Peace Pipe vs. I-75 Trophy in the Toledo-Bowling Green Rivalry
One prize began at a basketball halftime and was later stolen from a student newspaper office. The other was not ready for its own debut. How Toledo and Bowling Green changed trophies, and why the series is tied.
Sometime in 1969, somebody walked out of the office of The Collegian, Toledo's student newspaper, carrying a peace pipe. The thief was never caught and the pipe never came back. I found that line in a 2011 University of Toledo release, tucked under a heading about trophy history, and it is the strangest fact in one of college football's most stubborn rivalries.
Toledo and Bowling Green sit about 25 miles apart along Interstate 75. They have played football since October 3, 1919, when Toledo won 6-0. Since 2011 they have played for the Battle of I-75 Trophy. Before that it was the Peace Pipe. The two prizes tell different stories about the same rivalry, so it helps to set them side by side.
| Peace Pipe Trophy | Battle of I-75 Trophy | |
|---|---|---|
| Football years | 1980-2010 | 2011-present |
| Roots | A goodwill pipe smoked at a 1948 basketball halftime | A highway both campuses share |
| Made by | Trophy by former Toledo player Frank Kralik | Designed by Jeff Artz |
| Form | Miniature pipe replica on a trophy | Bronze interstate sign on a pedestal with both logos |
| Where it is now | Permanently in Toledo's trophy case | With the most recent winner |
How a brawl produced a goodwill token
The rivalry nearly ended in 1935. Toledo won 63-0, the biggest margin in the series, and BG Falcon Media's history describes a full brawl between fans and players on the field afterward. The two schools did not meet in football again until October 9, 1948.
The peace pipe came out of that thaw, and it started in basketball. According to Toledo's 2011 release, the tradition began in 1948 as a token of goodwill, with the winning school's student newspaper keeping the pipe until the next basketball season. That is the version that ended in 1969 with the theft. In 1980 the idea returned for football as a trophy crowned by a small replica, built by Kralik.
Why the schools switched in 2011
Toledo athletic director Mike O'Brien and Bowling Green athletic director Greg Christopher retired the Peace Pipe after conversations with Native American community members. They cited the spiritual meaning of the pipe and the NCAA's push to drop Native American imagery from athletics. Diane Bishop, director of the Native American Women's Alliance and a Toledo graduate, welcomed it:
Dialogue and education are the roads to understanding, and both universities led the way with their quick and respectful response regarding this issue.
I think it was the right call, and a senior running back put it better than either athletic director. Toledo's Adonis Thomas said that if Native Americans felt disrespected, the schools should honor their wishes, because they have "been around a lot longer than the Peace Pipe." Nobody has improved on that sentence since.
The new trophy had a comic start. Its designer, Jeff Artz, also made the Biletnikoff Award given to college football's best receiver. On October 11, 2011, NBC24 reported that last-minute touch-ups would keep the bronze away from the first game played for it, that Saturday, October 15, in Bowling Green. I could not find a report of what happened on the day itself, but the plan on record was a trophy that missed its own debut. Somehow that feels right for a prize named after a commute.
Where the series stands
The Peace Pipe ended on a Toledo win, 33-14 in 2010, which is why it lives in the Rockets' trophy case. The I-75 era has swung harder. Toledo won nine in a row from 2010 to 2018. Then, on the rivalry's 100th anniversary in 2019, Bowling Green won 20-7 as a 26-point underdog, according to the rivalry's Wikipedia history. The Falcons also won in 2024 and 2025, the latest a 28-23 game on October 11, 2025.
After 90 meetings the series is tied at 43-43-4. The next game is set for Wednesday, November 18, 2026, at the Glass Bowl. College football has settled games in overtime since 1996, so another tie is off the table. Somebody walks off that November field with the all-time lead and a heavy bronze road sign, and the next day most of them drive home on the same highway.
Sources
Every factual claim above traces to one of these. Links open in a new tab.
