OSU
Sports History Minute - October 20, 2000
Part
5 of 10: Forgotten Traditions
OSU's
first football cheer got its debut against the UO
in Corvallis in 1894. This was the opening game
of Oregon State's second football season, played
on what many today refer to as "lower campus."
All together now:
Zip Boom Bee,
Zip Boom Bee.
S. A.
S. A.
S. A. C.
The letters S-A-C., of course, stood for State Agricultural
College, OSU's official name at the time.
The problem was, at the end of the cheer, the letters
S-A-C sounded too much like a giant snake hissing,
making it impossible for fans to make out the name
of the school kicking up all the racket. So the
letter "O" (for Oregon) replaced "S" in the last
three lines of the cheer, and its ending became
O-A., O-A., O-A-C.
An interesting sidenote: According to the 1999 OSU
Fact Book, "Oregon Agricultural College" did not
become the official name of the university until
1908.
The school's mascot at this time was a Methodist
Episcopal minister named J.R.N. Bell, after whom
Bell Field was named. The word "Beaver" is first
used to describe an OSU (or OAC) athletic team in
1910; however, the "Beaver" does not become the
official mascot of the university until long after
the death of Rev. Bell in 1928.
"Benny" Beaver, as represented by a student wearing
a Beaver costume, first appeared in 1951.
Along with OSU's first cheer, another popular activity
for fans at the time was participation in the giant
"Serpentine" formations that became the trademark
of every OAC halftime show.
Standing one behind the other and holding on to
shoulders or hips or both, hundreds of Oregon State
supporters would march around the playing field
locked in long, undulating, snake-like formations,
singing songs, shouting cheers and jeers, and otherwise
showing loud, vocal support for the guys in Orange
and Black.
Oftentimes, Serpentine participants would carry
signs or pennants, and it was not uncommon for these
groups to occasionally release flocks of birds on
signal in a goodwill gesture to opposing fans.
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three pictures of Beaver fans showing
their serpentine spirit were taken
from the 1912 and 1916 Beavers. |
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After the 1906 Willamette University game, a large
Serpentine formation of over 300 OAC students marched
through downtown Salem singing school songs and shouting
school cheers.
After World War I, the popularity of the Serpentine
began to fall on hard times, but the Oregon State
campus was again visited by the giant "snakes" in
1941 when it was announced the Beavers had won a trip
to the Rose Bowl.
--George
Edmonston, Jr.
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