By George Edmonston Jr.

When OSU set the world record on Nov. 17, 2003, for, of all things, "pillow fighting," the feat was not the first time the Oregon State family had been involved in setting a world record.

Not by a long shot.

Here’s a look at some other records that have been set over the years by OSU students, faculty, staff and alumni.

C-521 pictured on the right. Photo from the 1915 Orange.

1913: Before World War I, OSU had the best poultry science department in the country. The department's star was a laying hen named "Lady McDuff" (listed in research papers as hen C-521), who set a world's record in 1913 by becoming the first chicken to lay over 300 eggs in a single production year! Lady McDuff was under the guidance of professor James Dryden who, in 1991, became the only poultry scientist ever elected to the National Agricultural Hall of Fame.

1930: In the month of April 1930, someone in OSU's agricultural engineering department decided it might be a good idea to try to break the world's record for what was called a "tractor endurance run." Whatever the old mark might have been, the department shattered it with a 20-day, 1,000 mile non-stop run on the college experimental farm, pulling disks, harrows and other tractor implements along the way. Student operators, assisted by faculty and staff, took turns at the controls of the tractor, which had no name, but was officially designated PT2407. To begin the run, the tractor was christened in a special ceremony using a bottle of Oregon prune juice. A parade and pageant signaled the end of contest, with Governor A.W. Norbland in attendance. So whatever happened to PT2407? A few years ago, OSU senior staff archivist Elizabeth Nielsen became curious about its whereabouts and began digging around. She found it, through the help of Portland collector Harry Cruchelow and his connections with the Antique Caterpillar Machinery Owners Club. At least at that time, 1995, the tractor was the property of the Halton Tractor Company of Portland and was on public display.

1931: During the track season this year, an Oregon State shuttle relay team that included runners Jack DuFrane, Bob Prentiss, Marsh Dunkin and Ken Martin set a world record in the event with a time of 1:01.6. They were coached by Dick Newman.

1947-53: In 1947, Marion Carl, a 1938 graduate in engineering who became one of the Navy’s top test pilots after World War II, set a world speed record of 650 mph in an experimental plane known as the Douglas D-558-I. Two months later, Carl’s mark was surpassed by Chuck Yeager in the Bell X-1. In 1953, Carl set two more consecutive records in the D-558-II, reaching 83,225 feet in August 1953 and an unofficial speed of 1,143 mph a month later. Carl, a native of the Willamette Valley who was murdered in his Roseburg home in 1998, is known to military historians as a hero of the Battle of Midway and one of the war’s most decorated fighter pilots.

Four OSU students tried new sport of bed floating on Willamette. They were Hugh Rosenberg, '63, Tillamook; Steve Gibson, '63, San Bernardino, Calif.; Gordon Ekua, '61, Hawaii; Bill Purvine, '64, Salem. Photo from the May, 1961 Oregon Stater.

1960: During spring term, Oregon State College students set a school record for world records, with two in one year. The first was for an event known as "bed floating." To break the record, held at that time by a school in Missouri, OSC students floated on a bed in the Willamette River from Corvallis to the foot of the St John’s bridge in north Portland, a distance of 125 miles. It is unknown if this record is still, as they say, "on the books." Not to be outdone, Compton, California’s own Bill Gilbert, '64, set a world record a few weeks later for "poetry reading." His time of 40 hours, four minutes shattered the previous mark of 25 hours, 23 minutes held by a student at the University of Washington. Gilbert read all types of poems but deep into his event decided to concentrate only on selections containing rhyme.

1963: In May of ’63, Oregon Stater Willi Unsoeld, class of 1947, was a member of the first American team to climb Mt. Everest. On the way down from the top, Unsoeld and three others were forced by darkness to set up an emergency bivouac at a world record 28,500 ft. Another in the group was Lute Jerstad, a speech professor at the University of Oregon. A Beaver and a Duck at the top of the world!

George Edmonston Jr. is editor of the Oregon Stater and Eclips.