The
Vince Lombardi Trophy is the
trophyA 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...
awarded each year to the winning team of the
National Football LeagueThe National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
's championship game, the
Super BowlThe Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
.
History
During a lunch with NFL commissioner
Pete RozelleAlvin Ray "Pete" Rozelle was the commissioner of the National Football League from January 1960 to November 1989, when he retired from office. Rozelle is credited with making the NFL into one of the most successful sports leagues in the world....
in 1967,
Tiffany & Co.Tiffany & Co. is an American jewelry and silverware company. As part of its branding, the company is strongly associated with its Tiffany Blue , which is a registered trademark.- History :...
vice president Oscar Riedner made a sketch on a cocktail napkin of what would become the Vince Lombardi Trophy. Since then the trophy has been exclusively handcrafted by Tiffany & Co. in Parsippany, New Jersey. The trophy was first awarded to the
Green Bay PackersThe Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
in 1967 (when the Super Bowl's official designation was the
AFL-NFL World Championship GameThe Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
) after they defeated the
Kansas City ChiefsThe Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. They are a member of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Originally named the Dallas Texans, the club was founded by Lamar Hunt in 1960 as a...
35-10.
Initially inscribed with the words "World Professional Football Championship" and generally referred to as the world championship trophy, it was officially renamed in 1970 in memory of legendary Green Bay Packers head coach
Vince LombardiVincent Thomas "Vince" Lombardi was an American football coach. He is best known as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers during the 1960s, where he led the team to three straight league championships and five in seven years, including winning the first two Super Bowls following the 1966 and...
after his sudden death from
cancerCancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
and to commemorate his victories in the first two Super Bowls. In 1971, it was presented for the first time as the Vince Lombardi Trophy in
Super Bowl VSuper Bowl V was an American football game played on January 17, 1971, at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, to decide the National Football League champion following the 1970 regular season...
when the Baltimore Colts defeated the
Dallas CowboysThe Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...
16-13.
Since
Super Bowl XXXSuper Bowl XXX was an American football game played on January 28, 1996 at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona to decide the National Football League champion following the 1995 regular season...
, it is presented to the winning team's owner on the field following the game. Previously, it was presented inside the winning team's locker room. In the case of the community-owned Packers' two titles since Super Bowl XXX, the team's President & CEO has accepted the trophy. At every Super Bowl, two Lombardi trophies are present in the unfortunate event that one is accidentally destroyed in celebration.
Unlike trophies such as the
Stanley CupThe Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...
and the
Grey CupThe Grey Cup is both the name of the championship of the Canadian Football League and the name of the trophy awarded to the victorious team. It is Canada's largest annual sports and television event, regularly drawing a Canadian viewing audience of about 3 to 4 million individuals...
, a new Vince Lombardi Trophy is made every year and the winning team maintains permanent possession of that trophy, with one notable exception being the trophy that the then-
Baltimore ColtsThe Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League ....
won in
Super Bowl VSuper Bowl V was an American football game played on January 17, 1971, at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, to decide the National Football League champion following the 1970 regular season...
. The city of Baltimore, Maryland retained that trophy as part of the legal settlement between the team and the city after the Colts' infamous "Midnight
MayflowerMayflower Transit, LLC is a moving company, now part of UniGroup, Inc. Founded in 1927, it is the nation's oldest van line and has the most recognized name in moving.- History :...
"
moveThe Baltimore Colts relocation controversy was the decision by then-Colts owner Robert Irsay to move the National Football League team from Baltimore, Maryland to Indianapolis, Indiana completely unannounced and in the wee hours of March 29, 1984 after years of fighting over a new stadium to...
to
Indianapolis, IndianaIndianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
on March 29, 1984. Since then, both the Colts and the
Baltimore RavensThe Baltimore Ravens are a professional football franchise based in Baltimore, Maryland.The Baltimore Ravens are officially a quasi-expansion franchise, having originated in 1995 with the Cleveland Browns relocation controversy after Art Modell, then owner of the Cleveland Browns, announced his...
have won the Super Bowl and earned trophies in their own right.
Appearance
The Vince Lombardi Trophy stands 22 inches (55.9 cm) tall, weighs 7 pounds (3.2 kg) and depicts a regulation-size
footballA football is an inflated ball used to play one of the various sports known as football.The first balls were made of natural materials, such as an inflated pig bladder, sometimes inside a leather cover...
in kicking position on a stand with three concave sides. It is made entirely of
sterling silverSterling silver is an alloy of silver containing 92.5% by mass of silver and 7.5% by mass of other metals, usually copper. The sterling silver standard has a minimum millesimal fineness of 925....
and takes approximately four months and 72 man-hours to create.
The words "Vince Lombardi Trophy" along with the
roman numeralsThe numeral system of ancient Rome, or Roman numerals, uses combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet to signify values. The numbers 1 to 10 can be expressed in Roman numerals as:...
of that year's Super Bowl are engraved on and the NFL shield is affixed onto the base. After the trophy is awarded, it is sent back to Tiffany's to be engraved with the names of the participating teams, the date, location, and the game's final score. It is then sent back to the winning team for them to keep.
For the first four championship games, both the NFL and the
AFLThe American Football League was a major American Professional Football league that operated from 1960 until 1969, when the established National Football League merged with it. The upstart AFL operated in direct competition with the more established NFL throughout its existence...
logos were in the center of the trophy. Starting from
Super Bowl VSuper Bowl V was an American football game played on January 17, 1971, at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, to decide the National Football League champion following the 1970 regular season...
through
XLIISuper Bowl XLII was an American football game on February 3, 2008 that featured the National Football Conference champion New York Giants and the American Football Conference champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League champion for the 2007 season...
, the old NFL shield has been on the forefront. As of
Super Bowl XLIIISuper Bowl XLIII was an American football game pitting the American Football Conference champion Pittsburgh Steelers against the National Football Conference champion Arizona Cardinals to decide the National Football League champion for the 2008 season. The game was played on February 1, 2009,...
, a newer, modernized NFL shield (with eight stars and a rotated football designed akin to that atop the trophy) replaced the older logo. Otherwise, the trophy has had no significant changes made since the first Super Bowl. The Green Bay Packers are the only team with all 3 versions having won Super Bowls I, II, XXXI, and XLV.
Teams with the most Vince Lombardi Trophies
The
Pittsburgh SteelersThe Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...
hold the most Vince Lombardi Trophies, with six. The
San Francisco 49ersThe San Francisco 49ers are a professional American football team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team was founded in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference and...
and the
Dallas CowboysThe Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...
are tied for second with five Vince Lombardi Trophies apiece. The
Green Bay PackersThe Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
are in fourth with four.
Although no team has ever won three straight Super Bowls, two teams have won three Lombardi trophies in four years. They are the
Dallas CowboysThe Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...
(1992, 1993, 1995) and the
New England PatriotsThe New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
(2001, 2003, 2004).