Trophy hunters: Michigan State alums turn quest for Paul Bunyan replica into rivalry business

REDFORD, Mich. — A trophy, once described by a coach as the “ugliest” rivalry prize, that had spent most of its first 55 years in locker rooms, crammed in equipment and training rooms and, in the mid-1950s, was kidnapped as a prank, had a coming-out party in 2008. The Paul Bunyan Trophy, introduced in 1953 and awarded to the winner of the Michigan-Michigan State game, had traditionally been a locker room trophy for the players to celebrate after a win. That’s perhaps because of its unwieldy size. It is a four-foot wooden statue of Paul Bunyan, the mythical giant lumberjack, mounted on a five-f...