Sport College football | All-time series UMass leads, 43–27–3 | |
Teams UMass Minutemen
New Hampshire Wildcats First meeting Rivalry 1897, Trophy 1986 Latest meeting 2011
Trophy awarded to Dontra Peters, UNH | ||
The Bill Knight Trophy is an annual trophy given to the Most Outstanding Player of the Colonial Clash, a college football rivalry game played between the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the University of New Hampshire. A new trophy is cast each year, therefore allowing the honoree to keep his award permanently.
History
The award is named after the long-time Sports Information Director at New Hampshire. Knight died in November 1985. In addition to his duties at UNH, Knight was a past President of the New England Sports Information Directors Association, a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee at the 1984 Winter Games and a recipient of the Irving T. Marsh ECAC Service Bureau Award. He also served as the Information Officer of the Yankee Conference. Knight was inducted into the University of New Hampshire 100 Club Hall of Fame on October 2, 1987. The trophy was first awarded to Tim Bryant of UMass in 1986, and has been given every year since to the player who gives the best performance in the annual contest.