How DWTS Season 32 Will Honor the Late Judge Len Goodman

This year, receiving the disco ball trophy will be very special.

Dancing with the stars announced that the famous trophy would be renamed and redesigned in honor of one of the long-standing cornerstones of the competition: the late judge. Len Goodman.

“The Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy will now be raised on Dancing with the stars “like the Vince Lombardi Trophy being lifted at the Super Bowl,” executive producer said Conrad Green said USA today on September 20. “We wanted to make Len a permanent fixture on this show, to always remind people of how important he was to Dancing with the stars and how much he meant to all of us.

Len died in April this year aged 78 after privately battling bone cancer.

“It is with great sadness to announce that Len Goodman has passed away peacefully, at the age of 78,” Len’s spokesperson said in a statement obtained April 24 by NBC News. “A much loved husband, father and grandfather who will be greatly missed by his family, friends and all who knew him.”