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Platypus Trophy
Teams	Oregon Ducks Oregon Ducks football The Oregon Ducks football program is the intercollegiate American football team for the University of Oregon located in the U.S. state of Oregon. The team competes at the NCAA Division I level in the Football Bowl Subdivision and is a member of the Pacific-12 Conference. Known as the Ducks, the... Oregon State Beavers Oregon State Beavers football The Oregon State Beavers football team represents Oregon State University in NCAA Division I-A college football. The team first fielded an organized football team in 1893 and is currently a member of the Pacific-12 Conference. The head coach is Mike Riley, with Danny Langsdorf as the offensive...
Awarded to	Winner of the Civil War Civil War (college football game) The Civil War is the colloquial name for an American college football rivalry game played annually by the Oregon Ducks football team of the University of Oregon and the Oregon State Beavers football team of the Oregon State University...
Originated	1959
Restored	2007
Not awarded	1962–2006 (lost)
Other uses	Water Polo Civil War Civil War (college rivalry) The Civil War is a college rivalry between Oregon State University and the University of Oregon. The rivalry is one of the oldest in the nation, dating back to 1894 when the two universities' football teams first met. Although the college football game is the most popular rivalry, the two...  trophy, 1964–1968
Current Holder	Oregon Ducks Oregon Ducks football The Oregon Ducks football program is the intercollegiate American football team for the University of Oregon located in the U.S. state of Oregon. The team competes at the NCAA Division I level in the Football Bowl Subdivision and is a member of the Pacific-12 Conference. Known as the Ducks, the...
Oregon (4) 1960 2008 2009 2010	Oregon State (3) 1959 1961 2007

The Platypus Trophy is a trophy awarded to the winner of the annual Civil War

Civil War (college football game)

The Civil War is the colloquial name for an American college football rivalry game played annually by the Oregon Ducks football team of the University of Oregon and the Oregon State Beavers football team of the Oregon State University...

 college football game between the University of Oregon

University of Oregon

-Colleges and schools:The University of Oregon is organized into eight schools and colleges—six professional schools and colleges, an Arts and Sciences College and an Honors College.- School of Architecture and Allied Arts :...

 and Oregon State University

Oregon State University

Oregon State University is a coeducational, public research university located in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. The university offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees and a multitude of research opportunities. There are more than 200 academic degree programs offered through the...

. The trophy depicts a platypus

Platypus

The platypus is a semi-aquatic mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. Together with the four species of echidna, it is one of the five extant species of monotremes, the only mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young...

, an animal which has features of both a duck (Oregon's mascot

Mascot

The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...

) and a beaver (Oregon State's mascot). For three years, from 1959 to 1961, the trophy was awarded to the winning school. The trophy was lost for more than 40 years before being rediscovered in 2005 and proposed as the game's unofficial trophy in 2007. It is currently awarded to the alumni association of the winning school.

History

In 1959, University of Oregon director of public service Willard Thompson selected art student Warren Spady to create a trophy depicting a platypus to be presented to the winner of the upcoming Civil War. A platypus was chosen as the subject because with its duck

Duck

Duck is the common name for a large number of species in the Anatidae family of birds, which also includes swans and geese. The ducks are divided among several subfamilies in the Anatidae family; they do not represent a monophyletic group but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered...

-like bill

Beak

The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...

 and beaver

Beaver

The beaver is a primarily nocturnal, large, semi-aquatic rodent. Castor includes two extant species, North American Beaver and Eurasian Beaver . Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges . They are the second-largest rodent in the world...

-like tail, it resembles a combination of each school's mascot. Spady had only a month before the game to complete the trophy, which is carved from maple

Maple

Acer is a genus of trees or shrubs commonly known as maple.Maples are variously classified in a family of their own, the Aceraceae, or together with the Hippocastanaceae included in the family Sapindaceae. Modern classifications, including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system, favour inclusion in...

 and measures 2 foot (0.6096 m) wide and 18 inches (45.7 cm) tall. He submitted it unfinished, having not quite completed sculpting the feet.

Oregon was heavily favored in the 1959 game, but Oregon State won 15-7 and took home the trophy, which they displayed in a case at Gill Coliseum

Gill Coliseum

Gill Coliseum is a 10,400-seat multi-purpose arena located on the campus of Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. Opened in 1949, the arena is home to the Oregon State Beavers' basketball, wrestling, volleyball, and gymnastics teams. It is named after famed basketball coach Amory T...

. During that year, Oregon students apparently stole the trophy, and kept it after the 1960 Civil War ended in a 14-14 tie. In 1961, Oregon State won 6-2 and Oregon returned the trophy to Oregon State immediately following the game.

Theft and disappearance

Following the 1961 game, the trophy was stolen several more times and was eventually forgotten as the football game's trophy. In 1986, artist Spady, now an art teacher in Eugene

Eugene, Oregon

Eugene is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and the seat of Lane County. It is located at the south end of the Willamette Valley, at the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast.As of the 2010 U.S...

, spotted the trophy in a case at Oregon's Leighton Pool. It had apparently been reappropriated as a trophy for the schools' water polo

Water polo

Water polo is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores more goals. Game play involves swimming, treading water , players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing into a...

 Civil War

Civil War (college rivalry)

The Civil War is a college rivalry between Oregon State University and the University of Oregon. The rivalry is one of the oldest in the nation, dating back to 1894 when the two universities' football teams first met. Although the college football game is the most popular rivalry, the two...

, and was affixed with a brass plaque commemorating four consecutive Oregon water polo

Water polo

Water polo is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores more goals. Game play involves swimming, treading water , players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing into a...

 victories from 1964 to 1968. Spady was unable to convince anyone to reacquire the trophy for use in the football game, and in 2000, the pool and its trophy cases were demolished as part of a renovation project.

Reappearance

In 2004, with the trophy long forgotten, Oregonian

The Oregonian

The Oregonian is the major daily newspaper in Portland, Oregon, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850...

sportswriter John Canzano

John Canzano

John Canzano is an American sports columnist, radio talk show host on Portland's 750 AM "The Game" and sports columnist at The Oregonian newspaper in Portland, Oregon. He hosts a daily radio show called The Bald Faced Truth.-Career:...

 wrote a column lamenting the fact that uniquely unlike other college rivalry games, the Civil War had no trophy. Spady contacted Canzano and informed him of the existence of the Platypus Trophy, and a follow-up Canzano column ignited a search for the missing trophy. Led by Dan Williams, a UO administrator who had been the student body president

Student body president

The President of the Student Government is the highest ranking officer of a student government or student union association on the high school, college, or university level...

 who handed the trophy over to his OSU counterpart in 1961, the trophy was rediscovered in 2005 in a closet at the University of Oregon's McArthur Court

McArthur Court

McArthur Court is a basketball arena located on the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene and the former home of the Oregon Ducks men's and women's basketball teams, replaced in 2011 by Matthew Knight Arena....

.

After obtaining Spady's signature on the work, Williams returned the trophy to the Oregon Alumni Association so it could resume its role as a game trophy. However, despite initial interest from the schools' athletic directors to start awarding the trophy again, after viewing the abstract piece, they declined to do so. Instead, beginning with the 2007 Civil War, the trophy was presented to the winning school's alumni association

Alumni association

An alumni association is an association of graduates or, more broadly, of former students. In the United Kingdom and the United States, alumni of universities, colleges, schools , fraternities, and sororities often form groups with alumni from the same organisation...

. Oregon State was the first recipient of the restored trophy after defeating Oregon 38-31 in overtime. Oregon took it back in 2008 and kept it following their 37–33 victory in 2009.