Every year, millions of people watching the NFL’s Super Bowl catch a glimpse of Ben Nix ’63. But what viewers really see what’s he’s holding — the shiny Lombardi Trophy that goes to the big game’s winner.

A former Dallas Cowboys security officer and FBI agent, Nix has worked for the NFL since 1981. Each year, his job is to coordinate the travel and protection of the league’s ultimate prize.

The trophy, made by Tiffany’s, weighs 7 pounds and costs about $50,000. It’s made of sterling silver. Unlike the Stanley Cup in hockey, the Lombardi Trophy is made anew each year. The winning team keeps it forever rather than giving it back at the start of the ensuing season.

Starting the week of the Super Bowl, Nix goes wherever the trophy goes, transporting and guarding it at numerous appearances at the site of the big game each year. Photos are OK, but no one touches it without white gloves, until it’s time to hand it to the league commissioner at the trophy presentation.

“The most difficult part is to keep the hands off it until the team gets it,” he said. “It smudges up pretty easily and so we try to keep that from happening.”

Nix, a former TCU football player, gets busy at the fourth quarter winds down.

“About four minutes left in the game, [I] bring it out to the field and eventually hand it to the presenter who takes it down to the winning team,” he said.

And when that final minute runs off the clock and the handoff is made, Nix exhales.

“There’s always a sense of relief,” he said. “There’s no question about that. Yeah, a big sense of relief.”