Members of the UW football team celebrate a past Border War win. The Cowboys will face the Colorado State University Rams on Saturday, and the game winner will hold the Bronze Boot and bragging rights for the next year.
Only 65 miles of Highway 287 connects two schools with the longest rivalry west of Missouri. This rivalry has existed since 1899, but the trophy was not introduced until 1968, when the University of Wyoming won the first Bronze Boot.
The rivalry between UW and Colorado State University has gone through three different centuries and is the oldest rivalry either school has had. Even the Rocky Mountain Rivalry between CSU and Colorado University is not as long.
In 1968, ROTC detachments from both schools initiated the Bronze Boot, the traveling trophy awarded to the winner of the Border War. The boot originally belonged to CSU ROTC instructor Dan J. Romero when he was in Vietnam.
Each year, the visiting ROTC detachment runs the football in a shuttle relay to the state line. It then passes the football off to the home team’s ROTC detachment to run the ball to the home team’s stadium.
This year, CSU will run the ball to the Wyoming-Colorado state line where UW’s ROTC will run the ball to War Memorial stadium.
During the game, the previous Bronze Boot winner will have its ROTC detachment guard the trophy. Wyoming’s ROTC will guard it this year.
This year marks the 104th time the schools will battle it out for the pride of winning the Border War. Since the trophy has been initiated, Wyoming has kept the trophy in the UW Athletics Department after 22 of the 43 wars. Wyoming has a 23-21 winning record over CSU, however the Rams lead the all-time series, 55-43-5.
There have only been a few years when the schools didn’t play: 1901-1902, 1906-1907, 1918, 1926-1928 and 1943-1945. But, the Border War has continued every year since.
When the Trophy series began, Wyoming won the first six battles, and the Cowboys also have won the last three meetings. In 2009, Wyoming won 17-16 over CSU. Then the Cowboys crushed the Rams in 2010 with a 44-0 victory, and last year UW football brought the Bronze Boot back to Laramie with a 22-19 victory.
The Border War rivalry excludes the whole season. Both teams have losing season records so far, but the battle for the Bronze Boot Trophy and a year’s worth of bragging rights starts Saturday with kickoff at 2:30 p.m.
