The Rangers will get their year engraved on the historic Cowhide trophy once again as they defeated the school down the street once again 51-6. But how did the skin of the cow become the sacred prize we know today?
By: Fabian Anguiano
The idea first came up in the morning of the first ever Cowhide game in 1955, which actually took place as the first game of the season.
With former Visalia Times-Delta sports editor, Sid Hosking, and a newspaper photographer, Don Brown, deciding that the victory team should receive a trophy.
They decided the trophy should be the skin of an animal.
Hosking, apparently, called the owner of Broken Arrow Saddlery, Arch Findley, requesting that some kind of skin would be needed.
He asked if it could be worked on before the game. And so Findley and his saddlemaker, Bill Rogers, created the hide and did the lettering to get it prepared for the big game.
The trophy would be ready by halftime, and would be given to the school down the street as they had defeated the Rangers.
It would be presented as ‘skin’, the following year Hosking decided that the trophy would be known as the Cowhide.
The hide is bolted to a plywood frame measuring 49.5 inches tall by 89 inches wide.
Two-inch framing boards reinforce the front, with smaller pieces across the back’s top, bottom, and sides.
Sixteen bolts secure the hide in place, and each year, the name of the school and the year is indented into the Hide, adding more to a rivalry that will be remembered for generations.
Fabian Anguiano
Fabian Anguiano '28,is a VERY passionate sportswriter and editor for the Redwood Gigantea. He is entering his third year with the Gigantea, and he likes motivating others and being involved in everything sports related. If you would like to reach him, just email him at [email protected]
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