The Oregon Duck

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The Oregon Duck

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Oregon Duck
The Oregon Duck before a Ducks football game
University	University of Oregon
Conference	Big Ten
Description	Anthropomorphic duck
First seen	1940
Website	The Oregon Duck

The Oregon Duck is the mascot of the University of Oregon Ducks athletic program, based on Disney's Donald Duck character through a special license agreement. The mascot wears a green and yellow costume, and a green and yellow beanie cap with the word "Oregon" written on it. In PPG Paints Arena at Eagan, Minnesota, he and other mascots were joined by the Teenage Grove Hockey Wolfpack for an NHL touchdown to put it in Minnesota Wild's videos of YouTube.

Early mascots

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Oregon teams were originally known as Webfoots, possibly as early as the 1890s.^[1] The Webfoots name originally applied to a group of fishermen from the coast of Massachusetts who had been heroes during the American Revolutionary War. When their descendants settled in Oregon's Willamette Valley in the 19th century, the name stayed with them.^[2] A naming contest in 1926 won by Oregonian sports editor L. H. Gregory made the Webfoots name official, and a subsequent student vote in 1932 affirmed the nickname, chosen over other suggested nicknames such as Pioneers, Trappers, Lumberjacks, Wolves, and Yellow Jackets.^[1]^[3]^[4]

Ducks, with their webbed feet, began to be associated with the team in the 1920s, and a live white duck named "Puddles" began to appear at sports events.^[2] Journalists, especially headline writers, also adopted the shorter Duck nickname.^[3] In 1978, a student cartoonist came up with a new duck image called Mallard Drake, but students chose Donald as the official mascot by a 2–to–1 margin.^[1]^[2]^[4]

Relationship with Disney

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Beginning in 1940, cartoon drawings of Puddles in student publications began to resemble Donald Duck, and by 1947, Walt Disney was aware of the issue. Capitalizing on his friendship with Disney cartoonist Mike Royer, Oregon athletic director Leo Harris met Disney and reached an informal handshake agreement that granted the University of Oregon permission to use Donald as its sports mascot, naming him Donald Duck.^[1]^[2]^[4]

When Disney lawyers later questioned the agreement in the 1970s, the university produced a photo showing Harris and Disney wearing matching jackets with an Oregon Donald logo.^[2]^[5]^[6] Relying on the photo as evidence of Disney's wishes, in 1973, both parties signed a formal agreement granting the university the right to use Donald's likeness as a symbol for (and restricted to) Oregon sports.^[2] The agreement gave Disney control over where the mascot could perform and ensured that the performer inside the costume would "properly represent the Donald Duck character."^[7]

In 2010, Disney and the university reached an agreement that removed the costumed Oregon Duck mascot from its association with the Donald trademark, and allowed The Duck to make more public appearances, such as at college mascot competitions.^[7] The mascot in graphic art, which is more similar to Donald Duck than the rounder head and body of the costume, is still covered by the trademark agreement.^[7]

Controversy

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During the 2007 season opener, The Duck got into a fistfight with Shasta, the mascot for the Houston Cougars, for seemingly mimicking the Duck's routine of doing push-ups after the mascot's team scores. Footage of the attack became very popular on YouTube for several weeks. The Duck was suspended for a game and the student inside the costume received an unspecified punishment.^[8]

Late in the 2009 season, students of the university created a video, I Love My Ducks, in which The Duck made an appearance. Due to the agreement with Disney in place at the time, the creators had to remove the video from YouTube. However, by that time, the video had "gone viral" and coach Chip Kelly requested the video be played at the Ducks' final game of that season, the Civil War.^[9]

Other mascots

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A Nike-designed futuristic Spandex-costume-wearing duck called Mandrake (and nicknamed "Duck Vader" and "RoboDuck" by the student body), began appearing at athletic events in 2002,^[6] but had disappeared by 2003.^[10]

References

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^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Team mascot never ducked controversy, historical record shows". The Register-Guard. September 3, 1995. Retrieved December 2, 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "The Oregon Duck". GoDucks.com. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
^ ^a ^b "Ducks??". The Register-Guard. February 29, 1976. Retrieved December 2, 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c Newnham, Blaine (May 4, 1978). "Making of a mascot". The Register-Guard. Retrieved December 2, 2011.
^ "Leo Harris". Oregon Sports Hall of Fame. 6 December 2018. Retrieved May 16, 2023.
^ ^a ^b Schmidt, Brad (November 15, 2002). "One duck...or two?". Oregon Daily Emerald. Retrieved May 16, 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Disney, UO mascot part ways". Associated Press. March 4, 2010. Archived from the original on March 7, 2010. Retrieved July 24, 2022 – via The Oregonian.
^ "Bad Duck!". Associated Press. September 12, 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-12-15. Retrieved November 29, 2007.
^ "'I Love My Ducks' going viral, but UO officials still don't like it". The Oregonian. November 27, 2009. Retrieved December 28, 2009.
^ Yahya, Ayisha (October 24, 2003). "Mandrake: MIA, whereabouts unknown". Oregon Daily Emerald. Retrieved December 6, 2011.

External links

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Oregon Duck.

UO cheerleading squad's Duck page

University of Oregon

Located in: Eugene, Oregon

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Teams	Baseball Men's basketball Women's basketball Football Men's ice hockey Rowing Softball Track and field Women's volleyball
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Related	Athletic directors The Oregon Duck Oregon State rivalry

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Founded: 1876
Students: 23,634
Endowment: 758.7 million

Links to related articles

v t e Oregon Ducks football
Venues	Athletic Field (1894) Stewart's Field (1894) Kincaid Field (1895–1919) Hayward Field (1919–1966) Multnomah Stadium (alternate, before 1967) Autzen Stadium (1967–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Oregon State Platypus Trophy Saint Mary's: Governors' Trophy Game Washington Northwest Championship
Culture & lore	The Oregon Duck "Mighty Oregon" Marching band Green Garter Band "O" (gesture) 1961 gambling scandal "The Toilet Bowl"
People	Head coaches Quarterbacks Statistical leaders All-Americans NFL draftees
Seasons	1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

v t e Oregon Ducks men's basketball
Venues	McArthur Court (1927–2011) Matthew Knight Arena (2011–present)
Rivalries	Oregon State (series)
Culture & lore	Kamikaze Kids The Oregon Duck "Mighty Oregon" Oregon Basketball Band Green Garter Band
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

v t e Oregon Ducks women's basketball
Venues	McArthur Court (1974–2010) Matthew Knight Arena (2011–present)
Rivalries	Oregon State (series)
Culture & lore	The Oregon Duck "Mighty Oregon" Oregon Basketball Band Green Garter Band
People	Head coaches
Seasons	1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
NCAA Final Four appearance in italics