Battle for the Iron Skillet

To avoid mutilation of school property, the SMU student Council proposed a trophy along the lines of the Little Brown Jug. That was October of 1946. After about seven weeks, an aluminum skillet (seems an iron one would have been way easier to find) was purchased. As reported in the Nov 30th Dallas Morning News, the Battle for the Iron Skillet was born.

The inscription on that skillet read “Presented in token of southwestern friendship to the winner of annual TCU-SMU football game. Student tradition sponsored jointly by student governments of the universities.” Decades went by and interest in the skillet began to wane until it just went missing.

A new Lodge cast iron skillet was purchased in 1993. The new inscription reads:

“The Battle for the Iron Skillet
SMU vs. TCU
A Tradition since 1915” 1915?

Not the skillet, but the rivalry! And if you look at this photo, it clearly now says "THE SKILLET". So maybe a third skillet (or at least new plaque). Looks like I need to go dig through some yearbooks...

But why a skillet? No one knows for sure. It is rumored in the 50s some SMU students were cooking frog legs before a game and a TCU student took offense and suggested whoever wins gets the skillet. Seems a little weak to me... plus the timeline doesn't fit.

Source Articles:
TCU Magazine
SMU News Archives

An older photo in this Skiff article