The Oregon Duck

Not to be confused with Oregon Ducks.

The Oregon Duck
The Oregon Duck at a Ducks football game
University	University of Oregon
Conference	Pac-12
Description	Anthropomorphic duck
First seen	1940
Website	The Oregon Duck

The Oregon Duck (also known as the Fighting Duck, or simply The 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" on it.

Early mascots

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

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 a Disney cartoonist, 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.^[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] 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."^[6]

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.^[6] 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.^[6]

Controversy

During the 2007 season opener, The Duck attacked 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.^[7] 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 take the video down 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.^[8]

Other mascots

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,^[5] but had disappeared by 2003.^[9]

References

1 2 3 4 "Team mascot never ducked controversy, historical record shows". The Register-Guard. September 3, 1995. Retrieved December 2, 2011.
1 2 3 4 5 6 "The Oregon Duck". GoDucks.com. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
1 2 "Ducks??". The Register-Guard. February 29, 1976. Retrieved December 2, 2011.
1 2 3 Newnham, Blaine (May 4, 1978). "Making of a mascot". The Register-Guard. Retrieved December 2, 2011.
1 2 Schmidt, Brad (November 15, 2002). "One duck...or two?". Oregon Daily Emerald. Retrieved December 6, 2011.
1 2 3 "Disney, UO mascot part ways". The Oregonian. March 4, 2010. Retrieved March 4, 2010.
↑ "Bad Duck!". Associated Press. September 12, 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-12-15. Retrieved 2007-11-29.
↑ "'I Love My Ducks' going viral, but UO officials still don't like it.". The Oregonian. November 27, 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-28.
↑ Yahya, Ayisha (October 24, 2003). "Mandrake: MIA, whereabouts unknown". Oregon Daily Emerald. Retrieved December 6, 2011.

External links

UO cheerleading squad's Duck page

University of Oregon

Schools	Robert D. Clark Honors College School of Architecture and Allied Arts College of Arts and Sciences College of Business College of Education School of Journalism and Communication School of Law School of Music and Dance

Research	Oregon Institute of Marine Biology Pacific Northwest Seismic Network Project STAR Wearable Computing Group Zebrafish Information Network

Publications	Daily Emerald Environmental Philosophy Ethos Magazine Oregon Quarterly University of Oregon Press Media

Athletics	Oregon Ducks Baseball team Men's basketball team Football team Track and field team Athletic directors The Oregon Duck Civil War (football game)

Campus	Campus List of buildings The Oregon Experiment Pioneer Cemetery Bill Bowerman The Pioneer The Pioneer Mother

Culture	Big "O" The Duck Store Green Garter Band KWAX KWVA Mighty Oregon O (gesture) Oregon Bach Festival Oregon Marching Band

People	Students & alumni Faculty & staff Board of Trustees Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation

Oregon Ducks football

Venues	Athletic Field (1894) Stewart's Field (1894) Kincaid Field (1895–1918) Hayward Field (1919–1966) Multnomah Stadium (alternate, before 1967) Autzen Stadium (1967–present)

Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Oregon State: Civil War (Platypus Trophy) Washington

Culture & lore	The Oregon Duck "Mighty Oregon" Marching band Green Garter Band "The Toilet Bowl" "O" (gesture)

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

Oregon Ducks men's basketball

Venues	McArthur Court (1927–2010) 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 Retired jerseys

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 1999–00 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

NCAA national championship in bold

Mascots of the Pac-12 Conference

Wilbur and Wilma Wildcat (Arizona)
Sparky the Sun Devil (Arizona State)
Oski (California)
Ralphie the Buffalo / Chip (Colorado)
The Oregon Duck (Oregon)
Benny Beaver (Oregon State)
Stanford Tree (Stanford) (*unofficial)
Joe and Josephine Bruin (UCLA)
Traveler (Southern California)
Swoop (Utah)
Dubs I and Harry the Husky (Washington)
Butch T. Cougar (Washington State)

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