Arizona Bowl keeps it local and honors community with trophy designed by Tucson artists

Early Thursday morning, Eric Rhodes carried a 2-foot-tall blown-glass and copper trophy from his office to his SUV, readying it for its journey to Arizona Stadium.

In four years of transporting the Offerpad Arizona Bowl trophy, Rhodes has figured out the right way to secure the prized item into his car. He wraps the seatbelt once around the base and then winds it two times around the neck.

Calling the trophy his baby, Rhodes said earlier this week that even his kids know how to belt the trophy into the car correctly. And when they all travel to events together, the trophy sits in front, while Rhodes’ children ride in the back.

At this point in his career, Rhodes — the Arizona Bowl’s VP of communications — is something of a trophy-handling expert, having been responsible for the safe transport of both a World Series and a college bowl game trophy.

“When I worked for the Diamondbacks back in ’09, I would take the World Series trophy around to local schools,” Rhodes said. “Ten years later, I find myself in the same place.”

That fun fact has made its way into many a game of “Two Truths and a Lie.”

But Thursday morning, Rhodes was all business as he carefully removed the glistening trophy from his SUV on the west side of Arizona Stadium and gingerly carried it under the stadium and across the Arizona Stadium field toward its designated spot in the Lowell-Stevens Football Facility.

As Rhodes walked past a few members of San Jose State’s travel roster, the pair commented on the trophy, calling it beautiful as the swirls of color blown into the football-shaped piece of glass shone under the midmorning sun.

The trophy, blown into the shape of a regulation-sized football, was designed by local artist Tom Philabaum and sits inside a steel housing created by Tucson artist Moises Orozco. The first Philabaum-designed trophy was awarded to New Mexico State in 2017.

Rhodes called the trophies a nod to Tucson’s local arts scene.

Philabaum and his crew designed several variations for the committee to choose from, all standing roughly 20 inches tall and made of glass and copper. In the end, the committee selected the current version, with six unique pieces having been created before the design was retired.

Two remain, and they live in the Arizona Bowl offices year-round, waiting for their moment. It’s unclear if the committee will return to Philabaum to design a new trophy when the reserves have been exhausted in 2022.

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After Rhodes made it safely across the field and up the handful of steps into Lowell-Stevens, he walked the trophy across the lobby toward its designated game-time spot.

By that time, news of Wisconsin’s Wednesday mishap with their newly acquired Duke’s Mayo Bowl trophy had made its way to Tucson, and the few people gathered in the club’s lobby moved aside to give Rhodes a wide berth and avoid a repeat.

The trophy made it to its special spot: Tucked under the staircase, behind the security desk.

Despite the multiple changes to 2020’s Arizona Bowl, the trophy’s pregame and in-game routine remained the same.

It’s what happened at the end that was very different.

In past years, the trophy has been handed off by the title sponsor CEO directly to the winning coach in an on-field presentation. But for a multitude of safety reasons related to the COVID-19 pandemic, that couldn’t happen on Thursday.

Instead, each team was assigned a bowl volunteer as their liaison. That person staying in the team’s hotel, donned team gear and became a part of each team’s official “bubble.”

Ball State’s liaison retrieved the trophy at the end of the 34-13 game, carrying it onto the field and handing it off to Cardinals coach Mike Neu.

Neu hoisted the trophy above his head as he walked back toward his players, his words drowned out by their cheers.

Shortly after 4 p.m., with the trophy safely in Neu’s hands, Rhodes breathed a big sigh of relief. The past several weeks’ worth of phone calls, daily coronavirus testing (nasal swabs, at that) and seemingly endless uncertainty over whether the game would actually be played had paid off.

A winner had been declared and the trophy would soon be headed back to Indiana with the Cardinals — provided it survived the locker-room celebration.

“After the year everyone’s had, we just wanted to try to give Tucson one big win,” Rhodes said