The Baird Brothers Trophy is awarded the winner of the annual college football game between the
Spartans
Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referr ...
of
Case Western Reserve University
Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Reser ...
and the
Fighting Scots of
The College of Wooster
The College of Wooster is a private liberal arts college in Wooster, Ohio. Founded in 1866 by the Presbyterian Church as the University of Wooster, it has been officially non-sectarian since 1969 when ownership ties with the Presbyterian Chu ...
. The idea for the trophy originated with brothers Bob and Bill Baird, economics professors at Case and Wooster, respectively, for whom the trophy is named. The trophy was created by American artist Eugenie Torgerson, who was married to Bob Baird at the time. The winning school gets to keep the trophy, a distinctive chain of brass fish representing each game played in the rivalry, and gets to add a new fish to the chain to represent that year's game. A four-inch blue gill signified the first 21–14 narrow win for
Case Western Reserve. Other fish represented on the trophy include a northern pike, a flounder, a carp, a walleye, a catfish, a rainbow trout, a sturgeon, a sucker, a crappie, a muskie, a sheepshead, a gar, a largemouth bass, and a smallmouth bass.
In 1996, ''
Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence tw ...
'' recognized the Baird Brothers Trophy as one of the most distinctive in college football.
In October 2012, the trophy was highlighted on
ESPN College GameDay.
Wooster leads the series 13–12.
The teams last met on October 6, 2012 at Cleveland, a 31–28 victory for
Spartans
Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referr ...
.
Game results
References
{{Case Western Reserve Spartans football navbox
College football rivalry trophies in the United States
Case Western Spartans football
Wooster Fighting Scots football
1984 establishments in Ohio