This award was given for the first time to the winner of The Citadel-VMI Football game in 1977. It will be continued indefinitely. The football game, itself, (named by General Seignious) is called "The Military Classic of the South." The award is a silver duplicate of a Shako showing the plaques of The Citadel and VMI. The idea originated with Col. John E. Burrows, Director of Cadet Affairs at The Citadel at the time and member of the Class of 1940.
The cost of the trophy was $532.72. VMI paid for half. It was designed by the L.G. Balfour Company, a nationally known maker of trophies and rings. Whit Cline, class of 1959, is a representative of the company. (Many Citadel graduates wear Balfour class rings.) From 1976 through 2000, The Citadel has won 15 Silver Shakos while VMI has won nine. There was one tie. The 1999-2000 coach at VMI has been Cal McCombs, a 1967 graduate of The Citadel. The overall series between the two colleges is a tie: 29-29-2.
Burrows said that the idea of a Silver Shako, a trophy that The Citadel and VMI would compete for, came to him from "the Little Brown Jug," the trophy that is given to the winner of the game between Michigan and Minnesota.
(Sources: The Citadel 2000 Football Media Guide, p. 52; "Legend of the Silver Shako," is on the CitadelSports Web site)
