Cuckoo4Design

What can you do with old sports trophies and medals

DIY projects

Do you ever wonder what you can do with old sports trophies? Well then you have come to the right place because today I want to show you what I did with all of my husbands old sports achievements that he’s been so attached to and that we didn’t have room for. It’s the perfect way to upcycle trophies.

what can you do with old sports trophies

handmade display frame with old medals and trophy plaques

Ever since our wedding 20 years ago I was faced with the problem about what to do with my husbands huge collection of sports paraphernalia. (I know a lot of women have this problem!) He had been collecting all kinds of stuff, from his own athletic accomplishments to baseball/football cards and Sports Illustrated magazines. He was under the impression that we would display everything in the man cave. This actually made me laugh at first and then I wanted to cry! There’s just no way. If I would display everything that him and I love, our house would look like we could be on the show Hoarders. Everybody has to purge and that way we were able to come to a compromise.

I have found several solutions for all his things and in this post I will show you my way to repurpose trophies and his athletic accomplishments from early childhood to college.

He had 2 crates full of trophies, medals and plaques stored in his mother’s attic. She was sick of keeping his stuff and told him to take them. (Sigh out loud!) He actually thought we’d display them!!!!! He is so attached to his sports past.

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old crate filled with trophies and awards

Well, guess what I got excited about when I saw the trophies? Yup, the crates! They are the best thing about this pile! Aren’t they cool?

I have seen some projects out there where people spray painted old trophies a glossy white but that doesn’t solve the issue of using up too much space. And the trophies weren’t nice shapes either. I had to come up with something that would display medals and trophies in a small space.

What I came up with isn’t in anyway a revolutionary new idea, but it solved the problem and he is happy with it.

 

repurpose trophies in a medals and trophies collage

What you need:

 

making a display frame for your old athletic accomplishments

  1. I went to our local Salvation Army and found a homemade frame for a $1. It had a wooden back, no glass and a thick fabric cover. Perfect for my project but like I mentioned above you could use a display case (HERE) or a shadow box frame (HERE) for this project as well.
  2. I removed the plywood back and stapled my scrap fabric to it with my staple gun.
  3. I first sanded and then primed the frame with my favorite spray paint primer.
    The idea to paint the frame in red, white and blue came from the fact that my husband liked the old red white and blue ribbon that is left on the one old medal.
    I taped the primed frame and added the red white and blue stripes (You can click HERE to see how I paint really crisp strips and it sure works on a frame too). When I looked at the glossy results I decided to antique glaze the frame to make it look a little older to match the vintage look of the entire display. (My little daughter wasn’t too happy with the black glaze. She wanted to know why I’m ruining the pretty colors and making them look dirty. Haha!)
  4. Next I had my husband remove all the plaques from his trophies that he wanted to keep with a chisel (or you can use a flathead screwdriver). He cleaned them up a little but I wanted him to keep the patina on the plaques.
    Then I removed the old torn ribbons from the medals.removing plaques from old trophies
  5. I put it all together by laying out a collage of the plaques and medals on the fabric covered back.
  6. Then I attached them with hot glue and the medals with needles, so they could be turned around (please see below photo). You can bend and turn the needles the way you want to make them slide into the fabric.

hot gluing trophy plaques to a display collage

what can you do with old sports trophies

awards plaques and metals arranged in a collage

This small frame uses a lot less space then the 2 filled crates and we are both happy with the results.

sports trophies and medals collage in frame display

 How to display your old medals and trophies in a collage

more creative ideas for old trophies

 


 My daughter wanted her medals displayed a different way and you can read more about it HERE.

how to easily display kids sports medals

My son prefers not taking his medals and trophies apart but he also has a world flag and soccer patch display. Click HERE to read more.

sports display with world flags and soccer patches

 

You might also enjoy seeing how I hung up my husband’s Sports Illustrated collection (click HERE):

Basement Man Cave with Sports Illustrated Collection - Cuckoo4Design

upcycling your old sports trophies and medals in a collage

Thanks for the visit.
Tschüß

 

old salvation army frame
old white frame with old trophies and medallions

 

Valspar antiquing glaze on glossy frame

 

adding grey fabric to background with staple gun

repurposing old medals and plaques in a collage

putting vintage metals and plaques on display in an old painted frame

Neuweiler crates with old trophies

Reader Interactions

Comments

  4. Anonymous says

    I like this idea! You can also take the little guys on the top of the trophies, remove them and make wine/bottle stoppers!!! 🙂

  6. Betsy says

    so I love the idea but the real reason I am posting is that I am from Bethlehem and the ‘crate’ is from Allentown I thought that was pritty amazing being all of the links I could have clicked….also you are german yes? living in the states…my friend is American living in Germany and she has a blog….Life and Death in Franconian Village by Laura Libricz..just little coincidences…in the big, yet very small world we live in. Oh and on the trophys I have 3 just barley adult kids with lots of trophys so I shall be busy.

    • Julia Konya says

      Thanks Betsy!
      I know it’s a small world 😉 and it just so happens that I’m also from Franconia! Not kidding! I checked out your friends blog and she lives around Nürnberg right? That’s about an hour away from where I am from. She wrote her first historical fiction novel and I love historical fiction! How exciting! I think I may just read it when I’m finished with my current historical fiction book which also plays in Franconia!
      Talk to you soon!

    • Betsy says

      This is gettin really weird…you are from Franconia, yes she lives in Mailach. Yes check out her book, you will enjoy it.
      I got the okay from my children to rmove theur names and make a trophy frame. I will then try and donate the trophys to a local organization.

  7. Anonymous says

    What about donating the trophies to your local rec department or Boys and Girls club for them to reuse? They could add their own name plates. Love this idea!!!!

  9. David Frum says

    oh！great！ idea is super friendly, knowledgeable, and they’re able to do a lot of different plaques, trophies, awards. Here is a sample “About Me” page that answers these questions. I love this post, lots of great info!Thank for sharing..
    Trophies and medals

  15. Anonymous says

    Just came across this- love the idea! Did you ever post what you did with the baseball cards and Sports Illustrated magazines???

    • Julia Konya says

      I have been wanting to but we’ve had issues with our basement and I didn’t want to take pictures in the mess. But I will hopefully get to it this fall when I’m going to redo the basement a little.

    • Anonymous says

      Ok great- I will look forward to the ideas! Stumbled upon your blog today looking for ideas for mine and my hubby’s old trophies, medals, etc! And now I have been all over your blog posts- love them!!!

  20. MYeller0330 says

    My fiancé and I were just talking about what to do with trophies and this looks great!

    How did your husband get the plaques with the names on them? They look tough to get off and we’re hoping it’s something we can manage!

    • MYeller0330 says

      I guess I should clarify a bit, how did he get the plaques off? If you could clarify on that process a bit that would be fantastic! Thank you for sharing this awesome idea!!

  21. Julia Konya says

    Hi, we just used a screw driver or speckling knife to get under the plaques on the trophies and pried them off. Since most of them are only glued on and the glue was old, it was really easy. Some of them were screwed on and we just screwed them off.
    Hope that helps and let me know if you have any more questions.

  27. Kate says

    The only “change” I would make is instead of painting the Red white and blue, I would actually use the old ribbons you removed and spread them out as the backdrop and mount the medals on top

  28. kassie says

    How did you get the plaques off of the actual trophy it self?Mine seem to be super glued on and I don’t want to break them off.

  29. Cheryl Smith says

    I love the idea of combining all of my old trophies into one case. This would make it really easy to show. I am definitely going to try this idea for my trophies and my children’s trophies.

  30. Nicole says

    Have you ever come across lead crystal plaques that are either broken or no longer useful? Any thoughts on how to repurpose those? I have about 10 that are either broken are just “NO” but feel guilty throwing them away.

    thanks:)

  31. Kathy Sims says

    Thank you SOOOOOO MUCH for this idea!!!! Now I can get all those dusty trophies off my shelf!!!!

  32. Pam Clackler says

    Love, love, love this idea. I have all kinds of heirloom academia medals for me and hockey medals and trophies for my boys. I love the red, white and blue. Fantastic job and great inspiration!

  34. Lisa says

    Julia I just LOVE this project!!!! Every woman that is married to a guy with two crates of tropies that his mom saved since kindergarten thanks you! 🙂

  35. Michele says

    What a wonderful idea! We have boxes of my husband’s trophies in the attic—I’m so doing this! Thank you!