“Oregon Aggies” Green and Yellow Pin, c. 1920

This “Oregon Aggies” pinback is somewhat of a mystery to me for one simple reason… the colors are green and yellow instead of black and orange!  I have seen two of these pins and both appeared to have been originally printed in these colors, as opposed to maybe the orange fading to a yellow and/or the black fading to a green tint.  Very disturbing for an Oregon State fan!

As far as I know, Oregon State, or Oregon Agricultural College as it was known in the early 1900’s, was the only group/organization in Oregon to be referred to as the Oregon Aggies.  I haven’t found reference to any other sports group or organizations who may have also been called the Oregon Aggies.  I also know Oregon State was still referred to as the Aggies until at least 1926.  While the school’s animal mascot had become the Beaver during the prior decade (at least on some pennants and in the yearbooks), I’m guessing the official “Aggies” name may have been dropped and the Beaver officially took over when the school changed names from Oregon Agricultural College (OAC) to Oregon State College (OSC) in 1927.  These facts would seem to put the age of this pin, which is slightly smaller than normal pin – about the size of a half dollar, sometime in the late-teens-to-mid-1920’s.

Now as for the colors, Oregon State had officially adopted Orange and Black as its school colors by 1893.  And their rivals to the south, the University of Oregon, had adopted green and yellow as their colors in 1894.  So why would an Oregon State pin have been printed in green and yellow?  Was it an early prank by the Ducks on their Beaver neighbors?  Or was this perhaps tied to a topic I posted about earlier, where back in 1917, the “Rooks” (aka freshman) on campus were forced to wear green caps so they could be identified?  After all, the 1917 “Rooks” poster was printed with green text, the caps were green… so I wonder if they could only wear green pins too?  However, the letter on the green cap back then was orange and not yellow!  So why the yellow?  Because if there’s two colors we know Oregon State alumni and fans despise… it’s green and yellow!  This may go down as one of OSU’s great mysteries!

 

Oregon State Vintage Letterman Sweaters

In an earlier post I had some examples of felt letters that came off early sweaters or letterman jackets, usually worn by athletes at Oregon State.  History has it that letterman sweaters were first worn by the 1865 Harvard basketball team.  Typically the stripes indicated the number of years on the varsity team, while a star would indicate the player was a team captain.  If you look through archives or yearbook pictures of athletes in the early ears of Oregon State, you can see many different sweaters being worn.  However, I’m not sure when the formal “letterman sweater” became the norm at OSU.

The earliest Oregon State sweater I have dates to the late 1930’s.  It is heavy wool and the sleeve has an orange stripe but no actual letter.  I’m not sure if this sweater ever had a letter, but it doesn’t appear that it did.  Made by HL Whiting out of Seattle, here is a picture of the sweater, the tag with the player’s name, and an original advertisement from 1938.

Here are three other letterman sweaters that date from the 1940’s-1960’s which have the letters in addition to the stripe on the sleeve.  The third picture with two stripes is actually a child’s letterman sweater, made by Dehen, probably available from the team store back in the day.

Here is an example of a white OSU letterman’s sweater from 1943.

And lastly, we can’t forget the rally squad, who also wore sweaters with letters on them!  This picture is the rally squad for the 1942 Rose Bowl bound team with “OSC” across the front.  The second sweater with a beaver on the front and “Rally” on the back is circa 1940’s-1950’s.

1920’S-1930’S – Oregon State College “OSC” Felt Pennant

Similar to an earlier Oregon State College pennant I posted, this hand stitched black and orange felt pennant shows the unique overlapping OSC logo that was used by Oregon State I believe from the late 1920’s to early 1930’s.  This particular pennant seems to be an early one the “OSC” days because it’s a slightly larger size than most pennants, both in terms of width and length, which was more common earlier in the century.  Also, the calligraphy style of the overlapping letters was used prior to shifting to the more formal styling of the letters, like you see in the previous pennant I posted.  A very unique find, now I just need an oversized hard plastic sleeve that the pennant can fit in!

Speaking of protecting your pennants, I keep all of mine in the rigid clear hard plastic sleeves that can be purchases on ebay for around a couple dollars each.  This makes them easy to hang and should keep them clean and protected for years.  I highly recommend putting any vintage pennants you may have in this type of sleeve.

Oregon State College Wool Cap/Hat/Beanie (c. 1930’s-1940’s)

Here is another vintage wool Oregon State College hat from what I’m guessing is the 1930’s-1940’s.  I have several hats that look similar to this but all are slightly unique.  Many are reversible, but not all.  One of these days I’ll need to take all of them to a hat historian (is there such a thing?) and figure out how old these are!  Or I need go to through yearbooks and see if I can find pictures of fans wearing these hats to better date them.

Another Oregon Agricultural College (OAC) Vintage Felt Pennant (c. 1898-1910)

Last year I posted a link to a vintage orange felt pennant with black OAC letters that dated to the early 1900’s.  Well, I came across a second full sized felt pennant that is very similar, including the font type on the hand cut and stitched black letters. The main difference is this pennant lacks the periods between the letters and the letters are slightly smaller overall.  The font on both these pennants can be traced to as early as 1907, where I have an OAC basketball team picture with the exact same font on the letters on jerseys. But by 1920, at the very latest, the OAC font had changed to more of the calligraphy type that you see on another OAC pennant I posted a while back. Also, in some of the pre-1900 pictures I have seen, the letter A looks the same as this pennant but the O was flat on top and not pointed, as it is here.  I’m sure a review of old yearbooks would probably help get the timeline straight!

Oregon State College Ceramic Mascot Figurine (c. 1940-1950’s)

This roughly 6.5 inch tall ceramic beaver mascot figurine, with the OSC (Oregon State College) on its hat, is one that I hadn’t seen before until I recently came across it at an online auction site.  It appears to be hand painted, and given the style of the hat, my guess is it’s from the 1940’s or 1950’s.  I don’t know the manufacturer because there is no stamp on the bottom of it.  Anyone recognize this or have any ideas???

Vintage Oregon State Pinbacks – OSC, Oregon Aggies

This picture of a small group of pins was sent to me by an avid collector college pins.  He actually collects pins for every school in the country… and I thought I was obsessed in collecting what I have for one school!).  These are just a few of his Oregon State collection, but I chose this picture because I don’t have a couple of these pins and hadn’t seen them before.  The O.S.C. pin, which is likely from the late 1950’s, seems simple enough, but I have never seen another one.  And the all orange Oregon State one with the ribbon and charm (which we can’t see in the picture) is another pin I haven’t seen before.

The one pin in this group that is interesting is the green and gold (or yellow) pin on the left that says Oregon Aggies.  Now we know Oregon State was known as the Aggies back in the 1890’s through around 1910, when the Beaver started to be referenced as the mascot.  So that would date this pin to sometime in that roughly 20 year period… but the more interesting question is what’s the deal with the green and gold colors?  As early as 1893 Oregon State’s official colors were already orange and black.  As for green, the only reference I can find to that color being used was in 1917 when the upperclassmen made the freshman, or “rooks,” wear green hats so everyone could identify who they were.  The problem is I thought Oregon State was known as the Beavers by that time!  And before OSU adopted Orange and black as the color, one of the earliest school colors was actually blue.  Anyone have any other ideas?  Was there another school at the time called the Oregon Aggies with green as their color?  We know it wasn’t the fowls down south!

1942 Rose Bowl Game Ball – Oregon State vs. Duke

In earlier posts I have given some background on Oregon State’s first appearance (and only victory) in a Rose Bowl game, which took place on New Years Day in 1942.  It was this game when the boys from Corvallis defeated a favored Duke 20-16 in the only Rose Bowl game not played in California, due to concerns on the West Coast after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor a few weeks earlier. Oregon State’s Don Durdan was named the “Rose Bowl Player Of The Game” when the award was created in 1953 and selections were made retroactively.

This is a game ball from that 1942 Rose Bowl game (Photo by Jon Gardiner).  It currently resides in the Duke Sports Hall of Fame and is shown in a great online article by Duke Magazine that was written in 2011, giving Duke’s perspective of this unique Rose Bowl game.  But if game balls were given back in 1942, I’m sure Don Durdan had one of these sitting on his shelf for many years!

1965 Rose Bowl Commemorative Silver Cup/Trophy – Chrysler Corp.

On New Years Day in1965, the 8-1 Oregon State Beavers played in its third (and most recent) Rose Bowl game. This time against a 7-1 Michigan Wolverines team, ranked #4 in the country.  Michigan was an 11 point favorite, but after a scoreless first quarter, it was the Beavs who struck first going up 7-0 in the second quarter.  Unfortunately, those were the last points scored by OSU as Michigan scored 34 unanswered points, dropping OSU to 8-2 on the year.

This silver cup, about 8 inches in diameter, I’m assuming was given by the game sponsor, Chrysler Corporation, as a gift to either their employees or possibly to people who helped put the game on. Engraved at the top is “1965 Rose Bowl.”  The second line reads “Michigan – Oregon St.”  And on the bottom, “Chrysler Corporation.” I have only seen two of these cups, so I’m not sure as to their rarity.  But overall, a neat memento of OSU’s sparse Rose Bowl History!

Early Oregon State Orange Felt Pennant with Stitched Letters

Similar to my previously posted vintage orange Oregon State Beavers felt pennant, this pennant looks very close and is also likely from the 1930’s-1940’s.  It has nearly the exact same font of the letters, but it differs from the prior orange pennant because it doesn’t have a black border. Sorry for the blurry picture!