The Paniolo Trophy is awarded to the winner of the University of Hawai‘i and University of Wyoming football game.
Named after the Hawaiian word for cowboy, the Paniolo Trophy was donated by the Wyoming Paniolo Society, a group of Hawai‘i residents with roots in Wyoming in an effort to strengthen the bond of friendship between the two institutions.
The trophy was awarded annually from 1979-97 when both teams were members of the Western Athletic Conference. The teams actually began playing each other in 1978 – the year before Hawai‘i joined the WAC – with UH winning 27-22. The series was interrupted following the 1997 game after Wyoming moved to the Mountain West Conference. When UH joined the MW in 2012, talks between both schools began about renewing the rivalry trophy.
The original Paniolo Trophy featured a bronze cowboy preparing to toss a lariat. However that trophy was lost and a replacement was recently donated by Dr. Billy Bergin, a regent emeritus of the University of Hawai‘i. With the help of the Paniolo Preservation Society, a group that celebrates the Hawaiian ranching industry and headed by President Mrs. Patricia C. Bergin, the new bronze trophy features Hawaiian cowboy Ikua Purdy roping a wild stag bull.
The trophy is a reproduction of a larger work by noted western artist and sculptor Fred Fellows located at Parker Ranch in Waimea, Hawai‘i. The trophy is approximately 12 inches high and 20 inches long mounted on a sloping slab of walnut.
Engraved are the scores each game in the series and the inscription, “Originated during the 1979 football season when a group of Hawai‘i residents with roots in Wyoming created a travelling prize to be presented to the winner of the Wyoming-Hawai‘i football game. It was originated to strengthen the bonds of friendship between these two universities. Paniolo is the Hawaiian term for Cowboy. The two institutions thank the Paniolo Preservation Society for donating this beautiful bronze featuring Hawaiian Cowboy Ikua Purdy.”
Purdy won the steer-roping contest at the Frontier Days Rodeo in 1908. In 2008, the PPS celebrated the Waiomina (Hawaiian word for Wyoming) Centennial Celebration as a joint honor with the state of Wyoming and city of Cheyenne with the state of Hawai‘i and Purdy's hometown, Kamuela, Hawai‘i. Purdy was the first Hawaiian inducted into the National Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame in 1999.
| Date |
Result |
Location |
| 11/18/23 |
WYO 42, UH 9 |
Laramie |
| 10/29/22 |
WYO 27, UH 20 |
Honolulu |
| 11/27/21 |
UH 38, WYO 14 |
Laramie |
| 10/31/20 |
WYO, 31, UH 7 |
Laramie |
| 10/06/18 |
UH 17, WYO 13 |
Honolulu |
| 09/23/17 |
WYO 28, UH 21 |
Laramie |
| 10/11/14 |
UH 38, WYO 28 |
Honolulu |
| 11/23/13 |
WYO 59, UH 56 (ot) |
Laramie |
| 09/13/97 |
WYO 35, UH 6 |
Honolulu |
| 09/14/96 |
WYO 66, UH 0 |
Laramie |
| 09/16/95 |
WYO 52, UH 6 |
Laramie |
| 11/19/94 |
WYO 13, UH 10 |
Laramie |
| 10/23/93 |
WYO 48, UH 10 |
Laramie |
| 11/21/92 |
UH 42, WYO 18 |
Laramie |
| 08/31/91 |
UH 32, WYO 17 |
Laramie |
| 11/17/90 |
UH 38, WYO 17 |
Laramie |
| 09/16/89 |
WYO 20, UH 15 |
Laramie |
| 11/19/88 |
WYO 28, UH 22 |
Honolulu |
| 11/28/87 |
WYO 24, UH 20 |
Honolulu |
| 11/29/86 |
UH 35, WYO 19 |
Honolulu |
| 10/12/85 |
UH 26, WYO 18 |
Laramie |
| 11/03/84 |
UH 31, WYO 28 |
Honolulu |
| 11/26/83 |
WYO 31, UH 13 |
Honolulu |
| 10/02/82 |
WYO 28, UH 10 |
Honolulu |
| 10/10/81 |
UH 14, WYO 9 |
Laramie |
| 09/27/80 |
WYO 45, UH 25 |
Laramie |
| 11/17/79 |
WYO 21, UH 13 |
Honolulu |
