Winners! Round 3 - Grand Prize and Short List

What Is in the Box, Round 3, Revealed: It is a Somewhat Specific Tennis Trophy! How specific is this tennis trophy? The engraving on the front reads as follows:

HIGH C FALL '77
DIV. I "CHAMPS"
R. MINEO

A mysterious item, in many ways. Why were they so stingy with the engraving? Why didn't someone in charge of proof-reading take the "quotes" out of there? What does "R." stand for, and why would he sell his trophy? I actually know who would buy it - the people I bought it from and also me. So, it has its mysteries, but it is definitely a tennis trophy awarded to someone known as R. Mineo, probably for men's amateur tennis, probably from 1977, and probably from Doraville, Georgia. There is a sticker on the bottom of the base (fine marble, made in Italy) that gives the name and address of the company that made the trophy.

WINNER – Grand Prize:
(also the first entry this round)

@bcompton: The punchline to a joke written by the intelligent monkeys of tomorrow.
[I feel that it needs very little explanation that this is the Grand Prize winning guess. What is a tennis trophy for High C ’77 “Champs” but a grand jest at the pretensions of human-style primates written by the intelligent monkeys of tomorrow? What else could it be? I am more pleased than I could have anticipated, having a guess entered that so elegantly unravels this enigma of a trophy.]

[NOTE: As always, the short-list entries are addressed in the order they were posted on Twitter]

@LidMo: Shrinky dink Hockey Stick
[This guess had to be considered for the Grand Prize because it includes connotations both of miniturization and of sports. Even a sport that involves hitting a roundish mass with a specially-shaped wooden stick. Unfortunately, a Shrinky dink Hockey Stick alone does not echo with all facets of the essence of this trophy, and so this guess is eclipsed by the Grand Prize winner.]

@melmaren: A crazy big Pez dispenser! Or a soup ladle! I like this game :)
[This guess was a strong contender for the Grand Prize. I might be alone in this, but I see many similarities between this trophy and a Pez dispenser. Some online research suggested that this trophy was probably for an adult division, and is thus not demographically aimed at children. Furthermore, it is not interactive, and so “crazy big Pez dispenser!” could not be judged the winner. Also, a trophy is totally not a soup ladle.]

@arnied: Because of the size, I am guessing it's Hello Kitty stationary, Hello Kitty pencil and Hello Kitty Pez dispenser with pink candy.
[As stated above, I consider “Pez dispenser” generally a strong guess for this prize, but there are no other items associated with the trophy, and the trophy is not branded in any way (except by the company in Doraville, GA, that made it) and is not for any practical use, as are stationary, pencils, and Pez dispensers.]

@russmarshalek: one small stuffed puppy
[One of two guesses for stuffed animals. A weak argument could be made that a trophy is at least partly in the form of a living creature and is hollow-ish. This entrant made a further boast that he knew he would win, which only tempts the gods, and me, to defy that prediction.]

@fistsoffolly: Something that will inspire temporary synesthesia. It might be deliciously inedible or loudly muted, for example.
[There is really something to this guess, both this one and @toldorknown’s below. I had to ponder these for a while. The trophy is deliciously inedible. Furthermore, it is a little old and crappy looking, but still unmistakeably a trophy and a gaudy symbol of triumph. This guess does not get the Grand Prize because the effect this trophy has on people must be a matter of circumstance and the eye of the beholder.]

@toldorknown: It's a maintainer of the status quo, albeit without opinion regarding it. It is both easy to grasp and easy to reuse.
[As mentioned above, I was very interested in the first part of this guess. A trophy of any sort celebrates and reinforces the hierarchy and thus maintains the status quo. The rest of the guess does not hold up, unfortunately. For example, this contest might well be the only possible attempt to grasp and actual reuse of this trophy since 1977.]

@fistsoffolly: It's something that will lull me into a false sense of security. [2d guess]
[I will need to again echo a previous note. The maintenance of the status quo discussed above and the cheers and excitement of award giving may lull one into a false sense of security. It is not guaranteed to so lull one, nor is any such sense of security guaranteed to be false.]

@cawcaw: A stuffed toy with floppy ears. (I know, I'm too late.)
[As discussed above, there is a weak argument that a trophy is at least partly in the form of a living creature and is hollow-ish. This guess was entered after the closing bell, and I cannot consider elibible to win.]