Stanford Axe The Stanford Axe is a trophy awarded to the winner of the annual Big Game , a college football match - up between the University of California Golden Bears and the Stanford University Cardinal . The trophy consists of an axe - head mounted on a large wooden plaque , along with the scores of past Big Games . Stanford is currently in possession of the Axe after beating Cal 63 - 13 on November 23 , 2013 at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto , California . Origins . The Stanford Axe was originally a standard 15 - inch lumberman ' s axe . It made its first appearance on April 13 , 1899 during a Stanford rally when yell leaders used it to decapitate a straw man dressed in blue and gold ribbons while chanting the Axe yell , which was based on " The Frogs " by Aristophanes ( Brekekekek croax croax ) : Cal steals the Axe . The Axe made its second appearance two days later on April 15 , 1899 at a Cal - Stanford baseball game played at 16th Street and Folsom in San Francisco . Led by Billy Erb , the Stanford yell leaders paraded the Axe and used it to chop up blue and gold ribbon after every good play by the Stanford team , while shouting the Axe yell . However , Stanford lost the game and the series , and the yell leaders debated if the Axe was a jinx and whether to dispose of it . As the Stanford students discussed the Axe ' s fate , a group of Cal students seized it and ran off with the Axe . It in turn was passed from student to student , and a chase ensued through the streets of San Francisco , first followed by Stanford students and fans and second followed by the San Francisco police . During the chase , the Axe ' s handle was broken off . The Axe was given to a young Berkeley student , who stood at 5 ' 7 " , and was able to pose as a girl with the Axe ' s blade concealed on his person . With this disguise , he was able to evade the San Francisco police , and was able to cross to Berkeley , where the Axe was first stored in a fraternity ( Chi Phi ) , and later in a bank vault . However , this story has become popular as a traditional story told at the yearly Axe Rally : Cal student Clint Miller , who was wearing an overcoat so he could easily conceal the ax head , was the last to handle the Axe . As he reached the Ferry Building , he noticed the police inspecting the pockets of every boarding male passenger . As luck would have it , Miller encountered an old girlfriend , Agnes . Posing as a couple , the two successfully boarded the narrow gauge ferry to Alameda / Oakland ( to avoid the police searching those buying tickets to Berkeley ) and from there Miller took the Axe back to Berkeley . Two days later , Cal held its first Axe Rally . Stanford recaptures it . For the next 31 years , the Axe stayed in Berkeley as a prize of conquest . In 1930 , twenty - one Stanford students plotted to take back the Axe from Cal . This group became known in Stanford lore as the Immortal 21 ; Cal partisans call them the Immoral 21 . Cal ' s protection of the Axe at the time was intense — it was kept in a Berkeley bank vault and brought out , in an armored car , only for spring baseball and Big Game rallies . The Stanford group decided that their best chance would be right after the spring Axe rally , held that year on April 3 at Cal ' s Greek Theatre . After the rally , four Stanford students posing as photographers temporarily blinded Norm Horner , the Grand Custodian of the Axe , with camera flashes . In the subsequent scuffle , the Stanford students grabbed the Axe while several others disguised as Cal students tossed a tear gas ( or smoke , depending on account ) bomb at the Cal students who guarded it . The Axe was taken to one of three cars which sped off in different directions . Several other Stanford students ( disguised as Cal students ) further delayed attempts to recover the Axe by organizing a search party away from the direction of the getaway cars . Although several of the raiders were caught , the Axe made it back to Stanford where it was paraded around the campus . The Axe becomes a trophy . For three years after the raid on Berkeley the Stanford Axe lay in a Palo Alto bank vault while both universities decided what to do with it . In 1933 , both sides agreed to designate the Axe as the annual trophy to be awarded to the Big Game ' s winner ; in the event of a tie , it would be kept by the side already possessing the Axe . However , the agreement did not stop students from both schools from stealing ( or attempting to steal ) the Axe . Since 1933 , Cal students have stolen the Axe three times and Stanford students four times ; the most recent incident occurred in 1973 . On January 28 , 1978 , a group of Cal students paraded a carefully constructed replica of the Axe across the court of Stanford ' s Maples Pavilion during the Cal - Stanford basketball game . This " Fake Axe " stunt led to erroneous reports in the following day ' s papers that the Axe had been stolen , therefore some sources report 1978 as the most recent theft . Traditions . Depending on which school holds the Axe , the trophy ' s recorded score for the 1982 Big Game is changed . This is part of the continuing dispute surrounding The Play , the last play in the final seconds of the 1982 game , which ended with a kickoff return marked by five laterals , the Stanford Band thinking the game was over and rushing the field , and then a touchdown run through the band featuring the last Cal returner bowling over a Stanford trombone player in the end zone . Referees declared the touchdown as legal and California the winner of the game . However , Stanford contends that one of the five laterals on that play was an illegal forward pass and that a Cal player was tackled before he lateraled the ball . As a result , whenever Stanford wins the Axe , the 1982 score is changed on the trophy from " California 25 , Stanford 20 " to read " California 19 , Stanford 20 . " Despite this practice , the official score must be on the Axe prior to the start of each Big Game no matter who has it at the time . When Stanford has the Axe , it is guarded by the Stanford Axe Committee and kept in a secret location , when not on display in the lobby of the Arrillaga Sports Center . When California is in possession of the Axe , the Chairman of the UC Rally Committee acts as its custodian . It is generally displayed in the lobby of the Martin Luther King Junior Student Union Building . During the Big Game , the Stanford Axe is displayed by the school that won the Big Game during the previous year . The Stanford Axe is transferred at the Big Game during what is known as " The Stare Down . " With two minutes remaining in the Big Game , the Stanford Axe is brought to the 50 yard line , where members of the UC Rally Committee and the Stanford Axe Committee wait until the end of the game to determine who will take the Axe . Once the game ends , the winner of Big Game takes possession of the Axe until the next Big Game is played . Currently , Stanford has the Axe after winning the 116th Big Game on November 23 , 2013 by the score of 63 – 13 . Although Stanford leads the all - time series before and after the use of the Axe as a trophy , California still has held the Axe for a longer amount of time due to their 31 year possession before the recapture of the Axe by Stanford .