Silver Spade & the Brass Spittoon
From NCAA Wiki
Since 1955, the winner of the New Mexico State vs UTEP football game has taken home the Silver Spade, a replica prospector’s shovel. The origin of the Silver Spade dates back to 1947, when an old prospector’s shovel was unearthed in an abandoned mine in the Organ Mountains near Las Cruces. The whereabouts of the original spade are a mystery, but the current spade (on which are engraved the score of each year’s Aggie-Miner game) has been traded between the two schools since 1955.
The relevance of the spade may be due to the fact that at the time of its discovery, the tool was related to the major field of study at both universities—agriculture at New Mexico A&M, and mining and metallurgy at the College of Mines.
