The Bruce-Mahoney Trophy

St. Ignatius College Preparatory and Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory are the participants in the oldest high school athletic rivalry west of the Mississippi River. As a matter of fact, most of the high schools in existence today weren't even around when S.I. and S.H. first competed against each other on the playing field. St. Patrick's Day in 1893 marked the start of this tradition when the two schools met in Central Park at Eighth and Market Streets for a rugby game; a game won by Sacred Heart, 14-4. Over the years that rivalry has flourished as the schools competed in a variety of sports in three successive leagues. The Bruce-Mahoney Memorial Trophy is symbolic of the S.I.-S.H. rivalry. Established in 1947, it is awarded to the school which is victorious in league competition in two out of the three major sports each year: football, basketball, and baseball. (In basketball and baseball, where the schools play more than one game, only the first contest in each sport is counted.)

The Trophy is named in honor of Bill Bruce (S.I. 1935) and Jerry Mahoney (S.H. 1944), representing the graduates of St. Ignatius and of Sacred Heart who gave their lives for their country in World War II. At S.I., Bill Bruce was an outstanding student and a fine athlete, particularly in the sport of football. He was involved in many extracurricular activities, and he served as student body president. He joined the Navy at the start of the war and was killed in an airplane crash at the Naval Air Station at Pasco, Washington, on April 14, 1943. Jerry Mahoney was an outstanding football and basketball player at S.H., earning All-City honors in both sports during his senior year. He enlisted in the Navy after graduation and was aboard the U.S.S. Denny B. Plantwhen the ship was sunk by a German submarine.

The Trophy is awarded to the school which is victorious on the playing field or court, but in addition to athletic success it also recognizes the spirit and good sportsmanship which have been passed down from generation to generation of Wildcats and Irish. The Bruce-Mahoney Trophy is a prize which the students of both schools value as much today as their fathers and grandfathers did before them. And the rivalry between S.I. and S.H. is as vibrant in the twenty-first century as it was long ago in the nineteenth.

For more information on the history of the great S.I. - S.H. rivalry, see the first installment of the S.I. history in Genesis IV magazine (page 29).

BRUCE MAHONEY TROPHY WINNERS
OVERALL: St. Ignatius 40, Sacred.Heart 18

St. Ignatius has won the Trophy 41 times.  Sacred Heart has won the Trophy 18 times.