Oregon Ducks
| Oregon Ducks | |
 |
|
| University | University of Oregon |
|---|---|
| Conference | Pac-10 |
| NCAA | Division I |
| Athletics director | Pat Kilkenny |
| Location | Eugene, OR |
| Varsity teams | 14 |
| Football stadium | Autzen Stadium |
| Basketball arena | McArthur Court |
| Mascot | Donald Duck |
| Nickname | Ducks |
| Fight song | Mighty Oregon |
| Colors | Green and Yellow
|
| Homepage | www.goducks.com |
The Oregon Ducks refers to the mascot and sports teams of the University of Oregon, located in Eugene, Oregon, United States. The Oregon Ducks are part of the Pacific 10 (Pac-10) conference. Donald Duck is the mascot of the University of Oregon under an agreement with Disney. The Oregon Ducks are best known for their football team and Track and Field program, which has helped to make Eugene be known as "Tracktown, USA".[1]They are also sometimes referred to as "The Quack Attack."
Mascot history
The University of Oregon mascot is the Donald Duck character, often referred to as "the duck", and may also be referred to as Donald or Puddles. The university has a special arrangement with Disney for the rights to use him. The mascot wears a green and yellow costume, a green and yellow beanie cap with the word "Oregon" on it.
The UO's first nickname was "Webfoots," coined by longtime Oregonian sports editor L. H. Gregory.[2] The name originated from a group of fishermen from the coast of Massachusetts whose descendants settled in Oregon's Willamette Valley. When the University of Oregon was founded in 1876, Webfoots was the natural choice for the school's nickname.[2]
Sports reporters later shortened the nickname to "Ducks", and by the 1930s a small white duck named "Puddles" was brought to sports events. Beginning in 1940, cartoon drawings of Puddles in student publications began to resemble Donald Duck. Walt Disney questioned the resemblance in 1947. Capitalizing on his friendship with a Disney cartoonist, Oregon Athletic Director Leo Harris met Disney in Los Angeles and reached an informal handshake agreement that granted the University of Oregon permission to use Donald as its sports mascot. The only record of that agreement was a photo showing Harris, Disney, and two others crouched around a live white duck.[3] Relying on the photo as evidence of Disney's wishes, the University in 1990 negotiated formal permission from Disney Enterprises to use the likeness of the Donald Duck character as a symbol for (and restricted to) Oregon sports.[2]
The mascot that appears in graphic art is more similar to Donald Duck than the actual mascot that appears at University functions, which has a rounder head and body than typical renditions of the Donald Duck character. A Nike-designed futuristic rubber-suit wearing duck, nicknamed "Duck Vader", "Mandrake", or "RoboDuck" by the student body, began appearing at athletic events in 2003,[3] though as of 2007 this mascot is no longer in use.
During the 2007 season opener, the Duck mascot became upset with Shasta, the mascot for the Houston Cougars, for "imitating" his "trademark move", doing pushups after his team scores, although many mascots throughout college football, as well as for many high school teams, are known to do pushups after their team scores. The result was the duck attacking Shasta, and being suspended for one game. It was never revealed what penalty the student in the Duck suit faced. [1]
Football history
Football conference championships
- 1919 Pacific Coast Conference Co-Champions
- 1933 Pacific Coast Conference Co-Champions
- 1948 Pacific Coast Conference Co-Champions
- 1957 Pacific Coast Conference Co-Champions
- 1994 Pacific-10 Conference Champions
- 2000 Pacific-10 Conference Co-Champions
- 2001 Pacific-10 Conference Champions
Bowl game appearances and results
Basketball
The Oregon Ducks won the first NCAA Basketball Championship in 1939, defeating Ohio State 46-33.
2002 saw the Ducks attain one of their finest performances ever, going undefeated at home and winning the Pac-10 title. The team went on to defeat Montana, Wake Forest and Texas in the 2002 NCAA Tournament to reach the Elite Eight and end their season with a #6 ranking.
The following year, the Ducks won the Pac-10 tournament, and received an 8 seed in the NCAA tournament behind the strong play of Pac-10 Player of the Year, Luke Ridnour. However, they were defeated by Utah in the opening round of the 2003 NCAA tournament.
After a disappointing stretch of seasons from 2004-2006, the team has regained its composure and kicked off the new year with
an upset of #1 UCLA on January 6, 2007. They have attained their
best start since 1928, when they started the season 18-1. The Ducks finished the regular season with a 23-7 record and defeated
Arizona, California, and
USC to win the 2007 Pac-10 Tournament. The Ducks are currently ranked 10 (AP Poll) and 12
(ESPN/USA Today Poll). In March of 2007 the Ducks entered into the NCAA tournament with a #3 seed. On March 16th, the Ducks
defeated #14 seed
Oregon continued their run into the 2007 Sweet Sixteen by defeating Winthrop, 75-61. The Ducks defeated #7 seed University of Nevada, Las Vegas to secure a spot in the Elite Eight against defending national champions Florida. The Ducks run ended in the Elite Eight, losing to soon-to-be National Champion Florida Gators.
| Oregon Ducks Basketball 1938-1939 NCAA Champions |
|---|
| Bobby Anet | John Dick | Laddie Gale | Bob Hardy |
Wally Johansen | Jay Langston | Red
McNeely | Ford Mullen | Matt Pavalunas | Earl Sandness | Ted Sarpola | Slim
Wintermute Coach Howard Hobson |
Baseball
Oregon fielded its first baseball program in 1876. The Ducks won the Pac-10 title 14 times and produced 22 Major League players before being downgraded to a club sport in 1981. UO made one College World Series appearance, in 1954, and was eliminated from the tournament after losing to Arizona and Massachusetts. In July 2007, the university announced that Oregon will again field an NCAA Division I baseball team beginning with the 2009 season.[4]
Relationship with Nike
UO track and field coach Bill Bowerman revolutionized the athletic shoe by pouring molten rubber into a waffle iron, creating a prototype rubber sole. Bowerman went on to co-found the Nike corporation with UO alumnus Phil Knight. Nike has maintained a close relationship with UO ever since, manufacturing all university logo clothing and uniforms for the football team, including research prototypes for high-tech "smart clothes", such as jerseys with cooling systems. Controversy surrounding Nike's labor practice precipitated protests in 2000 led by a group of students calling themselves The Human Rights Alliance. The protests included a 10 day tent city occupation of the lawns in front of Johnson Hall, the main administration building. Protesting students demanded and initially received independent oversight by the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) of Nike's overseas factories. The University of Oregon joined the WRC but was quickly admonished by Phil Knight in a scathing letter [2] resulting in the rescission of a US$30 million dollar contribution to renovate Autzen Stadium, and a pledge for no more future donations should the University continue its membership in the WRC. The University eventually terminated the relationship with the WRC within a year of joining, citing "legal complications." Phil Knight later reinstated the donation and increased the money to over US$50 million dollars. [3]
Uniforms
The University of Oregon football team often comes out with a new design for their uniforms or a new color scheme. In the 2005 season, they used nine uniform combinations, including white jerseys and white pants,yellow and green, yellow and yellow, green and green, white and green, green and yellow,white and yellow, black and black, and white and black, which they wore in the 2005 Holiday Bowl against the University of Oklahoma.
New uniforms were introduced for the 2006 season, allowing up to 384 different combinations of jerseys, pants, and helmets. It was announced prior to the beginning of the season that different colored helmets would be used, however these did not debut until the Ducks wore yellow helmets in their 38-8 loss to BYU in the 2006 Las Vegas Bowl.
2005-2006 football season
In 2005, Oregon had success behind senior quarterback Kellen Clemens and a new spread offense. Unfortunately, during a game at Arizona, Clemens suffered a broken ankle. At that point Oregon was 8-1 (their only loss was to #1 ranked USC 45-13), and still in the hunt for a BCS game. Oregon won their final three games and their success led them into contention for a bid to the Fiesta Bowl. The Ducks finished the regular season with a 10-1 record, their best finish since their Joey Harrington-led, Fiesta Bowl-winning 2001-2002 team. They finished 5th overall in the BCS ranking system, which would in many years have been high enough to earn them a bid to a BCS Bowl. In 2005, however, there were no at-large bids available to Oregon. Ohio State finished just ahead of the Ducks, in 4th place, guaranteeing them one of the at-large berths (although they had an inferior 10-2 record). Notre Dame finished 6th in the BCS, also securing a BCS bid due to a pre-existing clause in the BCS contract. Many college football fans were outraged that two teams with worse records were selected over the Ducks. Moreover, for the second consecutive year, the Pac-10 conference had a team that finished with a one-loss season snubbed by the BCS (the Cal Bears finished 10-1 in 2004). Furthermore, the argument that TV ratings hurt the Ducks' BCS chances was disproved later by The Wall Street Journal, which published an article showing that Oregon drew the highest bowl ratings in college football.[4] The situation (and others like it in recent years) has led to more calls for a playoff system to replace the BCS, which has received widespread criticism from college football fans. Instead of a BCS game, they were assigned to the Holiday Bowl versus the Oklahoma Sooners. Playing without their starting quarterback, Kellen Clemens, and combined with a strong showing from the Sooners, the Ducks fell in a close game, 17-14, finishing the season tied for the second-best in school history with a 10-2 overall record.
2006-2007 Football Season
2007-2008 Football Season
Venues
The Oregon Ducks basketball teams play at McArthur Court on the campus of the University of Oregon. The Ducks football team's home is Autzen Stadium, just north of the main campus. Track and field events are held at Hayward Field, on the campus adjacent to McArthur Court.
See also
References
- ^ Track Town, USA. GoDucks.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
- ^ a b c The Duck. GoDucks.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
- ^ a b Schmidt, Brad (November 15 2002). One duck...or two?. Oregon Daily Emerald. Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
- ^ Smith, Jeff. "Baseball no longer a dead Duck", The Oregonian, July 14, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-07-14.
External links
- University of Oregon homepage
- Oregon Athletics
- eDuck.com: Unofficial Oregon Duck News Page and Message Boards
- Unofficial Oregon Duck Fan Page
| Pacific-10 Conference |
|---|
| Arizona • Arizona State • California • Oregon • Oregon State • Stanford • UCLA • USC • Washington • Washington State |
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