It was introduced in 1993 and is named after former WVU football player and Syracuse head coach Ben Schwartzwalder, who died in April of that year.

It was sculpted by Syracuse player Jimmy Ridlon.

West Virginia won the first trophy game 43–0 at Syracuse and has gone on to win 11.

Syracuse has won the trophy eight times and leads the series 34–27.

With West Virginia's move to the Big 12 Conference in 2012 and Syracuse's move to the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2013, the future of the series is in doubt with no meetings currently planned.