SASKATOON - University of Saskatchewan professor Mark Tennant was rummaging through a campus storage room when boxes of dented old sports trophies caught his eye.
Stacked underneath pieces of weight training equipment, Tennant discovered about three dozen relics and one notable treasure - the original "A.E. Hardy Rugby Trophy for Annual Competition", the top prize for western Canadian university football teams.
"It's got character this thing. It's tarnished. It's bent and banged. One of the handles has been welded back on," he says. "People haven't been aware that this has slipped through the cracks."
The Hardy Trophy was first awarded in 1927. It was replaced with a new version in 1997, a year after it embarrassingly fell apart during the University of Saskatchewan Huskies championship celebration on their home field in Saskatoon.
Tennant, a senior kinesiology professor and former coach of the University of Saskatchewan women's volleyball team, has spent the past couple weeks researching his discovery.
Lost and forgotten, the trophy spent the last decade collecting dust underneath gymnasium bleachers, in a semi-trailer unit, in basements and in its most recent home, the storage room of the Physical Activity Complex.
Tennant says the cup is now safely sitting in his office and getting a lot attention.
Basil Hughton, the university's athletic director, says plans are underway to put the trophy on display on campus.
"It's always great to unearth history and those things that bring us back to the roots of the game and the sport and the role the U of S played in the early days of Canada West football," Hughton says.
Tennant says the cup was donated by A. Evan Hardy, head of the Agricultural Engineering Department who actually played with the team for its first five years before a rule was made that only students could wear uniforms.
Hardy stayed on with the team as a coach and had the vision to create a western university league.
The dates and winners listed on the trophy show there were no championship games in years that coincide with the Great Depression and the Second World War. There was also a three-way tie in 1965.
Mesmerized by the tarnished metal, Tennant has set off to do further research into the sport and events that have happened over the past century. He eagerly talks of times when classes were cancelled so students could practice team songs and female students held tea services for male players.
"It really does tell you more than football... it tells you so much more about the environment or the culture at that time."
Tennant has also salvaged three other University of Saskatchewan trophies: the 1924 McKenzie Cup for Women's Track and Field, the 1930 McKenzie Swimming Trophy and the 1948 Betty Moore Trophy for Ornamental and Style Swimming.
"It's a shame all of these trophies - people really aren't interested in them anymore."
Val Schneider, Executive Director of the Canada West Universities Athletic Association, says he is currently digging through the organization's records to find out more about the new and old versions of the Hardy Trophy.
He was surprised to learn of the discovery.
"I just assumed that the current trophy was the original one, to tell you the truth."
Both trophies may be on display, side by side, when the western championship game is held on the second weekend in November. The top Canadian university teams go on to compete for the Vanier Cup in Hamilton on Nov. 22.
Tennant says officials are now debating whether to refurbish the old Hardy Cup before the public gets a peek at it.
His opinion is clear.
"I don't know if you want to fix this up," says Tennant. "To me, it's got a fantastic story the way it is."