University of South Carolina head coach Will Muschamp was unaware his team was playing for a trophy this past Saturday.

Many players and coaches were unaware of the Bonham Trophy which goes to the winner each year of the game against Texas A&M.

For 4 years, it has been in the Alamo archives, said Richard Peterson, a James Bonham historian and Lexington resident.

Peterson said the trophy was commissioned in 2013 by then Texas Gov. and Texas A&M alumnus Rick Perry and former S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley for the winner of the annual football game between the two schools.

Bonham, a South Carolinian who became an Alamo hero, was the natural subject for a trophy linking A&M and South Carolina, Peterson said.

Bonham was an 1827 University of South Carolina alumnus who rode from the Alamo with fellow Palmetto State native Col. William Barrett Travis’ plea for reinforcements.

He returned and fought after the attempt to rally more troops failed.

Peterson said artist Jeff Gottfried made the trophy depicting the moment Bonham saw Mexican troops and decided to keep his word to return to the mission and rejoin the fight.

“I wanted it to be heroic,” Gottfried said. “He was standing on a hilltop looking down at the Alamo and he could see the Mexican Army surrounding it, and he knew if he were to ride into that, he wouldn’t be coming back out.”

“The Bonham Trophy represents the bond forged by a son of South Carolina who gave his life for Texas,” a portion of the plaque reads.