Beef: It's What's for winner

Bobby Lee loves selling steak.

The co-owner of The Big Texan Steak Ranch - home of the infamous 72-ounce steak - also has a deep place in his heart for hockey.

And wait.

Lee experienced the passion of playing Texas high school football for the Canyon Eagles in the mid-1970s.

Somehow, Lee has accomplished the near impossible, combining the unlikely trio into what he hopes will become a Texas Panhandle football tradition.

"I just love this idea," Lee said. "Anything to promote to high school football for our region and let people know that our high schools in the Panhandle can keep with anybody else. I just wish they received more recognition for the kids in the area. This is just a new idea to create a new event for kids in this region."

Lee's idea is to add icing to the many thriving football rivalries in the Texas Panhandle.

Tonight, for the first time since the Amarillo High-Randall rivalry started in 2004, the winning team will receive The Beef on Bell Street Trophy.

This traveling trophy weighs 48 pounds, the exact weight of the National Hockey League Stanley Cup, considered the most compelling trophy in sports and an icon that Lee has held in his hands.

"There are a couple of rolls of quarters in the Beef on Bell Street trophy to make it exactly 48 pounds," Lee said. "I had to make sure we had the weight. I can't wait to see the winning team raise the trophy over heads."

Lee's vision of trophy madness stretches beyond tonight.

He plans in the near future to add a trophy to the winner of the Amarillo High-Tascosa rivalry game.

Lee thinks other Amarillo-area businesses should jump on board and come up "with unique trophies for rivalry games throughout the area. This is a great chance to get your name associated with a trophy year in and year out. This is a chance to have some fun and do something special for the kids."

Lee said playing high school football in Texas is a memory etched into his mind forever and knows he will see that same passion in the eyes of Randall and Amarillo High players tonight.

"That time of playing high school football is the greatest time of life," Lee said. "It's when sports is as fun as it can get."