Sweet Sioux Tomahawk

The Sweet Sioux Tomahawk was presented to the winner of the annual college football game between Illinois rivals Northwestern University, located in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, and the University of Illinois, located on the border between the central Illinois cities of Champaign and Urbana. The original trophy was a carved wooden "cigar store" Indian, but was stolen and replaced by a replica of a tomahawk.^[1]

Northwestern won the Tomahawk first in 1945, beating Illinois 13-7 in Evanston. At the end of the 2008 football season, when the teams last played for the trophy, Illinois held a 52-45-5 edge in the series overall, and a 33-29-2 lead during the era of the Tomahawk. Northwestern narrowed the series record in the trophy's final years, winning five of the last six meetings.

The Saturday, November 22, 2008 Illinois-Northwestern football game in Evanston was the final time the two teams played for the Tomahawk, which Northwestern won 27-10. The NCAA mandated that all Native American imagery deemed hostile and abusive must be removed from college athletics, including the Sweet Sioux Tomahawk. Before the game, the schools agreed that Northwestern would be the trophy's permanent resting place (if Illinois had won the game, it would have surrendered the trophy to Northwestern after the on-field celebration). The teams began competing for a new prize, the Land of Lincoln Trophy, in 2009.^[2]

References

External links

• Illinois-Northwestern Series History