University of Denver Fall 2023

In 1953, students covered their ears as the Rio Grande football trophy bell rang loud and proud for one of its last times on DU’s campus. Engraved with “Rio Grande Railroad Football Trophy University of Utah University of Denver,” along with a list of the scores from contests between the two rivals, the trophy disappeared, along with DU’s football program, in 1960. However, in 2009, Utah based journalist Brad Rock, after six months of searching and a few long road trips, located the bell at a youth camp near the Wolf Mountain ski area in northern Utah, where it was used to announce dinner time to hungry campers. Despite relentless digging, Rock was unsuccessful in learning how the bell got there.

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