Old Ironsides Trophy involving both Pitt and West Virginia, and the more familiar trophies of the modern Big Ten rivalries with Michigan State and Minnesota would follow decades later.
The Spalding Trophy had a very brief existence in the early 20th century. It was around for a mere 5 seasons from 1908 through 1912. Luckily, for Penn State, it was around during a period of Nittany Lion dominance of Pitt. AG Spalding & Bros., the well-known sporting goods company, provided a football-shaped trophy for the winner of what had become the annual Thanksgiving Day game between Penn State and Pitt. It was engraved, “THE SPALDING TROPHY FOR COMPETITION IN FOOTBALL BETWEEN UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AND THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE COLLEGE”. The winning team would keep the trophy for one year, and at the end of 5 years, the team with the most wins would keep it permanently.
In 1908, the Western University of Pennsylvania had finally officially been renamed what people frequently called it, the University of Pittsburgh, or Pittsburg (no ”h”), which was an acceptable spelling for the city’s name back then. Pitt and the Nittany Lions met at Exposition Park in Pittsburgh for what would be the final time. Contemporary newspaper reports called it a “summer-like” Thanksgiving Day which saw State Quarterback Larry Vorhis kick 3 field goals (the final season where FGs were worth 4 points each) for the 12-6 Lions victory which salvaged a 5-5 season. Winning the Spalding Trophy was also a nice send-off for State Head Coach Tom Fennell after 5 years at the helm.
In 1909, Pitt debuted its new nickname, Panthers, and its new home, Forbes Field, which opened that June and had just hosted the Pirates in their World Series win over the Tigers about seven weeks earlier. About 15-thousand fans watched as State would spoil the debut party with a 5-0 victory thanks to a Bull McCleary touchdown run (McCleary missed his attempt at the goal after touchdown). The win, as in 1908, triggered a massive student-built bonfire on the State College campus near the Armory. It also put a cap on Bill Hollenback’s unbeaten first year as head coach (5-0-2).
1910 saw Pitt finally claim possession of the Spalding Trophy. In the first game of this series to be played in modern four 15-minute quarters, the Panthers blanked the Lions, 11-0 at Forbes Field. But Pitt could not repeat the feat a year later.
Penn State would post wins over Pitt in 1911 and 1912 to claim permanent ownership of the Spalding Trophy. Technically, the Lions won the trophy for good with the win in ‘11 in front of a reported 20-thousand fans which the Penn State Collegian and some Pittsburgh newspapers called the “largest crowd ever to see a football game in western Pennsylvania'“. State Halfback Pete Mauthe, reportedly from ankle-deep mud, kicked a 35-yard field goal in the first quarter for a 3-0 lead which the State defense made stand-up the rest of the way for the win. Mauthe was also one of the stars of the 1912 game, the fifth and final year of the Spalding Trophy’s cycle. He booted a 51-yard field goal in the 38-0 Penn State victory that completed a perfect 8-0 season. Mauthe’s field goal was the longest in State history and his record stood until 1975 when Chris Bahr broke it with a 55-yarder in the season opener vs. Temple at Franklin Field (Bahr matched that effort two more times in ‘75 at Ohio State and at Syracuse). In a moment of forgetfulness, the Collegian reported that Mauthe’s record kick came from the 51-yard line which was no longer possible since 1912 was the first season with 100-yard fields and newfangled endzones (the goal posts remained located on the goal line until the 1927 season).
Despite the obvious growing popularity of the Penn State-Pitt series, the Spalding Trophy was never replaced by a new award—not even the Keystone Classic branded games played from 2016 through 2019 warranted a trophy. Although, beginning in 1936, the Lambert Trophy for the “best team in the East” frequently went to the winner of this match-up from the early 1960s through the 1992 season. The Old Ironsides Trophy which was given to the winner of the round-robin which also included West Virginia, sort of filled the gap from 1951 until 1984 when that trophy mysteriously disappeared while allegedly in the possession of Penn State.
Ironically, had the original Spalding Trophy been awarded for the first time in 1910 instead of 1908, Pitt would have become its permanent keeper. In 1913, the Panthers embarked on a 6-game winning streak and would only lose once to Penn State in the period from 1913 through 1938. The Nittany Lions won in 1919 and managed ties in 1920 and ‘21. State only won 5 of the 17 games played at Forbes Field.
Historic Note:
For the record: To date, PSU and Pitt have met 100 times in the series which began in 1893 with State winning 53 and tying 4. Only 25 of the 100 games were played on the Penn State campus (18 at Beaver Stadium), although two games were played on what State considers a “neutral” field in Bellefonte in 1900 & 1901.
The 73 games of this series played in Pittsburgh involved 6 different locations over the years—Heinz Field, Pitt Stadium, Three Rivers Stadium, Forbes Field, Exposition Park, and Colosseum (aka Recreation Park). From 1903 through the 1930 season, the State-Pitt game was always played in Pittsburgh. In fact, Pitt only ever played four times at New Beaver Field which was in use from 1909 to 1959. The logic was that larger crowds, notably for Thanksgiving Day games, would be easier to draw in the city. It wasn’t until the 1970’s when an expanded Beaver Stadium could, in the minds of the folks from Pitt, pull its on weight even with the availability of the Steelers’ then brand new Three Rivers Stadium which was actually used on only 4 occasions (1974-76, 2000).