The Best Fantasy Football Trophy? Take It From Someone Who's Been Playing for 36 Years

I'm obviously a little biased when it comes to what I consider the best fantasy football trophy out there. After all, I created it.

But before you write me off as just another guy trying to sell you a trophy, hear me out.

I've been playing fantasy football for 36 years. I've seen leagues come and go, watched draft-day traditions evolve, suffered through more than my share of brutal losses, and experienced the kind of championship wins that you remember for decades.

And I still believe every great fantasy football league deserves a trophy worthy of the competition.

It All Started With a Championship

My fantasy football story really goes back to 1991, when I won my league.

At the time, our league was still relatively young, but we were already taking it pretty seriously. And after winning that first championship, I wanted something to commemorate it—not just a piece of plastic or a generic trophy, but something that actually captured the spirit of fantasy football.

A few years later, while I was attending art school, I decided to build one myself.

In 1994, I sculpted the very first Armchair Quarterback trophy.

I wanted it to represent what fantasy football was all about: sitting in your favorite chair, watching every game, second-guessing every coach, arguing about every call, and convincing yourself that you could run the team better.

When I unveiled the trophy on draft night, my buddies absolutely lost it.

We knew immediately that this wasn't going to be just another trophy. It was going to become part of our league.

And it did.

From League Tradition to Fantasy Football Business

What I didn't know at the time was that this crazy little project would eventually turn into a business.

Years later, I'm still creating these trophies myself, working out of my studio in Brooklyn, NY.

It's funny how life works. You start out trying to make something special for your own fantasy football league, and suddenly you're making trophies for leagues all over the country.

But honestly, I wouldn't change a thing.

The best part isn't even making the trophies.

It's hearing from commissioners after their championship game. It's seeing photos of the winning owner holding the trophy for the first time. It's knowing that the trophy is going to sit on someone's shelf—or maybe right in the middle of their living room—as a reminder of the year they finally beat their buddies.

And then there's the engraving.

Every time I put another champion's name on one of these trophies, I think about how much that name is going to mean to that league.

Because that's what fantasy football is really about.

It's the trash talk.

It's the draft-night arguments.

It's staying up way too late deciding who to start.

It's the guy who swears he got robbed in the trade.

It's the commissioner threatening to quit.

It's the last-place punishment nobody wants to talk about.

And, of course, it's winning.

After all, winning is temporary. The trophy is forever.

That's why I don't think a fantasy football trophy should be an afterthought.

If you're going to spend an entire season competing with your friends, family, coworkers, or whoever else is unlucky enough to be in your league, the champion deserves something that feels like an actual championship trophy.

Something your league will talk about.

Something that gets passed from champion to champion.

Something that becomes part of the history of your league.

That's what I set out to create back in 1994.

And more than three decades later, I'm still doing it.