This story appeared in the 2025 College Football Playoff Quarterfinal at the 90th Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic Official Game Program

David Cutcliffe, a retired college football coach who shaped the careers of two Manning brothers with Super Bowl rings and a Monday Night Football simulcast, made 11 bowl trips during seasons at Ole Miss, Duke and Tennessee. But one postseason venue, the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, stands above the others he visited through the years.
 
"Everything is always first-class with the Cotton Bowl. Anybody who thinks that's just talk is wrong. That's real," said Cutcliffe, the Ole Miss coach who called plays for quarterback Eli Manning during the Rebels' 31-28 victory over Oklahoma State in the 2004 game.
 
Manning finished as the game's Most Valuable Offensive Player and Cutcliffe, the offensive coordinator at Tennessee during Peyton Manning's time at that school, parlayed that triumph into enshrinement in the Cotton Bowl Classic Hall of Fame in 2025. When Cutcliffe reflects on a lifetime of bowl experiences with peers and former players, he said: "The only bowl game we talk about consistently is the Cotton Bowl. We had to use the equipment truck to take our gifts home with Ole Miss because we didn't have room on the plane."
 
The lone gift exception for those 2004 Rebels? Each player took ownership of his own bowl watch for the trip back to campus. The presentation of commemorative watches has been a tradition since the inaugural Cotton Bowl Classic matched TCU and Marquette on Jan. 1, 1937. Multiple manufacturers have provided the timepieces through the years, including Rolex and two of its affiliated companies, Tudor and Hamilton.
 
In some of those seasons, the Rolex logo appeared on the face of the watch along with the Classic logo, the words "Cotton Bowl Classic," and the date of the game. The first group of Rolex
watch recipients included a stunned Georgia running back Kent Lawrence, who led the Bulldogs to a 24-9 win over SMU on Dec. 31, 1966. Lawrence rushed for 149 yards and a touchdown to emerge as the Most Outstanding Offensive Player.
 
Years later, during his speech as part of the 2003 induction class for the Cotton Bowl Classic Hall of Fame, Lawrence raised his left arm to show he was still wearing the Rolex he received more than 35 years earlier. In fact, he wore it every day from the time it was presented until it was passed on to Lawrence's son, Kelley, after his father's death in 2020.
 
"At that time, I had never heard the word 'Rolex,'" Lawrence said. "Well, it still fits today. And just like this game, it continues to increase in value over time."
 
Karlene Lawrence, Kent's widow, remembers his initial reaction to the watch was less than enthusiastic.
 
"He was extremely disappointed because it wasn't a Timex," she said. "That was the only type of watch he knew about at the time.
 
But he came around quickly to the idea (of owning a Rolex). He wore it every day to work. I think he might have worn it when he was on his riding mower, cutting the grass. He was really, really, proud of that watch."
 
Lawrence's sentiments are shared by fellow players, coaches, administrators and other members of team travelling parties who received Rolex-branded watches in games played at the conclusion of the 1966 through 1975 seasons. Each watch is inscribed on the back with the participant's name. Recent online searches show that vintage Cotton Bowl Classic watches from that era have sold for up to $7,500 – much higher than the $550 award limit for bowl-related
gifts under today's NCAA guidelines.
 
Bud Ford, the Historian Emeritus for Tennessee football, has worn his Rolex with regularity since he received it at the 1969 Cotton Bowl Classic while serving as a member of the school's media relations department. Despite the Vols' 36-13 loss to Texas that day, Ford said it remains "one of the most cherished bowl gifts I've ever received, and I've been to 47 bowl games."
 
Through the years, Ford, now in his 80s, said the watch has been to the repair shop only once – for a cracked crystal. The internal mechanism has remained flawless. Eventually, Ford said the watch will wind up with his son or grandson in accordance with words uttered by Doug Dickey, the Vols' football coach in 1969, on the day it was presented.
 
"He told my wife, 'If (Bud) happens to die, take the watch off before you bury him. It's worth more than he is,''' Ford said, chuckling. "It's a great conversation starter and it's been a great gift."
 
Mike Henderson, a member of the Cotton Bowl Athletic Association Board of Directors, received three Cotton Bowl Classic watches during his college years as a football manager at Texas A&M (1992-1994 Classics). A sports memorabilia enthusiast, he regularly surfs the internet to look for
vintage Classic watches.
 
Asked about the prevalence of finding them on the resale market, Henderson said: "If I looked right now, I could find a few, but they would all be from the last 20 years. The Rolexes? Hardly ever."
 
Tommy Harris, a four-year starter at Arkansas, made the lone bowl trip of his college career to the 1976 Cotton Bowl Classic. After the Razorbacks' 31-10 victory over Georgia, he acknowledged being "pleasantly surprised and absolutely thrilled" that his gift box included a Rolex watch.
 
"I recognized the name right away. I knew it was something special, even as a 21-year-old," said Harris, the younger brother of former Dallas Cowboys standout Cliff Harris, a 2020 inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
 
"I had no idea we were going to get that. I cherish it so much that I do not wear it that often. Normally, I lock it away to keep it safe."
 
Tony Neely, assistant athletic director for communications and public relations at Kentucky, adopts a more hands-on approach to protecting his watch from the 1958 Cotton Bowl Classic. He keeps it on his wrist every day. The watch was a gift from Jess Neely, his great uncle who coached Rice to four Cotton Bowl Classics before taking the job as the athletic director at Vanderbilt, where Tony was a student. During their mutual time at Vandy, Jess presented Tony
with what he considers "a treasured heirloom" despite learning the secret Jess never shared.
 
"He coached in four Cotton Bowls and won three of them. Guess which one I got?" Neely said, reflecting on the Owls' 20-7 loss to Navy in the contest where his watch was presented. "I still think it's the coolest thing ever. I've worn it for decades."
 
Through the years, some of the college football's most famous names have received Cotton Bowl Classic watches: TCU quarterback Sammy Baugh (1937), SMU standout Doak Walker
(1948-49), Notre Dame quarterback Joe Theismann (1970-71), Texas coach Darrell Royal (1960, 1962-64, 1969-74), Arkansas coach Frank Broyles (1961, 1965-66, 1976), and Kentucky/Alabama
coach Paul "Bear" Bryant (1952, 1968, 1973).
 
But perhaps no coach has worn his Cotton Bowl Classic watch more frequently than Tennessee's Doug Dickey, now in his 90s, who still wears his every day as a retiree in Jacksonville, Fla.
 
He even offered a belated "thank you" to one of his former players, Dick Williams, for spearheading the locker-room movement for Tennessee to accept a Cotton Bowl Classic berth largely because Vols' players had heard about the Rolexes given to the competing teams.
 
"They all knew. Dick Williams got the word out," Dickey said during a phone interview. "I've worn it basically every day since I got it. It's easy to read, it's self-winding and it has a calendar. What more do you need?"
 
As for his tongue-in-cheek advice to Ford's wife that a 1969 Cotton Bowl Classic watch held more lasting value than her husband, Dickey laughed and responded: "That's a good story. I'm not sure I said it, but I'll lay claim to it."