The Davis football team celebrates their 17-8 victory over Sacramento in 1963 by dragging and riding the carriage around the stadium in a well-deserved victory lap.1
The Classic Trophy for a Causeway Rivalry
Oftentimes in college sports, support for the school is drummed up by choosing a neighboring university seemingly at random and declaring them the mortal enemy. After all, what better way to get your students and athletes pumped up and ready to smash the enemy than by pointing them at the nearest town large enough to also field a higher education sports league? Naturally, such was the case for Sacramento State and U.C. Davis in 1960, when after 5 years of Sacramento having a football program and dealing with a lack of school spirit over their games, they needed something more to garner excitement. This dilemma was solved by one Jeri Striezik, a former alumnus of Sacramento State when he decided to donate a 19th-century Victorian horse-drawn carriage as a battle trophy to kickstart the schools’ burgeoning rivalry. The losing team was to then transport the carriage to the winning school, which would proudly display and ride in the carriage during various events.2 Thus began the Causeway Classic, a football rivalry that has lasted between our schools for over 60 years; one in which Sacramento has been soundly beaten, losing over 40 of those meetings.3 Despite this, using the carriage as a trophy continued for a few decades right up until the turn of the new millennium when the tradition ended with UC Davis returning the carriage to Sacramento for good, citing issues with the expense and constant maintenance required from an ever-aging antique vehicle.4 Perhaps it was an inevitable shelving, especially seeing as to how the tradition had aroused concerns from its very inception.
The 19th-century Victorian carriage trophy alongside its modern concrete replacement.
While certainly a unique and fun tradition to establish, hauling and maintaining a horse-drawn carriage already in need of repairs can be a daunting challenge. The carriage was already aging when it was donated, so the vehicle needed immediate work done to restore it to working condition. In 1960, each school government was asked to chip in for the wagon’s repairs. Burt King, business manager of the Associated Students of U.C. Davis, lamented the cost: “I think we’re trapped . . . We entered into this agreement, and we have no alternative but to accept . . . This is a bit of a shock, but when you refurbish a collector’s item, you begin to run into some money.” The costly setback? $75 from each school.5 After they managed to scrounge up enough to get the old bucket back together again, the carriage was repaired at none other than the local Folsom Prison by the skilled inmate mechanic shop.6 While not ready in time for the spring dance, it made the cut for the big football game that year, establishing itself firmly as the Classic’s unique trophy.
The Carriage pulled briefly out of retirement in 2015 for a photo op with our Sac Cheer squad.7
The Carriage has not been entirely forgotten. New times bring change, and in 2004 the Causeway Classic was expanded into a much broader Causeway Cup which brought many more sports into the rivalry.8 In the last twenty years since it was put out to pasture, it pops up every once in a while at various places and functions across campus. It has made a few appearances at since then, generally to the confusion of those that notice an unexpected Victorian carriage; a couple of Classics have seen a brief photo Facebook post like that above, or more recently, at the drive-through graduation ceremony during the height of Covid-19 in 2021 with President Nelsen atop it to greet passing Hornets.9 While it has been many years since horses were used to draw it around the football field in a victory lap, the antique wagon remains standing. It has so far survived disassembly and the atrophy of time, yet the Carriage has faded from memory for most Sacramento students and comes as a surprise to many faculty not involved in our football program, inciting an occasional blogpost.10 Such a valuable relic of our past, especially one that celebrates a time-honored rivalry with one of our closest sister universities, should be proudly and prominently displayed on the campus grounds. Rather than dragging this artifact out of cold storage every few years to act as a large paperweight or podium, perhaps it could be better showcased somewhere permanently for all to enjoy and learn about our past.
Written by C.J. Clough, Jessica Cornejo, and Tyler Wessels
Notes
1 “Riding High,” The California Aggie, November 19, 1963, vol. 65, no. 21, University of California, Riverside, Center for Biographical Studies & Research: The California Digital Newspaper Collection.
2 “Carriage-Trophy”, The Statesman, 1961, p.188. Internet Archive, California State University, Sacramento.
3 Joe Waltasti, “A Classic Rivalry,” UC Davis Magazine Archive: Sports, University of California, Davis, 2013.
4 Angelina LaBarre, “UC Davis Returns Causeway Carraige,” The State Hornet, Sacramento State, March 24, 2004.
5 “Trophy Increases Sac State Rivalry,” The California Aggie, February 18, 1960, vol. 59, no. 18, University of California, Riverside: Center for Biographical Studies & Research, The California Digital Newspaper Collection.
6 “Carriage-Trophy,” 188
7 Sac State Cheer & STUNT 2015, “Homecoming rally with Herky and the Carriage – the perpetual trophy from the causeway classic! #Homecoming 💚💛,” October 22, 2015
8 “2004-05 Causeway Cup,” UC Davis Athletics, University of California, Davis
9 Reid, Dixie. “Two-Day CARmencement Will Be A Celebration On Wheels.” Sacramento State: Newsroom, May 19, 2021
10 State Hornet Staff, “Buzz of the Crowd: Bring Back the Carriage,” The State Hornet, Sacramento State, November 14, 2014
Bibliography
“Carriage Trophy.” The California Aggie. November 17, 1960, vol. 60, no. 10. University of California, Riverside, Center for Biographical Studies & Research: The California Digital Newspaper Collection. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=UCD19601117.2.6&srpos=4&e=——-en–20-UCD-1–txt-txIN-%22Carriage%22——-1.
“Carriage-Trophy,” The Statesman, 1961. Page 188. Internet Archive, California State University, Sacramento. https://archive.org/details/css_003713/page/188/mode/2up
“Plans Are Made For SSC, Aggie Rivalry Trophy.” The State Hornet. November 20, 1959, vol. 12, no. 18. California Revealed. https://californiarevealed.org/islandora/object/cavpp%3A83941.
“Trophy Increases Sac State Rivalry.” The California Aggie. February 18, 1960, vol. 59, no. 18. University of California, Riverside: Center for Biographical Studies & Research, The California Digital Newspaper Collection. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=UCD19600218.2.8&srpos=1&e=——-en–20-UCD-1–txt-txIN-%22Carriage%22——-1
LaBarre, Angelina. “UC Davis Returns Causeway Carraige.” The State Hornet. Sacramento State, March 24, 2004. https://statehornet.com/2004/03/uc-davis-returns-causeway-carraige/.
Reid, Dixie. “Two-Day CARmencement Will Be A Celebration On Wheels.” Sacramento State: Newsroom, May 19, 2021. https://www.csus.edu/news/newsroom/stories/2021/5/carmencement-preview.html.
Sac State Cheer & STUNT (@sacstatecheer). 2015. “Homecoming rally with Herky and the Carriage – the perpetual trophy from the causeway classic! #Homecoming 💚💛.” Twitter, October 22, 2015, 11:17 a.m. https://twitter.com/sacstatecheer/status/657259449489473536.
State Hornet Staff. “Buzz of the Crowd: Bring Back the Carriage.” The State Hornet. Sacramento State, November 14, 2014. https://statehornet.com/2012/11/buzz-of-the-crowd-bring-back-the-carriage/.
Waltasti, Joe. “A Classic Rivalry.” UC Davis Magazine Archive: Sports. University of California, Davis, 2013. http://magazinearchive.ucdavis.edu/issues/fall13/sports.html.
“2004-05 Causeway Cup.” UC Davis Athletics. University of California, Davis. https://ucdavisaggies.com/sports/2018/5/29/ot-causeway-classic-0405-html.aspx.
I agree the carriage should be proudly displayed on campus, not everyone at Sacramento State know that we have it.
It would be amazing to display the carriage on campus for all to enjoy, even if it no longer goes to the winner of the highly contested battle.
I agree that the carriage should be displayed in a safe but proud spot on campus. I feel a relic like this should be honored and should be seen as a vital part of the school’s history that can be celebrated for years to come.