Comment
Email
Print
Many students and alumni who weren't a part of Middle Tennessee and Tennessee Tech's long-time rivalry may be unfamiliar with the names "Harvey" or "Shinny Ninny," but for alumni of a certain age, those names were fighting words.
The trophy - a three-foot tall totem pole - was donated in 1960 by Nashville businessman Fred Harvey of Harvey's department stores. He brought it home to Tennessee from a trip to Alaska, where it had been carved by an indigenous tribe. At first, the trophy was dubbed in honor of its benefactor and the name stuck with the Murfreesboro students.
Tech, meanwhile, had a different inspiration coming from one of its football players. Halfback Joe Mac Jaquess gained notoriety on the Cookeville campus for a falling down and thrashing act he referred to as a "shinny-ninny fit." Before the 1960 Arkansas State game, Joe Mac made a vow to throw a "shinny-ninny fit" if he scored a touchdown.
He did indeed - but broke his wrist and missed the rest of the season. Inspired by his effort, the Golden Eagles rechristened the totem pole Shinny Ninny for their teammate.
Tech won the first one in 1960 with a 35-8 victory and kept it again the following year, but Harvey then went on a six-year residence in Murfreesboro. Shinny Ninny basked in the Cookeville campus from 1968 to 1972 as the Golden Eagles pulled together one of its greatest seasons in program history.
MTSU reclaimed it for one year in 1973, then it saw Tech as home for almost the remainder of the 1970s before the Blue Raiders claimed it back in 1979. The 1980s and 1990s were not kind to the Golden Eagles' possession rights as Tech won just four times in the 19 years following.
When Middle Tennessee selected to move up to the Football Bowl Subdivision, the annual game was gone after the 1998 meeting with the Blue Raiders securing Harvey with a 19-16 victory and perhaps for the final time. The two teams met just once since in 2006, then will meet again this Saturday to open the 2024 campaign, but the totem pole was not and will not be in play for the contest.
Tech won ol' Shinny Ninny away 16 times, while the Blue Raiders brought Harvey home to roost 23 times, including nine straight years from 1984 to 1992 and for the final time in 1998, where it was safely nestled in the hands of Middle Tennessee.
But that didn't stop some adventurous students from making the trek to the other campus to liberate the trophy.
A story by famed Tennessean sports writer Larry Woody recounted a tale of espionage and intrigue as the two universities had a penchant for retrieving what was seen as their property.
- An MTSU student disguised himself in a Tech ROTC uniform and went to the Tech bookstore - where the trophy was displayed - and explained that he had been instructed to escort Shinny Ninny across campus for special photographs. The trophy wasn't seen for a year.
- In a daring daylight raid, a group of Tech students rescued the totem from an MTSU fraternity house.
- In 1975, Shinny Ninny was stored in the Tech student government offices but mysteriously disappeared one night. An anonymous phone call to the Tech athletic department secretary at the time informed that the trophy was captive with no terms of release ever given. It was located in the spring of 1976 in the ceiling of a closet of the same offices, leaving some to infer an inside job - perhaps to inspire the team?
While the two teams rarely see each other on the gridiron, the rivalry still endures with other varsity sports, most notably women's basketball with their annual contests against one another and a few appearances sporadically in other programs. The series itself, which dates back to 1917 with a meeting before the Tech program met its varsity status, stretched nearly annually from 1924 up to 1998.
Even though it's been a quarter of a century since the totem pole was played for, it still means a lot to the Tennessee Tech and Middle Tennessee faithful. At recent promotional events, Tech President Dr. Phil Oldham was jokingly asked about Shinny Ninny and whether it could be wrestled from the hated Blue Raiders' grasp to which a jovial response rose from the crowd.
Never say never.
But, for the time being, the relic is locked away in a museum waiting to be liberated once more. Cue the ominous John Williams music from Raiders of the Lost Ark as Middle Tennessee's top men keep it safe...
The Golden Eagles play Middle Tennessee Saturday night at 6 p.m. to open the 2024 campaign
