• Sgt. York Trophy History/Background
With a win on Saturday UT Martin has claimed the 2021 Sgt. York Trophy Championship presented by Delta Dental of Tennessee. The Skyhawks finished 3-0 in Sgt. York games this season.
The Sgt. York Trophy Presented by Delta Dental of Tennessee goes to the winner of the quadrangular season football series between the four OVC football-playing schools located in the state of Tennessee - Austin Peay State University, Tennessee State University, Tennessee Technological University and the University of Tennessee at Martin.
UT Martin had taken home the Sgt. York Trophy in 2010, 2014, 2015, 2016 and now 2021 and shared the title in 2012, 2018, 2019 and 2020. UTM is 32-13 all-time in Sgt. York games (the best record among the four teams).
The award is the only traveling trophy that involves four teams in college football; there are three others that involve three teams, including the Commander in Chief's Trophy which has been contested between Air Force, Army and Navy annually since 1972. The award was created in 2007 by the Nashville Sports Council.
The award is named in honor of Alvin C. York, the most noted Soldier of World War I. As a corporal in the 2nd battalion, 328th Infantry, in the Battle of the Meuse River-Argonne (Oct. 8, 1918), York and seven other soldiers captured 132 prisoners, was promoted to sergeant and received the Distinguished Service Cross, the French Croix de Guerre, the French Legion of Honor, the Croce di Guerra of Italy and the War Medal of Montenegro. Upon his return to the United States in 1919, he was bestowed the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Following the war York returned his home in Pall Mall, Tenn. (located in north central Tennessee, 55 miles northeast of Cookeville) where he dedicated his life to improving education and facilitating educational opportunities for children in the state of Tennessee. In 1927 he established the Alvin C. York Institute after spending several years raising money for the school which opened as a private institution. That school was established, in part, to provide educational opportunities denied to the boys and girls of Fentress Country. In 1937, the Institute became a state special school after an appeal to the Tennessee State Legislature. The school, located in Jamestown, Tennessee, is still in operation today.
York died on Sept. 2, 1964 and the foundation which he helped establish in 1920 - The Sergeant York Patriotic Foundation - was dormant for many years. The Foundation was re-established by Lipscomb Davis, Jr. in 1992 and is currently run by Sgt. York's grandson Gerald (U.S. Army Colonel, Retired). York's papers are archived by Michael E. Birdwell, Ph.D., who is an associate professor of history at Tennessee Technological University, one of the four institutions that competes for the yearly honor.