The Stanford Axe

The Stanford Axe, the trophy awarded to the winner of the Big Game every year, actually made its debut on the eve of a baseball game between the rival universities on April 13, 1899. At a pre-game rally the afternoon before the game, a group of Stanford students introduced the tool to decapitate a straw man adorned in California blue and gold, much to the delight of the Indian faithful who chanted “Give ‘em the axe!”. The next day, Stanford rooters taunted their Cal counterparts by cutting pieces of blue and gold ribbon. Cal rallied for an upset over Stanford and the Bears' fans were so overcome with emotion that a group of Cal men wrestled The Axe away from the Stanford students, who were busy debating whether or not the axe was a jinx.  The Axe was placed in a safe at a Berkeley bank vault, only to be removed once a year, in an armored car, for the Axe Rally.  After 31 years in Cal’s possession, a group of Stanford students, who became known as the Immortal 21, (known at Cal as the Immoral 21) regained the Axe after posing as photographers. Three years later, in 1933, both sides decided that The Axe would make an ideal Big Game trophy.  At that time, it was mounted on a plaque that lists the scores of each game since that year.