"On March 3, 1836, during the siege of the Alamo, Bonham, a childhood friend of Col. Travis, braved intense fire from enemy troops to return to the Alamo and deliver the message that reinforcements would not make it in time. Despite urging from General Houston to remain, Bonham explained he was a 'man of his word' and compelled to return to his comrades at the Alamo. Three days after his return, the Alamo fell and Bonham fell at his post along with the rest of the defenders in the name of Liberty and Freedom."
Trophy hidden at the Alamo (story SA Express)
Hidden at the Alamo: Why trophy meant for winner of Texas A&M-South Carolina is hardly ever seen
June 11, 2019Updated: June 11, 2019 6:54 p.m.
The Alamo Collection holds many artifacts, but only two are related to sports: a pair of ice skates from the 1850s and the Bonham Trophy.
The trophy, awarded to the winner of the annual Texas A&M-South Carolina football game, has maintained a low profile since its inception in 2014.
"I think part of it is that it hasn't really been promoted," said Bruce Winders, Alamo curator and resident historian. "It reposes (at the Alamo), but it's not our task to actually promote it. We care for it. It just needs some better promotion.
"It needs people to know it exists."
In fact, it hardly ever leaves the archive room, and it never has made a public appearance, not even at any of the five football games between the Aggies and Gamecocks.
Before last season's meeting in Columbia, S.C., reporters asked players and coaches from each school what they knew about the trophy. Nobody seemed to know anything.
"I had no clue there was a trophy," Otaro Alaka, a linebacker with A&M from 2014 to 2018, told the Dallas Morning News before last season's game. "There's a trophy for who wins? There is no trophy for who wins. I've never seen a trophy."
But it really does exist.
You just have to know where to look.
The trophy has been on display at the Alamo complex before but mainly is kept in the archives vault.
"The trophy is on the cusp of stardom," Winders said. "People are beginning to take an interest in it, but it isn't something people come here and go, 'Let us see the trophy.' It's still in development. … We treat it like an artifact. It gets cared for and loved."
Since the trophy is kept with the Alamo Collection, it is overseen by the General Land Office, which manages the entire complex.
The trophy originally was intended to be exchanged at each game, but not by the players, said General Land Office communications director Karina Erickson. Instead, it was supposed to be traded between the governors of Texas and South Carolina.
The trophy features a bronze statue of James Bonham on horseback. It was commissioned by then-Texas and South Carolina governors Rick Perry and Nikki Haley in summer 2014.
Bonham was chosen to embody the trophy since he is a South Carolina native and graduate who died at the Alamo. Perry and Haley asked Cleburne-based sculptor Jeff Gottfried to create the trophy.
The trophy has made trips to the governor's office in Austin "at least once or twice," Winders noted, including a visit last October during the week of the A&M-South Carolina game.
But a true public presentation could be on the horizon. The Aggies and Gamecocks square off in College Station this season on Nov. 16 at Kyle Field.
Erickson said the General Land Office and Land Commissioner George P. Bush are planning to reach out to A&M officials to coordinate an exchange or presentation of the Bonham Trophy.
Until then, Winders plan to keep watching over the bronze trophy in San Antonio.
"It could turn into something high-profile if it gets more coverage and more people know about it," Winders said. "If it takes hold, I could see it being out on the field and exchanged."
"I think it's waiting for its moment."
Trophy hidden at the Alamo (story SA Express)
Hidden at the Alamo: Why trophy meant for winner of Texas A&M-South Carolina is hardly ever seen
June 11, 2019Updated: June 11, 2019 6:54 p.m.
The Alamo Collection holds many artifacts, but only two are related to sports: a pair of ice skates from the 1850s and the Bonham Trophy.
The trophy, awarded to the winner of the annual Texas A&M-South Carolina football game, has maintained a low profile since its inception in 2014.
"I think part of it is that it hasn't really been promoted," said Bruce Winders, Alamo curator and resident historian. "It reposes (at the Alamo), but it's not our task to actually promote it. We care for it. It just needs some better promotion.
"It needs people to know it exists."
In fact, it hardly ever leaves the archive room, and it never has made a public appearance, not even at any of the five football games between the Aggies and Gamecocks.
Before last season's meeting in Columbia, S.C., reporters asked players and coaches from each school what they knew about the trophy. Nobody seemed to know anything.
"I had no clue there was a trophy," Otaro Alaka, a linebacker with A&M from 2014 to 2018, told the Dallas Morning News before last season's game. "There's a trophy for who wins? There is no trophy for who wins. I've never seen a trophy."
But it really does exist.
You just have to know where to look.
The trophy has been on display at the Alamo complex before but mainly is kept in the archives vault.
"The trophy is on the cusp of stardom," Winders said. "People are beginning to take an interest in it, but it isn't something people come here and go, 'Let us see the trophy.' It's still in development. … We treat it like an artifact. It gets cared for and loved."
Since the trophy is kept with the Alamo Collection, it is overseen by the General Land Office, which manages the entire complex.
The trophy originally was intended to be exchanged at each game, but not by the players, said General Land Office communications director Karina Erickson. Instead, it was supposed to be traded between the governors of Texas and South Carolina.
The trophy features a bronze statue of James Bonham on horseback. It was commissioned by then-Texas and South Carolina governors Rick Perry and Nikki Haley in summer 2014.
Bonham was chosen to embody the trophy since he is a South Carolina native and graduate who died at the Alamo. Perry and Haley asked Cleburne-based sculptor Jeff Gottfried to create the trophy.
The trophy has made trips to the governor's office in Austin "at least once or twice," Winders noted, including a visit last October during the week of the A&M-South Carolina game.
But a true public presentation could be on the horizon. The Aggies and Gamecocks square off in College Station this season on Nov. 16 at Kyle Field.
Erickson said the General Land Office and Land Commissioner George P. Bush are planning to reach out to A&M officials to coordinate an exchange or presentation of the Bonham Trophy.
Until then, Winders plan to keep watching over the bronze trophy in San Antonio.
"It could turn into something high-profile if it gets more coverage and more people know about it," Winders said. "If it takes hold, I could see it being out on the field and exchanged."
"I think it's waiting for its moment."
