The Vince Lombardi Trophy, also known simply as the Lombardi Trophy or just the Lombardi, is the trophy awarded each year to the winning team of the National Football League's championship game, the Super Bowl. The trophy is named in honor of NFL coach Vince Lombardi, who led the Green Bay Packers to victories in the first two Super Bowl games.[1]
Unlike trophies such as the Stanley Cup and the Grey Cup, a new Vince Lombardi Trophy is cast every year, and the winning team maintains permanent possession of it. The one exception is the trophy won by the then-Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl V. The city of Baltimore retained possession of the trophy, albeit a replica, as part of the legal settlement after the Colts made their infamous "Midnight Mayflower" relocation to Indianapolis, Indiana, on March 29, 1984. Both the relocated Colts and their successors, the Ravens, have since earned trophies in their own right.
Since Super Bowl XLV, the Vince Lombardi Trophy has been prominently featured in the Super Bowl logo design.[7][8]
Appearance
Closeup of engraving on trophy (trophy in this particular photo was awarded for Super Bowl LII).
The Vince Lombardi Trophy stands 22 inches (56cm) tall, weighs 107.3 ounces or approximately 7 pounds (3.2kg) and depicts a football in a kicking position on a three concave sided stand, and is entirely made of sterling silver.[2]
The words "Vince Lombardi Trophy" along with the Roman numerals 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.[9] It is then sent back to the winning team for them to keep. Smaller replicas are made for each person on the winning team.
For the first four championship games, both the NFL and the AFL logos were in the center of the trophy. Starting from Super Bowl V, only the NFL shield was on the front. Beginning with Super Bowl XXXVIII, the shield took on a frosted appearance. Starting with Super Bowl XLIII, the slightly redesigned NFL shield began appearing on the trophy, still with a frosted appearance. Other than the logo, the trophy has had no significant changes made since the first Super Bowl. While no franchise possesses all four versions, the Green Bay Packers, New England Patriots, New York Giants, and Pittsburgh Steelers have three of the four designs.
Rob Gronkowski denting incident
New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski using the trophy as a bat (left), and the baseball-sized dent he left on it in April 2019
On April 9, 2019, Rob Gronkowski (who had retired from the New England Patriots two weeks before) used the Super Bowl LIII Vince Lombardi trophy as a bat to bunt a practice pitch from wide receiver Julian Edelman during the Boston Red Sox season opener where he was to throw the ceremonial first pitch with his former teammates.[10] It left a baseball-sized dent in the trophy, his third overall, and his former team's sixth.[11] The humorous documentary-style video released by the Patriots about the incident became popular, with special teamer Matthew Slater, who witnessed the incident first hand, saying that if anyone can get away with it, it would be the "MVP (Edelman) and the future Hall of Famer (Gronkowski)."[12]
Patriots vice president of media relations Stacey James stated that, "Maybe they’ll fix it down the road. That’s something they can always fix in the future, but at least for now, we’re going to keep the dent and tell the story."[13][14]
The Super Bowl is currently played in early February (the game originally took place in early to mid-January), culminating a regular season that generally begins in September of the previous calendar year. For example, Super Bowl 50, which was played on February 7, 2016, determined the league champion for the 2015 NFL season. The years shown below refer to the season, not the date that the Super Bowl was actually played:
Although none of these teams have ever won three straight Super Bowls, two teams have won three Lombardi trophies in four years and one team twice won the trophy two out of three consecutive years: The Dallas Cowboys (1992, 1993, 1995) and the New England Patriots (2001, 2003, 2004) and (2014, 2016) and (2016, 2018). The Pittsburgh Steelers won four Super Bowls in six years (1974, 1975, 1978, 1979).
As an individual player, Tom Brady, a former quarterback with the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, won seven Super Bowls in his career, more than any single NFL franchise.
As an individual coach, Bill Belichick, a defensive coordinator with the New York Giants and Head coach with New England Patriots, has won eight Super Bowls in his career, more than any single NFL franchise or player.
The winning owner, winning coach, winning quarterback, and (if not a quarterback) the game MVP are usually recognized. "The Lombardi Trophy Theme," composed by David Robidoux in 2005, plays during the trophy handoff.[20]
From Super Bowl I to Super Bowl XXIX, the trophy was held by the commissioner to begin the ceremony and the commissioner then handed the trophy directly to the team owner in the winning locker room. The lone exception to this was in Super Bowl V where the trophy presentation ceremony wasn't done by the commissioner but instead by Vince Lombardi's widow, Marie.
From Super Bowl XL to Super Bowl LIII, and also in Super Bowl LVIII, a former NFL player, usually a past Super Bowl MVP or notable figure of the host city's franchise, brought the Lombardi Trophy to the center of the stadium, as he walked past members of the winning team. Players who have partaken in Lombardi Trophy presentation ceremonies are listed below:
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Trophy awarded for Super Bowl XLVII photographed on February 5, 2013. Trophy held by Anquan Boldin
Trophy awarded for Super Bowl XLVIII on February 5, 2014. Trophy held by Russell Wilson
Trophy awarded for Super Bowl LII photographed on February 8, 2018. Trophy held by Malcolm Jenkins
Trophy awarded for Super Bowl LVIII on February 11, 2024. Trophy held by Mitch Holthus
