When Collin Morikawa raised the Wanamaker Trophy over his head a couple of weeks ago (and watched in horror as the trophy’s lid fell off!), we smiled along with him.
Same when the BMW Oracle team won America’s Cup in 2010 or when Alyaa Abdulghany won the Southern California Golf Association Trophy at the 5th Annual Women’s Amateur Championship last year.
Not only do we love the thrill of sports, but we also love seeing the excitement of winners when they hold a piece of our work for the first time. See, at different times during our 43-year history. We’ve created, fixed, or polished trophies for professional and amateur competitions.
The Wanamaker
Sometime after Brooks Koepka won the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black in New York in 2019 and this year’s tournament-opening round at Harding Park in San Francisco, the legendary Wanamaker Trophy was dinged up. We’re not saying what happened where, but when the call came into our shop in May, we knew what lay ahead.
“The lid of the trophy was a bit out of round,” reports Rick Biro, “as if someone had dropped it. We reworked it so that it was round again and then polished it up before the event at Harding Park.”
The Wannamaker is one of the most prestigious (and apparently slippery) trophies in golf. Named after one of the men that launched the Professional Golfer’s Association of America in 1916, the trophy is just about two-and-a-half feet tall and weighs 27 lbs. While each winner receives a smaller replica, the original is returned to the PGA for the next year’s tournament.
America’s Cup
The legendary America’s Cup came into our shop for the first time back in 2010, shortly after the BMW Oracle team won the 33rd running of the regatta. We loved repairing, restoring, and polishing this fantastic trophy. Read more here > It was also the first time that Biro & Sons showed up in the media. Pretty exciting times for us!
SCGA Women’s Amateur Championship Trophy
Five years ago, we were asked by the Southern California Golf Association to create a trophy that was “impressive.” As luck would have it, we had just the right pieces to bring together and deliver something that could equal the thrill of winning the tournament.
“We had this amazing cup that seemed to be designed to be a trophy,” Rick says, “but the person who owned it first had stored flowers in it, so the inside was chewed up.“After we made a new liner, we turned to a master craftsman wood-turner who lives over in Marin County,” he continues. “He’s amazing — he took a piece of walnut and turned it into the amazing base you see today.”
Before delivering the trophy to the SCGA, the Biros fabricated the nameplates of the previous winners and added them to the base. “They bring it back to us every year so that we can add the next winner to the trophy,” Rick says. “We’ll give it a clean and polish before sending it back so that it stays in good shape.”
Triple Crown Trophy
There are trophies, and then there are TROPHIES. The Triple Crown Trophy, given to the team who wins the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes in the same year, is THE TROPHY in the sport of Kings.
We were honored to work with sculptor Roberto Santo to create this astonishing piece. You can read all about it here >
Manny Fagundes Seaweed Soup Tureen
Sometimes the best trophies have a great story behind them. That’s certainly the case with the Manny Fagundes Seaweed Soup Tureen. Read more about this trophy’s origins story here >.
We love seeing these vintage trophies come in and restoring them to their original glory.
Biro & Sons have created, repaired, restored, and polished trophies for just about any sport or competition. We’d love to help you create, maintain, or update yours!