Cotton Bowl trophy

DALLAS, TX - It’s an impressive sight, standing roughly three feet tall, perfectly polished, and hand crafted by a company in Chicago with quite the reputation.

"It's the same company that makes the Oscars and the MTV awards and a lot of the famous awards that you hear of every day,” says Charlie Fiss, VP of Communications at the AT&T Cotton Bowl.

The first Cotton Bowl trophy was handed out in 1937.

"The first trophy was called the Stamford trophy after our founder Jake Curtis Samford,” said Fiss.

Over the years, the look would change along with the sponsorship. In 1980 the game itself became known as the Mobil Cotton Classic.

"The person who engineered the first sponsorship was an Arkansas graduate, played in the 65 Cotton bowl. His name was Jim Williams. He was a defensive tackle,” said Fiss.

Mobil would hold the the honors until 1996, that’s when a phone company made a call to take over the sponsorship.

“It was first Southwestern Bell,” says Fiss. “Then they evolved into SBC, and then they became AT&T.

And when the Cotton Bowl changed venues to Cowboys Stadium, they also changed the style and look of the trophy.

“The base of the trophy is like Cowboys Stadium and we have the crossing of the arms,” says Fiss. “It’s very heavy, 60lbs. When we carry it around it looks very heavy, when football players carry it around it looks very light.”