Saturday’s Sartorial Splendor: Oregon Ducks’ Duds Debut

Saturday’s Sartorial Splendor

Oregon Ducks’ Duds Debut

By Denis M. Crawford, College Football Hall of Fame Historian

Oregon Duck football games give the color contrast feature on our televisions a workout. The Eugene, OR school has utilized just about every shade found in the spectrum in their gameday attire and this weekend against USC should be no exception. But how did it all start?

In the Beginning

Oregon’s traditional school colors of green and yellow began in the nineteenth century. According to the university, the choice was made to represent the physical beauty of the state, particularly evergreen forests and wheat fields. For almost 100 years Oregon football wore green (or white) uniforms with yellow helmets, later with an interlocking UO logo.

These were rather bland uniforms except for Donald Duck appearing on their jersey sleeves. We know that sounds “quackers,” but it is true. A handshake agreement with animation titan Walt Disney in the 1940s allowed the school to use the popular character as a school mascot/logo for decades. This led to the team being affectionately known as “The Quack Attack.” That detail is worthy of its own story, but for now let’s “quack” down and focus on a shift in Oregon’s attire.

A New Look

While in Hawai’i for the 1998 Aloha Bowl, the Ducks unveiled a new uniform. The jerseys and pants featured dark spruce, mallard green, and lightning yellow. The helmets were mallard green with a lightning yellow O logo. The green color was designed to slightly change its shade when moved. The O was an oval shape meant to represent the bowl of Autzen Stadium while the rectangular center embodied Heyward Field, the home of Oregon’s iconic track team which produced world class track and field stars like Steve Prefontaine, Otis Davis and Phil Knight.

Actually, Knight was a good runner for Bill Bowerman’s teams, but not world class. However, Knight did develop a small athletic apparel company called Nike…perhaps you’ve heard of them…and became a major benefactor of Oregon athletics. This new look, featuring mesh, Cordura, and Lycra was state-of-the-art in 1999 and was the first of its kind in college football. This was the uniform worn by QB Joey Harrington on a Times Square billboard touting his Heisman candidacy in 2001.

Keep Tinkering

The Ducks wore this ensemble until 2003 when they began to incorporate “alternate” looks. The first was an all “lightning yellow” uniform which an Oregon columnist wrote “required mylar astronomy glasses to view safely.”

In 2005, they introduced a uniform for their annual Civil War with Oregon State. Black jerseys and pants with green flourishes and a steel plate pattern on the shoulders. The goal was to make the Ducks look tougher and it worked against the Beavers, who fell in Autzen 56-14.

The Ducks replaced the steel plate pattern with wings in a 2008 game against Arizona. The wings were both an aesthetic choice and functional. According to Nike, these new jerseys were the lightest weight material in Nike history but needed extra protection on the shoulder to prevent abrasion.

A chrome winged helmet made its Oregon debut in the 2012 Rose Bowl. The mirrored surface caused initial concerns that its reflecting properties could blind opponents, but those proved unfounded and several teams copied the look. The fact Oregon won a 45-38 shootout over Wisconsin didn’t hurt either.

This is also the era when Oregon began to literally have a different uniform combination for every game. ESPN estimated that in a little over 25 years, Oregon went through nine uniform versions, more than 50 iterations and hundreds of combinations. It is difficult to pick the best, but an argument can be made for a 2016 masterpiece.

A Truly Meta Uniform

The Ducks honored their mascot by wearing a uniform that made the players look like the oversized waterfowl that fans have loved for years. The white helmet with orange facemasks gave off the appearance of a duck’s head and bill. The green jerseys with double yellow stripes matched the green shirt worn by The Duck and the white pants, orange socks and orange cleats matched The Duck’s lower body…although, like Donald Duck, the Oregon Duck travels openly sans pants and shoes so we are all grateful this wasn’t a true re-creation of the outfit.

In a sport that is loved by many for its traditions, Oregon has done something different. They have turned non-conformity into a beloved part of the game. Former Oregon player Justin Andrews summed it up best: “People like to talk about tradition, but I think change and new things is Oregon’s tradition.” A tradition that will continue this Saturday.