Vintage Chicago Tribune: Celebrating 100 years of the Silver Football

“What football player of the Big Ten is of greatest value to his team?”

In October 1924, Chicago Daily Tribune sports writer Harvey Woodruff wrote that the newspaper had “authorized” him to answer that question.

Originally intended for the “player of greatest value to his team” and not necessarily the “greatest player,” the Tribune’s football trophy was “to give the self-effacing chap who labors only for teamwork and team success an opportunity as nearly equal as possible to the ball carrier out in the limelight,” Woodruff wrote. “Success of the stars is made possible by the work seldom revealed to the spectators, of men who are blocking opponents and offering interference.”

Chicago Tribune Silver Football: What to know about the Big Ten’s highest honor, 100 years later

The Tribune hoped the annual award , which preceded the Heisman Trophy by 11 years, would “become a much sought honor surpassing any now possible for these hard-working gridiron heroes whose efforts afford pleasure to so many thousand people.”

One hundred years later, the Chicago Tribune Silver Football remains one of the highest honors a Big Ten player can receive. The list of winners includes future Pro Football Hall of Famers and Super Bowl MVPs along with others less remembered in the sport’s annals.

Here’s what to know about the award , including a decade-by-decade look at all the winners.

• 1924-39: From Red Grange to Nile Kinnick
• 1940s: From Tom Harmon to Red Wilson
• 1950s: From Vic Janowicz to Bill Burrell
• 1960s: From Tom Brown to Mike Phipps
• 1970s: From Mike Adamle to Tim Clifford
• 1980s: From Mark Herrmann to Anthony Thompson
• 1990s: From Nick Bell to Ron Dayne
• 2000s: From Drew Brees to Brandon Graham
• 2010-23: From Denard Robinson to Marvin Harrison Jr.

How the Silver Football was born — and how the selection process has evolved over 100 years

One hundred years after its inception, the Chicago Tribune Silver Football remains one of the highest honors a Big Ten player can receive.

Column: Silver Football winners, from Red Grange to Marvin Harrison Jr., are the definition of greatness

The elite fraternity of Chicago Tribune Silver Football winners includes athletes of every size and shape, young men playing a game they love with a common goal.

Remembering Ken Rouse, the 1927 Silver Football winner from University of Chicago

Looking back nearly 100 years later, Ken Rouse’s selection as the Chicago Tribune Silver Football winner might appear to be an unusual choice.

Catching up with Bob Timberlake, the 1964 Silver Football winner from Michigan

Much has happened in Bob Timberlake’s life in the six decades since he won the Chicago Tribune Silver Football, including becoming a minister, teaching an affordable housing course and undergoing a lifesaving stem cell transplant.

Catching up with Jim Grabowski, the 1965 Silver Football winner from Illinois

Jim Grabowski was the fifth Illinois player to receive the Chicago Tribune Silver Football, but he doesn’t look back on his time in Champaign in terms of individual accomplishments.

Catching up with Lee Gissendaner, the 1992 Silver Football winner from Northwestern

Lee Gissendaner never considered a career in scouting when he was a star wide receiver at Northwestern. But scouting found him.

Catching up with Braxton Miller, the 2012 and 2013 Silver Football winner from Ohio State

For former Ohio State quarterback Braxton Miller, the 2012 season coincided with a seismic change in the Buckeyes program.

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