Established: 1959
Presented to every national champion since 1959, the National Football Foundation's MacArthur Bowl represents the pinnacle of team achievement in college sports. No other trophy boasts such a rich history and better symbolizes teamwork, coordinated effort, dedication, discipline and the desire to win.
Named in honor of General Douglas MacArthur, the trophy features his famous quote: “There is no substitute for victory,” and each year a new name is etched alongside the greatest teams of all time. The trophy, a replica of a football stadium, features miniature goal posts and archways with space to engrave the names of 100 championship teams. Hand crafted by Tiffany & Co. and valued at more than six figures, it took eight months to make. The trophy was the gift of an anonymous donor who shared in MacArthur’s belief that “Upon the fields of friendly strife are sown the seeds that upon other fields, on other days, will bear the fruits of victory."
Since the start of the College Football Playoff (CFP) era in 2014, the winner of the CFP National Championship is automatically declared the winner of the MacArthur Bowl, as was the winner of the BCS National Championship Game from 1998 until 2013. Prior to 1998 during the poll era of college football, the NFF Awards Committee selected the winner of the trophy.
The CFP Trophy is immediately awarded on the field after the national championship game while the MacArthur Bowl is presented later in the year. Both trophies are on display at the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.
Twenty-four different schools have claimed the trophy at least once during its 63-year history. Alabama has hoisted it the most, claiming it 10 times. Notre Dame is second with five wins while Ohio State, Miami (FL), Southern California and Texas have each etched their names four times on the trophy. Clemson, Florida, Florida State, LSU, Nebraska and Oklahoma each boast being three-time recipients. Georgia, Michigan State and Penn State have each won the trophy twice.
“The MacArthur Bowl is a testimonial not only to superior ability but also to the exemplification of those qualities through the team, rising above heavy odds in demonstrating that superiority,” said the late-NFF Chairman Vincent dePaul Draddy in musing about the significance of the trophy in 1964. “It is the inculcation of those qualities that makes football so valuable a force in the life of a nation.”
