Vince Lombardi Trophy

"Lombardi Trophy" redirects here. For the annual award to the best college football lineman or linebacker, see Lombardi Award.
Not to be confused with Lombardia Trophy.
Vince Lombardi Trophy
Malcolm Jenkins of the Philadelphia Eagles raises the Vince Lombardi Trophy at the Super Bowl LII parade in Center City, Philadelphia in February 2018
SportAmerican football
CompetitionNFL playoffs
Awarded forWinning the Super Bowl
CountryUnited States
Presented byNational Football League
History
First award1967
Editions56
First winnerGreen Bay Packers
Most winsPittsburgh Steelers (6), New England Patriots (6) (Tied) (AFC)
San Francisco 49ers (5), Dallas Cowboys (5) (tied) (NFC)
Most recentKansas City Chiefs
Websitesuperbowl.com

The Vince Lombardi Trophy, also known simply as the Lombardi Trophy or just the Lombardi, 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, who led the Green Bay Packers to victories in the first two Super Bowl games.[1]

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: a football in a kicking position on a three concave sided stand.[2] The original trophy was produced by Tiffany & Co. in Newark, New Jersey.[3] Others have since been handcrafted by the company in Parsippany, New Jersey.[4] As of 2017, the trophy is produced at the Tiffany & Co. Forest Hill manufacturing facility in Cumberland, Rhode Island.

The first trophy, inscribed with the words "World Professional Football Championship," was awarded to the Green Bay Packers on January 15, 1967, after they defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl I. Following the death of Vince Lombardi in September 1970, the trophy was officially renamed in his memory.[5][1][6] It was presented for the first time as the Vince Lombardi Trophy to the Baltimore Colts after their victory over the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl V.[5]

Originally, the trophy was presented inside the winning team's locker room. Since Super Bowl XXX in January 1996, it has been presented to the owner of the winning team on the field. Packers team president and CEO Bob Harlan and Mark Murphy accepted the trophy on behalf of the Green Bay community after Super Bowl XXXI and Super Bowl XLV, respectively.[citation needed]

Unlike trophies such as the Stanley Cup and the Grey Cup, a new Vince Lombardi Trophy is cast every year, and the winning team maintains permanent possession of it. The one exception is the trophy won by the then-Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl V, possession of which the city of Baltimore retained as part of the legal settlement after the Colts made their infamous "Midnight Mayflower" relocation to Indianapolis, Indiana, on March 29, 1984. Both the relocated Colts and their successors, the Ravens, have since earned trophies in their own right.

Since Super Bowl XLV, the Vince Lombardi Trophy has been prominently featured in the Super Bowl logo design.[7][8]

  1. ^ a b Korn, Morgan (February 3, 2016). "Vince Lombardi Trophy: A Tiffany Piece Money Can't Buy". ABC News. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  2. ^ "Vince Lombardi Trophy". ProFootballHOF.com. NFL Enterprises, LLC. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  3. ^ Nix, Naomi (January 7, 2014). "Original Vince Lombardi trophy comes home to Newark". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  4. ^ Horovitz, Bruce (January 30, 2002). "Football's super prize reaches icon status". USA Today. Retrieved February 19, 2012.
  5. ^ a b "This Week in NFL History (Sept. 8 to Sept. 14): Super Bowl trophy renamed Vince Lombardi trophy in 1970". National Football League. September 4, 2021. Retrieved April 12, 2022.
  6. ^ Tanier, Mike (January 31, 2010). "Excess Reigns at Super Bowl and That's No Ballyhoo". The New York Times. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  7. ^ "NFL unveils new Super Bowl logo, with national and regional looks". NFL.com. NFL Enterprises, LLC. February 4, 2010. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
  8. ^ Watkins, Calvin (February 4, 2010). "2011 logo is first of NFL's standard look". ESPN Internet Ventures, LLC. Retrieved November 21, 2019.