NJDuck Moderator No. 1 Share Posted March 7 Find out why the lovable Oregon Ducks' mascot is who he is and why he dons green & yellow every Saturday in the fall. Oregon's state flower is the wild grape which blooms beautiful yellow flowers every spring. In 1893, UO students voted to adopt the flower's yellow as their school color. Believe it or not, with how often the team wears the color, green was never officially voted in as one of Oregon's school colors. However, it has been used so frequently alongside the yellow that it has nearly become the primary color for the Ducks. Why is Oregon called the Ducks? And why are they green and yellow? AUTZENZOO.COM Find out why the lovable Oregon Ducks' mascot is who he is and why he dons green & yellow every Saturday in the fall. As sportswriters proliferated the name it became codified in both local and national consciousness as synonymous with Oregon’s teams.This de facto status as the University of Oregon’s mascot led athletic director Leo Harris to seek out an official representation of a duck for the school. That desire led to the handshake deal in 1947 between Harris and Walt Disney which linked UO to Donald Duck. The informal arrangement allowed Oregon to use Donald’s likeness for its mascot for free as long as it was used in a reputable manner. The cartoon mogul’s studio produced several versions of Donald for the school over the next two decades, until Disney’s death in 1966 led his estate and the school to realize the lack of any formal contract. Over the next seven years, the two parties worked to create a written agreement outlining the terms of Donald’s continued use as Oregon’s official duck representative. Donald would slowly evolve into the webfooted mascot that currently patrols Autzen Stadium, Hayward Field, and Matthew Knight Arena. After the agreement with Disney, early attempts were made to create a Donald costume to serve as the team’s mascot at games and university events. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmithRiverDuck No. 2 Share Posted March 7 I love revisiting UO history from time to time. Certainly the Disney story is as famous as it deserves to be and adds to our uniqueness in sports. My favorite use of our colors came from alumni Bob and Beverly (of course their last name is now escaping me) who met at the UO. Successfully owning a So Cal Anheuser-Busch distributorship allowed them to get into raising thoroughbreds. I'm not sure how many years I tuned into the Kentucky Derby just to see that yellow and green represented. I don't think I've purposely watched it since unless a customer in our establishment requested it. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
woundedknees No. 3 Share Posted March 7 Good article, but the vine/shrub the Duck colors are derived from is popularly known as "Oregon Grape, or "holly leaved barberry", and the fruit is actually used in some alternative medicines. I definitely prefer the Duck to Webfoots, especially when the webfoot uniform is so reminiscent of that worn by the Cal Bears... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDuck No. 4 Share Posted March 7 Proud Duck alums Bob & Beverly Lewis....worth reading Bob and Beverly Lewis: Beloved Racing Royalty WWW.AMERICASBESTRACING.NET Thoroughbred racing, like any other sport, has been home to the exploits of scamps, scallywags, and scoundrels. At the other end of the scale of human character and integrity, few people in the sport Robert and Beverly Lewis Integrative Science Building, University of Oregon - Pharmaceutical Technology WWW.PHARMACEUTICAL-TECHNOLOGY.COM University of Oregon’s (UO) new Robert and Beverly Lewis Integrative Science Building (LISB) was opened in November 2012. Named after… 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDuck No. 5 Share Posted March 7 Webfoots was officially adopted as the program nickname in 1926. Very quickly, however, the program became known as the Ducks — a nickname that has stuck despite challengers from nicknames such as the Timberwolves, Lumberjacks, Trappers, Pioneers, Yellowjackets, and Spearsmen. https://www.uoalumni.com/s/1540/21/tabs.aspx?sid=1540&gid=3&pgid=11110&cid=27798&ecid=27798&crid=0&calpgid=10708&calcid=27658 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Marsh No. 6 Share Posted March 8 On 3/7/2024 at 3:34 PM, HDuck said: nickname that has stuck despite challengers from nicknames such as the Timberwolves, Lumberjacks, Trappers, Pioneers, Yellowjackets, and Spearsmen. Thankfully we didn't go with lumberjacks, pioneers or spearsmen. But we'd fit in with the B1G with their array of terrifying human mascots. Human mascots are the worst! 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
