The Stanford Tree is the Stanford Band's mascot and the unofficial mascot of Stanford University. Stanford's team name is "Cardinal", referring to the vivid red color (not the common songbird as at several other schools), and the university does not have an official mascot. The Tree, in various versions, has been called one of America's most bizarre and controversial college mascots.[1] The tree regularly appears at the top of Internet "worst mascot" lists[2][3][4][5] but has also appeared on at least one list of top mascots.[6]
From 1930 until 1972, Stanford's sports teams had been known as the Indians, and, during the period from 1951 to 1972, Prince Lightfoot (portrayed by Timm Williams, a member of the Yurok tribe) was the official mascot. But in 1972, Native American students and staff members successfully lobbied University President Richard Lyman to abolish the "Indian" name along with what they had come to perceive as an offensive and demeaning mascot. Stanford's teams reverted unofficially to the name "Cardinal", the color that had represented the school before 1930.[8]
From 1972 until 1981, Stanford’s official nickname was the Cardinal, but, during this time, there was debate among students and administrators concerning what the mascot and team name should be. A 1972 student referendum on the issue was in favor of restoring the Indian, while a second 1975 referendum was against. The 1975 vote included new suggestions, many alluding to the industry of the school's founder, railroad tycoonLeland Stanford: the Robber Barons, the Sequoias, the Trees, the Cardinals, the Railroaders, the Spikes, and the Huns. The Robber Barons won, but the university's administration refused to implement the vote. In 1978, 225 varsity athletes started a petition for the mascot to be the griffin, but this campaign also failed. Finally, in 1981, President Donald Kennedy declared that all Stanford athletic teams would be represented exclusively by the color cardinal.[9][10]
However, in 1975, the band had performed a series of halftime shows that facetiously suggested several other new mascot candidates it considered particularly appropriate for Stanford, including the Steaming Manhole, the French Fry, and the Tree. The Tree ended up receiving so much positive attention that the band decided to make it a permanent fixture, and the Tree came to be embraced by the Stanford community at large.
The original Tree costume was conceived and constructed by Christine Hutson. When she left Stanford, she passed along the costume and the role of the Tree to a conga drum player in the band, Robert David Siegel.
In the spring of 1987, Paul Kelly wrote a column in the Stanford Daily, lamenting the lame stature of the school's mascot since it was, at that time, just kind of a big green dress. Responding to the dare, the drum major and others responded by having "Tree Tryouts" at the Shak at 2am on a Saturday morning. Kelly was the only one who showed up. They put a song on the tape while the keg flowed freely. Kelly made a fool of himself dancing. At 5am, approximately 25 band members were outside his dorm with "All I Ever.." They gave Kelly one week to prepare a costume before a men's home basketball game. Kelly spent the following summer designing and building the first true Stanford Tree complete with surf shorts and white tails (as a tribute to the drum major Jimmy Jet).[citation needed]
The Tree at the Big Game, 1987
At the 1987 Big Game, Kelly was attacked by several Cal students who had run onto the field during the halftime show. Barely escaping, Kelly led them to the drum section where all three Berkeley students were tackled.
The staffers, many still in their grounds-crew uniforms, sit in neat rows, attentive if slightly bemused. Then the trombones kick in, and the audience is blasted back in its chairs like jet pilots. Before the first song is over, a few heads are starting to bob and feet are moving to the rhythm, but all eyes are on The Band's bizarre mascot. The Tree, a nine-foot pillar of bark and foliage – with legs and a maniacal smile – looks like a character from some low rent Disneyland. He ricochets around the stage and into the audience with alarming abandon, rarely quite vertical but never entirely horizontal.
—Band on the Run, Rolling Stone, Issue 509, September 24, 1987
Due to the heightened visibility of the Stanford Tree, physical altercations with Cal students became commonplace and part of the assignment. At the annual Battle of the Bands at UC Davis, Kelly left the Tree costume on the bus after a long day in the sun, and Cal students broke into the bus and stole the costume. The following week, the band received a ransom note offering the Tree in exchange for Oski the Bear (which had been stolen from the UCB Student Union the year before). The band did not think this trade was worth it. The tradition of building a new costume was born and every year since then, the Band and their many admirers now expect the Tree to be reinvented every fall.
With more exposure, the decision about who would become Tree became more rigorous, and the band had to adopt a more formal selection process. Today's Tree candidate must go through "grueling and humiliating physical and mental challenges" to show that he or she has sufficient chutzpah to be the Tree. During "Tree Week," candidates have been known to perform outrageous, unwise, and often dangerous stunts in order to impress the Tree selection committee, so much so that the university has felt the need to prohibit certain types of audition activities over the years.[11]
The Tree's costume, which is created anew each year by the incumbent Tree, is a prominent target for pranksters from rival schools, in particular from Stanford's Bay Area nemesis, the University of California, Berkeley (Cal). This tendency for the Tree to come to harm at the hands of Cal fans was showcased in the run-up to the 1998 Big Game. An anonymous coterie of fraternity brothers from Cal known as the Phoenix Five stole the costume and held it "hostage" for two weeks until it was turned in to the UC Berkeley chancellor's office and returned to Stanford by the UC Police.[12]
In 1996 two Cal students emerged shirtless from the stands at Memorial Stadium at the Big Game during halftime and tackled the tree, breaking branches and eliciting cheers from the Cal alumni prior to being handcuffed and led away. The most recent theft of the Tree was during the 2012 basketball game against Cal, when a member of the Cal Band entered LSJUMB's bus and removed the mascot. Older bandsmen quickly sent the Tree outfit back that evening and no charges were pressed.[13]
Violence and absurd levels of prankery have been a two-way street between Cal and Stanford. A few years earlier, during an ESPN-televised timeout during a February 1995 basketball game at Maples Pavilion, the Stanford Tree and Cal's mascot Oski got into a fistfight in front of the Stanford student section. The Oski costume's headpiece was forcefully removed by the Tree during the scuffle,[14] an act of special significance because Cal has taken great pains to keep its Oski costume wearers' identities secret since the 1940s.[15]
A spate of recent troubles has brought the Tree even more notoriety in college sports circles. In February 2006, then-Tree Erin Lashnits was suspended until the end of her term as the Tree after her blood-alcohol level was found to be 0.157 (almost twice the legal driving limit in California) during a men's basketball game between Stanford and Cal. UC Berkeley police observed her drinking from a flask during the game and cited her for public drunkenness after she failed a breathalyzer test.[16] In August 2006, the NCAA fined Stanford University for what it termed "multiple violations of tournament policies" after an on-court altercation involving Tree mascot Tommy Leep and tournament officials as the Stanford women's basketball team participated in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Denver. The Tree was subsequently banned from the 2007 Women's Tournament.[17]
The Tree was also featured in a few ESPN "This is SportsCenter" commercials. One example was when Atlanta Braves right fielder Jason Heyward was talking about how baseball bats were made when the Tree, in the background, fell over. Another example was when golfer Bubba Watson and his caddie were "playing through" the Tree, which was referred to as an obstacle.
In 2022, the 44th Stanford Tree, Jordan Zietz was suspended from his role for holding a sign reading "Stanford Hates Fun" with the Arizona State mascot.[18] The "Stanford Hates Fun" sign was part of student backlash against the University's perceived curtailing of student activities, which some students have started calling a "War on Fun".[19] The previous Tree, Grayson Armour, had stated that he would take over until Zietz returned.[20]
The University of California, Berkeley, is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. It was established in 1868 as the University of California and is the state's first land-grant university and the founding campus of the University of California system. Berkeley has been regarded to be among the top universities in the world.
The Daily Californian is an independent, student-run newspaper that serves the University of California, Berkeley, campus and its surrounding community. It formerly published a print edition four days a week on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday during the academic year, and twice a week during the summer. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in California, however, The Daily Californian has been publishing a print newspaper once a week on Thursdays.
Big Game is the name given to the California–Stanford football rivalry. It is an American college football rivalry game played by the California Golden Bears football team of the University of California, Berkeley, and the Stanford Cardinal football team of Stanford University. Both institutions are located in the San Francisco Bay Area. First played in 1892, it is one of the oldest college rivalries in the United States. The game is typically played in late November or early December, and its location alternates between the two universities every year. In even-numbered years, the game is played at Berkeley, while in odd-numbered years it is played at Stanford.
The Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band (LSJUMB) is the student marching band representing Stanford University and its athletic teams. Billing itself as "The World's Largest Rock and Roll Band," the Stanford Band performs at sporting events, student activities, and other functions. The Stanford Tree is the band's mascot.
The Stanford Axe is a trophy awarded to the winner of the annual Big Game, a college football match-up between the University of California, Berkeley Golden Bears and the Stanford Cardinal. The trophy consists of an axe-head mounted on a large wooden plaque, along with the scores of past Big Games. Cal currently holds the Axe after defeating Stanford 27–20 in the 2022 game.
The Oski Yell is the University of California Berkeley spirit yell from which the school’s mascot, Oski the Bear, derives his name. Although Oski appeared in 1941, the yell was first performed around the turn of the 20th century. The yell's origins are uncertain, although the University of Illinois originated a similar yell in 1899. Another early version is credited to Vince Wirtz, who led a similar cheer beginning in the 1920s at football games for Hamilton, Ontario teams.
Oski the Bear (Oski) is the official mascot of the University of California, Berkeley ("Cal"), representing the California Golden Bears. Named after the Oski Yell, he made his debut at a freshman rally in the Greek Theatre on September 25, 1941. Prior to his debut, live bears were used as Cal mascots.
The University of California Marching Band, usually shortened to Cal Band, is the marching band for the University of California, Berkeley. While it is administered under the auspices of the university, the Cal Band is student-run and represents Cal at sporting events and social gatherings. The name of the band is "The University of California Band" by the constitution, but is typically called "The University of California Marching Band" or "The Cal Band". When the band marches out of Memorial Stadium's North Tunnel for football pre-games, it is referred to as "The Pacesetter of College Marching Bands, the Pride of California".
The Walter A. Haas Jr. Pavilion is an indoor arena on the campus of the University of California in Berkeley. It is the home venue of the Golden Bears men's and women's basketball, women's volleyball, and men's and women's gymnastics teams. The arena is located in the middle of the main sports complex, overlooking Evans Diamond (baseball) and Edwards Stadium (track/soccer).
The Stanford Cardinal are the athletic teams that represent Stanford University. As of the summer of 2023, Stanford's program has won 134 NCAA team championships, the most of any university. Stanford has won at least one NCAA team championship each academic year for 47 consecutive years, starting in 1976–77 and continuing through 2022–23. Stanford athletes have won 544 individual NCAA titles.
The California Golden Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as California or Cal, the university fields 30 varsity athletic programs and various club teams in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division I primarily as a member of the Pac-12 Conference, and for a limited number of sports as a member of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). Over the course of the school's history, California has won team national titles in 13 men's and 3 women's sports and 113 team titles overall. Cal athletes have also competed in the Olympics for a host of different countries. Notable facilities used by the Bears include California Memorial Stadium (football) and Haas Pavilion. Cal finished the 2010–11 athletic season with 1,219.50 points, earning third place in the Director's Cup standings, the Golden Bears' highest finish ever. Cal did not receive any points for its national championships in rugby and men's crew because those sports are not governed by the NCAA. Cal finished 12th in the 2014-15 standings.
Tightwad Hill, is the popular name for Charter Hill, the hill rising to the east of California Memorial Stadium at the University of California, Berkeley in Berkeley, California, U.S..
The Phoenix Five were a group of five University of California, Berkeley (Cal) students in Theta Chi who stole the Stanford Tree from the Band Shak on the campus of Stanford University in the early morning hours of October 17, 1998. The Phoenix Five held the 10-foot-tall (3.0 m) costume and university's unofficial mascot "hostage" for two weeks, and the reaction to the heist by school administrators fueled a frenzy of media coverage which resulted in the prank being regarded as one of the most famous and notable in the history of the Big Game rivalry between Cal and Stanford. The Phoenix Five used pseudonyms to hide their true identities, going by Mr. Black, Mr. Green, Mr. Orange, Mr. White, and Mr. Yellow.
The California Indian Song was a school fight song of the University of California, Berkeley, written by Harold Bingham in 1907 celebrating the rivalry between the California Golden Bears and the Stanford Cardinal. At that time, the mascot of Stanford University was the Stanford Indian, but the mascot was abandoned in 1972 because it was considered offensive. The California Indian Song was also abandoned, but has recently found a new fan base among Golden Bears fans.
"The Stanford Jonah" is a fight song of the University of California, Berkeley written in 1913 by Ted Haley as an entry into a song contest held by the Daily Californian. The song gained popularity when the campus glee club traveled to Europe where the song was a hit and it continues to be a hit at most sporting events, but specifically at events between the California Golden Bears and their rival, the Stanford Cardinal. Georgia Tech's "White And Gold", The Naval Academy's "Up With The Navy", and the University of Montana's "Up With Montana" share this tune as well.
The 1982 Stanford Cardinal football team represented Stanford University in the Pacific-10 Conference in the 1982 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by third-year head coach Paul Wiggin, the Cardinal had an overall record of 5–6.
The UC Davis Aggies are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Davis.
The 1972 Stanford Cardinals football team represented Stanford University in the 1972 NCAA University Division football season. Following the departure of head coach John Ralston for the Denver Broncos in early January, defensive backs coach Jack Christiansen was promoted to head coach. Stanford finished at 6–5, but were 2–5 in Pacific-8 Conference play, tied for sixth.
The 1922–23 Idaho Vandals men's basketball team represented the University of Idaho during the 1922–23 NCAA college basketball season. Members of the Pacific Coast Conference, the Vandals were led by third-year head coach Dave MacMillan and played their home games on campus at the Armory and Gymnasium in Moscow, Idaho.
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