During the Buckeye’s game this Saturday against the Fighting Illini of Illinois, 10 Ohio State honor students will be presented with a wooden turtle. This is not just any wooden turtle. It is the Illibuck and it has been part of OSU football history for over 70 years. The Illibuck is the trophy that has been given to the winner of the OSU-Illinois football game since 1925, said Colin O’Brien, president of the Bucket and Dipper junior honorary.The trophy is traded between OSU and the Sachem sophomore/junior honorary at Illinois during halftime of the OSU-Illinois game, he said. O’Brien said the members of the Bucket and Dipper junior honor society will go to Champaign to receive the trophy after last year’s 41-3 win over Illinois.The Bucket and Dipper honorary is made up of 30 juniors who are selected during winter quarter through an application process that is based on scholarship, leadership and service, O’Brien said.The halftime ritual includes the smoking of a peace pipe and the presentation of the Illibuck to the winner of last year’s football game, O’ Brien said.’It’s done during halftime to draw attention to the honoraries,’ he said.Originally, the turtle was not a wooden one, O’Brien said.’During the very first exchange, they used a live turtle,’ he said. ‘It was essentially a bit of a prank.’The turtle, which was named Illibuck to incorporate both schools mascots, was supposed to live 50 years but fell short of that mark, O’ Brien said.’The idea was that the turtle was long-lived, but the turtle only lived two years,’ he said.Bad living conditions were blame to for the live-Illibuck’s early demise, O’ Brien said.’It was living in the basements of the fraternity houses of the honorary members,’ he said. The trophy is now carved out of mahogany. The most recent of these trophies was carved by the father of last year’s Bucket and Dipper president, said Dr. David Hothersall, adviser to Bucket and Dipper. ‘The score of each game is inscribed on the turtle’s shell. After the last score is inscribed, the winner of that game gets to keep the trophy,’ he said. There are five full Illibucks in OSU’s Kuhn Honors House, Hothersall said. ‘I believe that Illinois has three or four of them,’ he said.According to the Big 10 Fan Guide, the record between the two teams since 1902 has been 53 wins for OSU, 27 wins for Illinois and four ties.