Michigan and Northwestern Announce New Rivalry Trophy Named After George Jewett-First African-American Player in the B1G who Played for Both Schools

Awesome! We've had some really intense match-ups with Northwestern in the last decade, it'll be pretty cool to see two well-respected institutions duking it out as rivals on the gridiron imo.

Aaaaand there's already racists in the Michigan Football Facebook page comment section whining about this, LMAO.

Illinois must be furious. They're digging into their couches for some spare change to buy one now, too. Someone suggested gilding an ear of corn. 

I feel like the last thing we need is yet another unnecessary trophy game, but it is cool that they're honoring Jewett. 

The close second when deciding the name of the trophy was the M00N trophy.

How great. Cool.

Awesome tribute. George Jewett was Michigan's first African-American player until Willis Ward came along 40 years later. And for those who have asked, yes, Jewett Street in Ann Arbor is named for him.

Speaking of Michigan v. Northwestern, this would be a good time to link to "A Brief History of Pat Fitzgerald Getting His Soul Crushed," which Ace did back in 2018. LINK.

This is the best thing that Ace or anyone else has ever done on this blog, and they should have just shut the whole operation down that night, because nobody will ever do anything this good again.

Why would any Michigan fan get their panties all twisted about a new trophy honoring this guy?

This seems like a cool concept, but I'll be really curious to see how they handle giving out the trophy, displaying it, teaching the story behind it, etc. Wonder if the celebration will be handled differently than, say, the celebration with the Brown Jug, the Bunyan trophy, etc. Because I guarantee, absolutely guaran-effing-tee, that SOMEONE out there is going to take offense to this and try to make a big stink over it. Someone is going to tell us this is a racist gesture, even if unintentionally, and it should be cancelled. 

Trophies are usually looked at as something you possess. You own. Owning a trophy named after a prominent African American will be looked at the wrong way by some, saying you "own" the George Jewell trophy. Of course Northwestern and Michigan will never mean for it to be looked at that way, and I believe both parties have absolutely nothing but the best intentions, but in this day and age, you always have to be thinking four or five steps down the road about how is this going to be perceived by the general public, and just be ready for that reaction, whatever it is. 

I'm not saying they should do away with the idea. You shouldn't always give into the PC mob, and I think if handled the right way this could be a huge honor for George Jewell and his family. I'm just saying both schools should be ready for some sort of potential backlash. 

How much did the Northwestern Bag Men promise him?

Can’t believe this is the first FBS rivalry trophy named after a black player. Seems absurd.

This is a great idea. And nice to have a trophy with NW. 

My reaction is that this seems bigger than just a rivalry trophy, and one of the B1G conference awards should be named after him.  But I'm glad the significance is recognized, and UM is associated with it.

Love the sentiment.

But I'd rather have an award or something named after him we can present pre-game to the NW and UM players who contributed the most to something like charity, leadership, etc.

90% of "rivalry" trophies are worthless, so adding a new one to the mix doesn't do anything of value.

In theory this is great and I'm sure George's family is very proud.   In reality, is anybody going to be excited about this?

very cool!  we need more stuff like this in College Football. 

I don't understand the people who say there are "too many trophies" in college football.  Weird, quirky trophies are awesome.  My only comment is that there should be something that actually binds the two schools and isn't manufactured out of nothing (Civil ConFLiCT, I'm looking at you...). 

Here we have a unique situation.  Jewett was the first Black player at both schools, half a century before Jackie Robinson broke the MLB color line, and how many people even know his story?  This is about as legit a reason to create a trophy as there is.

I love that both schools want to honor Jewett, and I think having the two universities (which happen to be the two most preeminent academic schools in the conference) involved in the honor jointly is awesome.

My only criticism is that you can't have a "rivalry trophy" where there is no rivalry.  I hate when people come together an decide to create a rivalry or a rivalry trophy (Land Grant?).  The best trophy games were not created, but evolved organically.  That's what makes the Jug such an awesome trophy game - it literally became a trophy because we left our water jug at Minnesota and they said "if you want it back, come win it back."  The "created" rivalry trophies (especially where there is no rivalry) don't have the same mystique.  

Again, I am all for honoring Jewett, and I love having his two universities do the honor together, but not sure that a manufactured trophy is the best way.

Not to make us feel better about our shortcomings with OSU, but this new "rivalry" has had so many heartbreaking losses for Northwestern lately that I'm sure they will have a picture of this trophy in their locker room every time they lose it or don't have it

looking forward to taking home the Jewett Space Laser

Very cool idea for the trophy, though I am in agreement that it is a bit manufactured as a 'rivalry'

Frankly, it was really shocking, in a positive way, to see those old photographs of Jewett in that era on those teams. Valedictorian at Ann Arbor High (Pioneer)? That's amazing to me.

While I don't know enough about the story to know how that experience was for him, presumably the most of the  guys on the team were ok with it.

Incredibly progressive for that era honestly