The Commander-in-Chief's Trophy (CIC Trophy) is awarded to each season's winner of the American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

series among the teams of the U.S. Military Academy ( Army Black Knights), the U.S. Naval Academy ( Navy Midshipmen), and the U.S. Air Force Academy (

Air Force Falcons The Air Force Falcons are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the United States Air Force Academy, located in El Paso County, Colorado north of Colorado Springs, Colorado, Colorado Springs. Th ...

). The Navy–Air Force game is normally played on the first Saturday in October, the Army–Air Force game on the first Saturday in November, and the Army–Navy Game on the second Saturday in December. In the event of a tie, the award is shared, but the previous winner retains physical possession of the trophy. The Commander-in-Chief's Trophy and the Michigan MAC Trophy are the only

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triangular rivalry trophies awarded annually. The few others, such as the Florida Cup and the Beehive Boot, are contested sporadically. Through 2024, the Air Force Falcons hold the most trophy victories with 21. The Navy Midshipmen have won 17. The Army Black Knights trail with 10. The trophy has been shared on five occasions, most recently in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

History of the trophy

Air Force first played Army in

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

and Navy in 1960. Prior to

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

, Air Force met Army in odd years and Navy in even years (and neither in 1961, 1972 was the first year the trophy was awarded, and Air Force has played both Army and Navy every year since. Because Air Force played Army and not Navy in 1971, the Army-Air Force game is the longest uninterrupted intersectional rivalry in college football by one game over the Air Force-Navy game. was the brainchild of Air Force General George B. Simler, a former Air Force Academy athletic director who envisioned the trophy as a means to create an annual series of football games for the Air Force Academy against the Military Academy and the Naval Academy. First awarded in 1972 by President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

, the trophy itself is jointly sponsored by the alumni associations of the three academies. The trophy is named for the

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, who is the Commander-in-Chief of all U.S. military services under the U.S. Constitution. The President has personally awarded the trophy on a number of occasions. During the 1980s, for instance, President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

presented the award in an annual

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ceremony. In 1996, President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

presented the trophy to the Army team at

Veterans Stadium Veterans Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, at the northeast corner of Broad Street (Philadelphia), Broad Street and Pattison Avenue, part of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex. The seating ca ...

after the Army–Navy Game. From 2003 to 2007, President

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presented the trophy to Navy teams at ceremonies in the

. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the winner of the trophy, if

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eligible, was granted an invitation to the

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. In the annual series, Air Force plays a home game and a road game, usually (but not always) both on campus, hosting Navy in even-numbered years and Army in odd-numbered years. Army–Navy is a neutral site game, usually in a major eastern metropolitan area and most frequently in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. Home games for Army–Navy are usually the result of circumstance, such as the 1942 and 1943 editions being moved to Annapolis and West Point due to

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and 2020 at Army's campus because of the

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. The other two federal service academies – the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and U.S. Merchant Marine Academy – do not participate in this competition. They are approximately one-quarter the size of the three major service academies and compete in Division III athletics, so they do not compete against the larger military academies in most sports. The Coast Guard Bears and Merchant Marine Mariners have an annual football rivalry for the Secretaries Cup. The trophy has been the subject of at least one "spirit mission," or prank, leading up to a service academy rivalry game. In late November 2019, a group of Naval Academy midshipmen stole the CIC trophy from

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

(who had won it the previous year) and transported it to

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. The prank was revealed when the trophy was placed on display at noon meal in front of the Brigade of Midshipmen at USNA. The event received significant attention on social media platforms. Upon West Point leadership learning of the incident, the trophy was promptly returned to USMA. It is not known how the trophy was stolen and transported, and neither Academy provided an official comment on the incident. Navy went on to win the CIC trophy following a 31–7 victory against Army on December 14, 2019.

The trophy

The trophy itself stands high and weighs . The design consists of three silver footballs in a pyramid-like arrangement, set on a circular base, with three arc-shaped sections cut out – one for each academy. In each of the cut-out areas stands a silver figurine of the mascot of one of the academies, in front of small, engraved plates denoting which years the respective academy has won the trophy. Beneath each of the three silver footballs is the crest of one of the three academies. When Air Force has possession of the trophy, it is displayed in a glass case in the Cadet Fieldhouse, the indoor sports complex at the Air Force Academy. When Navy has possession of the trophy, it is displayed in a glass case in Bancroft Hall, the Midshipmen's dormitory. When Army possesses the trophy, it is housed in a glass case outside the football offices in the Army Sports Hall of Fame, part of the Kimsey Athletic Center in Michie Stadium. The trophy was replaced after the 2020 season with an identical trophy. The 1972-2020 trophy is now housed at the

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Game results and trophy winners

In the event of a shared award, the previous year's winner retains custody of the trophy. *Five shared trophies, last in 2021 *Only tie was in 1981 (Army–Navy, 3–3) *Overtime for Division I-A regular season introduced in

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

**Five OT games, three between Navy (2–1) and Air Force, one between Army (1–0) and Air Force, and one between Army (1–0) and Navy.

References

{{Navboxes , list = {{Air Force Falcons football navbox {{Army Black Knights football navbox {{Navy Midshipmen football navbox {{American Athletic Conference rivalry navbox {{Mountain West Conference football rivalry navbox College football rivalry trophies in the United States Army Black Knights football Navy Midshipmen football Air Force Falcons football Army–Navy Game Military competitions in American football

History of the trophy

The trophy

Game results and trophy winners

See also

References