(WBIR) As Kentucky and Tennessee prepare to go head to head this weekend, we're taking a look back at a border team-rivalry tradition that fans may not know about.
The two teams used to battle it out to win a unique trophy - a beer barrel.
The tradition started in 1925, but has been sidelined for more than a decade.
We went to find out if true Vols fans remember this bit of history and know where that barrel is now. We showed them a photo of Peyton Manning holding the barrel and asked if they knew what the picture was.
"Well I know that's Peyton Manning, but I don't know what the barrel is. Do they call it the barrel bowl?" asked Rachel Shotts, a UT graduate.
Shotts isn't the only UT grad who doesn't know much about the beer barrel trophy; fortunately there were a few fans on Market Square who could fill her in.
"That would be the legendary Peyton Manning holding the beer barrel that we play for against Kentucky every year," said Vols fan Troy Brown.
"It was always a fun time and that was always just a fun victory to take. And I'm sure we're on there 99% of the time," said Vols fan Patti Black.
While some Vols fans may know why the trophy was awarded, you'd have to turn to Vol Historian Tom Mattingly for details into its rich history dating back to 1925.
"It was originally called the bourbon barrel and at one time it had the words 'ice water' on it to satisfy the local temperance unions. The notion being that two collegiate universities should not be competing for a bourbon barrel or beer barrel so they disguised it with the words ice water," said Mattingly.
Tragedy would bench the trophy in 1998. A drunk driving crash claimed the life of a Kentucky football player and his friend, leaving another Wildcats player facing charges.
"The administrations decided that it was better not to, symbolically, have a contest for the beer barrel," explained Mattingly.
The trophy disappeared and has remained out of the spotlight ever since. While some fans are pushing a petition to bring it back, Mattingly says the rivalry will not suffer.
"The rivalry is hot enough as it is. Coach Stoops and Coach Jones are rebuilding their programs to where the rivalry was in the '30s, '40s, '50s, '60s and even into the '70s."
Still no word on where the trophy is now. We did ask and UT has no plans on bringing bring back the beer barrel trophy.
