Trophies have marked victories, especially those in sporting events, since ancient times. In fact, the word trophy, coined in English in 1550, was derived from the French word trophée, which meant “a prize of war.”
The first trophies, those given after a war, were most often made of human body parts of those they defeated: an ear, an arm, a leg, etc. Now that’s probably not the kind of trophy you want on a shelf in your home!
Have you ever won a sports trophy? What about your kids or grandkids? Do you have it proudly displayed somewhere in your home or RV or is it packed away in storage?
If you’ve ever won another type of trophy, not related to sports, tell us about it in the comments.
One from playing baseball. It became a dust collector, so I threw it out. Lol
Had to get rid of them when we became fulltimers🚍😎🌵
I hope you took a picture of all of them for the memories.
I’ve won several over the years from playing baseball, softball, basketball and bowling. I also have a 300 ring for bowling perfect games. I finally donated them all to a youth league to repurpose.
Once when I was 14 for throwing a frisbee. I still have it after 43 years. LOL.
One for trap/skeet.
I won one for Most Improved Golfer and one for Last Place Team in a bowling league. I received many more awards in my business world than in sports !
Won a few trophies years ago at martial arts competitions. One of them came with a broken rib.
I won a 10 mile bicycle race in 6th grade. I don’t have that trophy or any others since we moved into our motorhome fulltime. I do have my ribbons and medals for my Navy career though.
And THANK YOU for your service!
Was Navy a sport for you?
My daughter won many during the time she showed horses and I won quite a few while driving horses.
I was a pretty good bowler in the day. I have a couple of high score awards and a few team trophies and plaques.
Unfortunately, I was born before “participation trophys”, so no, I don’t have any. Ha.
Bowling. 6th grade. It was a “mercy” trophy. I have no sports ability at all.
Everybody gets a trophy now!
Yes, the Assenders trophy for coming in last in bowling – but it fun and worth it!
a 5 K Fun run /Walk event, First place in the 65 and over group, there was 5 in the group. 🙂
I have a couple from playing in a horse shoe tournaments.
I played softball for years. Montana has a women’s softball organization. We traveled all over the state, playing in tournaments. , if I say so myself, was a darn good first baseman and batter.
When I was 10 (66 years ago), I won a trophy for being on that year’s Little League Baseball team! About 20 years later, i won a trophy for the highest bowling score at a tournament. Hey, just color me an athletic stable genius. Oh, and i also won a trophy at the local drag strip in “B-Gas” in my 59 corvette powered Volvo.
Won 9 world archery titles over a 55 year international career including 14 overseas US National Team competitions. Still hold some world records. Our family of six has won 25 world titles and all six of us still hold world field archery records. Only reason our four “kids” aren’t still competing is they went to and graduated from the US Naval and Air Force Academies and are on active duty now. We have hundreds and hundreds of trophies in our garage loft. The only ones we display in the house are all the medals for national championships and above; there just isn’t enough room and really, the memory and the thrill of the past “hunts” is better than the tangible objects.
I have no interest in sports. Especially those high school sports that few can play and drive up taxes like football . 50 players and multi million dollar stadiums for what? 8 games a season?
I got a quarter finals trophy last Sunday at Bandimere Speedway, Drag racing my 2015 RAM dually tow vehicle.
Wes McClean was a soccer goalie and soldier in Vietnam in the mid 60’s. When he gave his life for us he had set aside a bequest for a trophy to be awarded annually to other goalies. I was the first recipient of that trophy and cherish it above all others. Know that you are still remembered Wes.
Thank you for sharing that!
I showed American Saddlebred horses as a kid and have been showing dogs in conformation and performance events since 1984. I had TONS of trophies but had to let them go when I went to full time RV’ing. I did keep some of the most significant such as the trophy I got with my Rottie Abbo for having the highest score in protection at the Rottweiler world championship and the one my Rottie Toby won when he won the American Rottweiler Club’s Top Twenty at the Nationals. They are in storage. I took the other trophies and took the indentifying placques from the front and kept them. I then donated the trophies to the local 4-H dog program. I also kept some significant ribbons like Toby’s Best in Show and his daughter Abby’s Best in Opposite Sex Specialty. The BOSS ribbon is longer than I am tall and the rosette part is bigger than my head! LOL
I won several trophies in high school for excellence in the band. I was a darn good flutist! As a senior, I won the John Phillips Souza award!
High school cheerleading competition team and state bowling competition
When I was doing Sports Car Road Racing I won many over 50 races as semi-pro. Set lap records at Mid-Ohio, Shannonville Canada, Watkins Glen, Nelson Ledges, and Lime Rock. Won my class at 6 consecutive 24 hour events at Nelson Ledges in Ohio. Won at Watkins Glen, 2nd at Daytona in shorter events.
Very impressive, Roger! Way back when (in my wild young adulthood), I raced a cop off the line at a stoplight. I beat him, and I guess my prize was not getting pulled over! 😆 —Diane at RVtravel.com
First drag race I ever entered at the local dragstrip, I got a trophy that I still have. Never was able to win another no matter how much money I spent.
Sports – NO. For skills in woodworking – YES. Nimble feet and legs – not so much. Nimble fingers and mind – a little bit.
I have a second-place cup for a sailboat race. I may have taken a couple of other seconds or thirds (no trophy) in the past, but I can’t precisely remember, it’s been a while. I got out of racing when it got more stressful than I wanted to deal with. RVing is much more laid back.
I won a number of junior golf tournaments as a youngster and won the State of Tennessee High School Golf Championship. Golf WAS a lot of fun however I rarely if ever play now.
Racing replaced golf.
Have Vintage Road Raced all across the country for over 20 years. Won a number of class wins in 1-3 hour Endurance races and sprint races.
Several for high school swimming. I swam the backstroke leg of our medley relay (back, butterfly, breast, freestyle). We were section champs in NoCal, back in the day.
I had to say NO to sports trophy, but I have won a rather cerebral one when I was a teenager for Bible knowledge and memorization. In preparation we studied a book of the Bible, memorized parts of it, and wrote our own questions and answers that might be required of us to know. I sometimes wrote hundreds of questions on one small book. Teams were asked 20 questions and we had to be the first to either stand or press a button to be the first to light up the panel. Then when called on we had to finish the question (not easy), if necessary, and answer the question correctly. I was on the team for 5 years. We had monthly competitions with multiple teams plus an annual round robin between teams from all over the Chicago area. I won the Personal award (for most questions answered correctly in a year) once. Due to a probable miscount I missed getting it a second time. Years later my son won the same trophy. It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun too.
I forgot to mention I also won some music trophies for piano as a child. It was only from my teacher at an annual recital, but to me it was a big deal.
I was a recipient of several trophies during high school for successes in individual swim team free-style and butterfly and had a “letter sweater” adorned with a varied assortment of “sewn on” patches for softball, volleyball, academia and leadership achievements. The only remaining evidence is located within photos within a 3-year span of year books. Memories, sweet memories.
only award I ever got was a Golden Shovel Award from a funeral home I worked for 16 years. It wasn’t for digging graves. I drove the owner crazy with BS !!!!
I won quite a few trophies when I used to race cars. However they are all somewhere in the back Bay of Biloxi Mississippi. I lost just about everything I own in hurricane Katrina. But I still have to find memories of my glory days of racing Porsches.
A small one for spelling in the sixth grade and in 1982, rookie of the year for figure 8 racing at Islip Speedway in NY.
NNNNNNNN.
it is only a small hand made bowl. Third place finish by age group in a charity 10K back some 8 or 9 years ago. It is in my garage on a shelf. It holds no special place of honor and is just a reminder that once I could do a 10K, but probably not a repeatable performance.