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Oski the Bear

Sports mascot

Field	Value
name	Oski the Bear
image	Oski pregame at UCLA at Cal 2008-10-25.JPG
image_size	230px
caption	Oski in front of Bowles Hall
university	University of California, Berkeley
conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
conference_short	ACC
description	Anthropomorphic Bear
first_seen	September 27, 1941

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.{{cite web |access-date= 2015-12-01 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230621181809/http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/uchistory/general_history/campuses/ucb/traditions.html |archive-date= 2023-06-21}} Oski's name, design, and character were developed by William “Rocky” Rockwell, who was the first student to play the role, and Warrington Colescott, an editor of The Daily Californian and famed satirist.

Since his debut, Oski's activities have been managed by the Oski Committee, which also appoints a new Oski whenever a replacement is required. Historically, persons who played Oski were male and of short stature (under 5'7"), although the gender requirement was dropped around 1974.

Oski's identity is protected by the Committee, and other than Rockwell, no other Oski has revealed their name. There is a volunteer advisor that can provide guidance to the committee. To that end, there may be multiple members of the Committee who wear the suit, depending on their schedules.

Incidents

Oski was controversially suspended for two weeks in January 1990 for throwing a cake towards Oregon State fans. Some of the cake landed on the father of Oregon State point guard Gary Payton.

In 1999, the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC) passed a bill calling for a makeover of the "poorly constructed and pathetic version of a bear". The ASUC president vetoed the bill.

Given the rivalry with UC Berkeley and Stanford University, Oski frequently fights with Stanford's unofficial mascot, the Stanford Tree. During the 1988 Big Game, Oski and the Tree became entangled in an altercation that required security to intervene.

In 1995, an inebriated Oski and the Tree fought at a nationally televised basketball game, which was later narrated by Charley Steiner on that evening's SportsCenter and resulted in global coverage. Stanford police announced that misdemeanor charges could be filed against both parties, although none were ultimately filed. Since then, all Oskis participating in Big Games have had to be breathalyzed before entrance.

References

Kell, Gretchen. (September 26, 2016). "Birthday Bear: Iconic Oski turns 75". UC Berkeley.
Tong, Vinnee. (1996-03-20). "Oski Has Made Us Laugh, Cry". [[The Daily Californian]].
(1941-09-26). "Students Jam Big Rally". [[The Daily Californian]].
(2022-04-23). "The Oski Committee: Keepers of Bears, secrets".
Marek, Grant. (2025-11-20). "The night ESPN watched two college mascots try to kill each other". [[SFGate]].
"Payton Linked To Grizzly Event -- Cal Mascot Gets Benched For Cake Toss {{!}} The Seattle Times".
Levi Holtz, Debra. (1999-11-06). "Students Call for Cal Mascot Makeover / Student measure wants...".
"Top 50 Cal Sports Moments -- No. 26: Oski-Tree Fights, 1988, 1995". Sports Illustrated.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

california-golden-bears atlantic-coast-conference-mascots bear-mascots fictional-bears anthropomorphic-bears mascots-introduced-in-1941

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