Since 1984, the winning team in the NFL’s AFC Championship Game has received the prestigious Lamar Hunt Trophy, named after Lamar Hunt (August 2, 1932 – December 13, 2006) who was an American sportsman and promoter of American football, soccer, basketball, and ice hockey in the United States and an inductee into three sports' halls of fame. He was also one of the founders of the American Football League (AFL) and Major League Soccer (MLS), as well as MLS predecessor the North American Soccer League (NASL). He was also the founder and owner of the National Football League's Kansas City Chiefs, the Kansas City Wizards and at his death owned two MLS teams, Columbus Crew and FC Dallas.
This lot features a Jan. 22, 2006, Lamar Hunt Replica Trophy honoring the AFC Champion Pittsburgh Steelers. In that year’s AFC title game, the Steelers defeated the host Denver Broncos, 34-17, at Invesco Field before moving on to defeat the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl 40 two weeks later, 21-10. The impressive trophy, which measures 15” wide by nine inches tall and weighs 14 pounds, features a gold-plated top that includes semi-circular sculpture of football players battling behind the AFC logo. Its wooden base boasts two specially engraved plaques that read: “LAMAR HUNT TROPHY” and “2005 CHAMPION OF THE AMERICAN FOOTBALL CONFERENCE PITTSBURGH STEELERS,” with additional statistics on the game (“34-17”) and the date of the game (“January 22, 2006, Denver Colorado”). It is worth noting that 2010 was the last year this model was used for the Lamar Hunt Trophy. An impressive piece of NFL hardware that would certainly sit proudly in any football collection, namely a Pittsburgh Steelers fan.