The Fountain, The Boot, and The Bell

The football season is now a mere month away, and everything is starting to charge up for the University of Utah. For months now I have been eagerly awaiting the start of the new season, pondering the questions that were left unanswered from last year's epic season.

Who will quarterback the Utes? Junior College-transfer Terrence Cain or semi-proven two-year backup Corbin Louks.

How long will the longest winning streak in the country last for Utah? Currently sitting at 14.

I'm sure the answers to these and many more will be answered in the coming weeks and months. But in my search to quench my thirst of red I turned to a Google search. I simply typed in University of Utah Drum and Feather hoping to find a little information about the famed logo of the athletic program.

After sifting through pages of useless information I learned a little about the logo as well as more interesting things about Utah Athletics through the years.

The Bell.

Apparently the winner of an annual battle between Utah and Denver University was awarded an old Rio Grande Railroad bell.

For many years the bell was lost thought to be the victim of a forgotten time. A year ago it was found at a LDS church camp near Eden, Utah. According to the article it is not known how the bell ended up in Eden.

The bell is weathered and beat up thanks to years of abuse (I'll make the guess it was Utah haters), but it rightfully belongs at the U as the winner of the final Utah-Denver game. Utah Athletic Director Chris Hill needs to claim the bell and bring it home.

Think about it how awesome would it be to hear the old bell ringing after a win, while it hung from the top of Rice-Eccles Stadium.

The Boot.

As any true college football fan knows The Beehive Boot is a traveling trophy awarded annually to the football team that holds the best record among the other in-state colleges. For years I thought this only included Utah and BYU, a while ago I learned that Utah State is included in the fray. But today I learned that Weber State and Southern Utah are also eligible to win the old Boot.

Now I like that all five schools are included in the great rivalry, even though Weber and SUU have never won the trophy due to rarely playing the other schools, but I think it takes something away from the Utah-BYU rivalry.

Major rivalries across the country have their own often strange trophies. Ranging from Paul Bunyon's Axe to The Old Iron Skillet they are all icons of their respective rivalries. I think it is time for Utah and BYU to have their own traveling trophy that only they can win.

My suggestion: The bell from the U.S.S. Utah. The ship was sunk during the attack on Pearl Harbor and the bell is one of the only things recovered from the ship. It would add a necessary historical connection that is sorely needed in the rivalry.

The Fountain of Ute.

If you've ever driven past Rice-Eccles Stadium I'm sure you've noticed the old brick building sitting just off of 500 South in the stadium parking lot, this is the Fountain of Ute.

Originally it was a water well used to wet the whistles of those on campus, but over the course of 40 years it has taken on a great mystique. The story goes that in the '50s and '60s the small building was used as a laboratory for the U's biology department. The lucky students that used the lab were also some of Utah's best student athletes.

The decade of the '60s was possible the best ever for athletics at the U (not counting the current decade). Men's Basketball took two trips to the NCAA Final Four, Baseball advanced to the national tournament, and Football enjoyed a Liberty Bowl win and a #14 ranking.

Rumor has it that coaches from the various sports would use the Fountain to fill up the team water coolers for game days. When the students, known as the "Rad Red Scientists," graduated it was said the students locked the building and hid the key somewhere on campus in hopes that someday the athletic department would find it and become great again. Former basketball coach Jack Gardner sent everyone he could out looking for the key only to come up empty.

Now here is the really good part of the story.

When Urban Meyer was hired on as head coach of the football team he was told the legend of the Fountain of Ute. Meyer himself with the help of his staff and team supposedly spent the Summer of 2004 searching the campus for the key, the story never said if Meyer found it. However, the story said that an invoice for a locksmith was found in his desk when he left Utah in 2005. If the legend of the Fountain is true then Meyer either found the key or picked the lock and got to the water. As we all know, 2004 was the year Utah first went undefeated and broke into the BCS.

The story also said Meyer took the key with him to Florida but made a copy for his successor, Kyle Whittingham. My thought is there is every possibility in the world that the story is true, but then again it could be just one incredible legend.