Hickory Stick

Hickory stick (the tall slender trophy) in the display case at Northwest Missouri in 2009

The Hickory Stick is a college football rivalry between NCAA Division II teams Northwest Missouri State University and Truman State University.

It is the oldest traveling trophy in Division II football.^[1] When Truman jumped to the Great Lakes Valley Conference in 2012, no games were played in 2012 and 2013.

The teams, which are founding members of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association have been playing each other since 1908. With the expansion of the MIAA in 2012, teams in the league will play in divisions and the two schools are in different MIAA divisions. Consequently starting in 2012 they would have played each other every other year.^[2] With Truman State leaving for the GLVC in 2013 and Northwest Missouri only able to schedule MIAA opponents, the future of the rivalry is in now in doubt.

History

In 1930 Northwest President Uel W. Lamkin proposed the two schools play each other on Veterans Day. The award would be a polished hickory stick which had originally come from the Harrison County, Missouri farm where Northeast president Eugene Fair was born. Harrison County is in the district where students were supposed to go Northwest instead of Northeast.

The stick is two & a half feet long and tapers from a diameter of 1½” to about 1”. It was polished and lettered in the wood shop at Northwest. When it was created it had the scores from all the games since the two started playing in 1908 through 1930. The winner of the game dips the stick in the school color.^[3]

During the first games Northeast was coached by Don Faurot while Northwest was coached by

The games were played on Veterans Day only in 1931-1933.

Game results

At the conclusion of the September 2, 2011 game, Truman has the edge in the series 54-33-4. ^[4]

Abbreviations: K=Kirksville, Missouri; M=Maryville, Missouri; NW=Northwest; TS=Truman State

References