In the 1920s college football was just beginning to sort out rankings systems and champions. Enter a Econ Prof from Illinois. The Dickinson System ranks colleges based upon their records and the strength of opponents. Initially designed to rank just the Big Ten conference. Every champion needs a trophy right? A man called Jack Rissman, a clothing manufacturer from Chicago, had Dickinson rank the nation's teams, and awarded the Rissman Trophy to the winning university. The first Rissman Trophy had gone out in 1926 to Stanford.
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The Anniston Star (Anniston, Alabama) So in the second year of the Rissman the Illinois professor awards the trophy to Illinois?