The winner of Thursday night’s Orange Bowl matchup between Penn State University’s Nittany Lions and the University of Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish will be presented with a trophy made largely by a local glassblower.
Eamon King was hired to make the glass portion of that trophy and the glass portion of five others.
In addition to the 19-inch bowl he made for the championship trophy, he made two matching 12-inch bowls for the trophies being presented to the winning coach and to the game’s most valuable player. He also was paid to make backups for all three.
Each of the bowls are mounted on a wooden base and filled with oranges.
Mr. King, 41, said he learned the craft of glassblowing when he was 16 and that he has become part of a small network of local glassblowers.
He said his experience in making a large glass punch bowl for the Renaissance Hotel’s grand opening in 2017 was his biggest credential in terms of bowl-making until this opportunity was offered to him.
“It was definitely not something I expected to be approached about,” Mr. King said of the opportunity to make the trophy bowls.
He said he learned about the Orange Bowl’s trophy needs through a little-known group called the American Scientific Glassblowers Society, of which he and a little more than 400 glassblowers are members.
Mr. King’s skills go beyond ordinary glassblowing.
Four days a week, he works for the University of Toledo as a scientific glassblower in Bowman-Oddy Laboratories, a specialty job vanishing across university and corporate landscapes.
In that capacity, he makes and repairs flasks and other glass-based scientific equipment. It’s a job designed to provide immediate help with laboratory needs, rather than waiting for materials to arrive from other locations and at greater expense.
“It’s expensive and takes a while to get them,” Mr. King said.
Similar comments were made by Steven Sucheck, a professor and chair of UT’s department of chemistry and biochemistry.
“A staff glassblower is an invaluable resource that enhances the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of our department’s operations, while contributing to both our educational and research goals,” Mr. Sucheck said. “Scientific glassware is notoriously expensive, and many chemistry, biochemistry, biology, and physics experiments require specialized glassware that cannot be easily purchased off-the-shelf. Additionally, glassware used in research and teaching laboratories is prone to breakage over time.”
Mr. King “plays a key role in repairing these items and in creating custom glassware, such as complex reaction vessels or other specialized equipment, tailored to the exact needs of the lab or specific experiments,” Mr. Sucheck said.
For the other three days of the week, Mr. King works as a glassblowing artist, including Fridays as an assistant for glassblower Mike Wallace. The two work inside Mr. Wallace’s studio in Swanton, where the trophy glass was made.
“I would not have been able to do it without him,” he said of the project.
Any large project such as this one is a team effort that requires others familiar with the craft of glassblowing to help.
Mr. King also credited glass artists Tim Stover and John Booth in particular for their assistance with the trophy glass.
The glass bowl portion of each trophy may appear to have a simple design, but they are challenging for craftsmen because — unlike abstract art — there is no room for error, he said.
“The simpler the shape is, the more it will show a flaw,” Mr. King said. “We had quite a few that didn't make the cut that had to be recycled back into the furnace.”
Mr. King said glassblowing fascinates him because of how quickly the composition of glass changes.
Working with it requires intense focus. He compared glassblowing to music, in that musicians cannot afford to let themselves get distracted, either.
“It really does make you tune out everything else that’s going on in your life,” Mr. King said. “It’s the feeling of being deeply immersed in the material. It’s very much like playing music. Finding the right teammates makes a world of difference.”
The Orange Bowl game will be played at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., a suburb about 16 miles north of downtown Miami.
First Published January 8, 2025, 3:21 p.m.
