Vigo County Historical Society

Bronze turkey awarded to winning team now roosts at museum

The Historical Treasure for this week is the bronze turkey coveted by Garfield and Wiley High schools for 37 years.

The annual Turkey Day football game, played on Thanksgiving Day afternoon, ended the local high school football season and because of the intense cross-town rivalry of the two teams, the outcome was seldom predictable.

In 1934, local sportswriter Bob Nesbit wrote, "The old rule that a victory [in the Thanksgiving Day game] stamps out all earlier failures still seems to hold good. They will be two entirely different looking crews when they take the field on Turkey Day."

The coveted bronze turkey trophy made its first appearance at the 1934 contest. The Indiana University Alumni Club of Terre Haute initially had a dance on Wednesday night before Thanksgiving for college students who were home for the holiday.

That year the dance took place in the Trianon Hall and proceeds from the dance were used to purchase the trophy and set up a scholarship fund.

The bronze turkey was awarded to the winning team each year from that date and the school was entitled to keep the trophy until the next Turkey Day game.

A chain was attached to the trophy with a "G" and "W" added for the winning team each year.

The football game between Garfield and Wiley was played on Thanksgiving Day through 1952. It was then moved to an earlier date because crowds were getting smaller and it was believed that the cold weather was keeping people home. Also, the poor playing condition of the field always caused considerable damage to the equipment.

In the 56 times the two teams met, Wiley won 27 games and Garfield won 23. There were six games in the series. The last Garfield-Wiley game was played October 9, 1970. The coaches were Gene Shike for Garfield and Bud Spence for Wiley. Spence, a Garfield graduate, had been a member of the 1954 Garfield team which ended its season undefeated. Wiley won the finale 22-0.

Today the bronze turkey has found a home in the museum.