Laura Trejo Courtesy of University Alumni Association
(Above) The University Marching Band provides music to Oregon fans during a rally the night before the Dec. 31 Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas. (Below) University Marching band drummers stroll through the pregame rally,
drumming all the while. (Bottom) Autzen Stadium and McArthur Court public address announcer Don Essig gets Duck fans into it with his on-stage antics during the Oregon rally.
■ Oregon fans make
themselves right at home
during Sun Bowl festivities
By Tim Pyle
Oregon Daily Emerald
EL PASO, Texas — Besides a
mid-60s temperature, the dusty
brown landscape and a stadium
that sat nestled between hills
across the parking lot, it almost
seemed as though the pregame
Dec. 31 reveling was being
waged outside Eugene’s Autzen
Stadium, not El Paso’s Sun Bowl
Stadium.
Depending on willingness to
imagine, that is.
Beneath green-and-yellow bal
loon bunches, Oregon football
fans prepared for the 66th Sun
Bowl inside a fenced-off pregame
party.
The Oregon Marching Band
strolled through, accompanied
by the cheerleaders.
The masses were dressed near
ly exclusively in that familiar
Ducks garb.
And University Bookstore
sponsored tables sold more Ore
gon goods just outside the gate.
“It’s everything we hoped for,”
said Paul Stieber, the assistant di
rector of communication with
the alumni association, while
noting that more than 1,000 Duck
fans were preparing for game
time behind him.
But a closer look at the crowd
revealed that University students
were notably absent.
Alumni from Phoenix and
middle-aged and older fans who
made the trip from Oregon made
up the majority of the Ducks’
cheering section.
Most of those who looked col
lege-aged were revealed to be for
mer Oregon residents living in
the Southwest or the teen-age
children of rabid Duck parents.
As in most cases, there were, of
course, exceptions.
ASUO President Wylie Chen
was on hand, enjoying a blue
skied morning with fellow Uni
versity students Cheryl Behrens
and Christian Pape.
ASUO Vice President Mitra
Anoushiravani was also in town
but had yet to show at the party
because of a stomach virus, ac
cording to Chen.
Nevertheless, Chen was un
fazed in making a Sun Bowl pre
diction without his political part
ner.
“We’re gonna win because
every home game we’ve had it’s
been sunny, and we’ve won,”
Chen said. “Today, it’s the first
really sunny day we’ve had since
we’ve been here, and we’ll win.”
* Chen would turn out to be as
accurate in his sports prediction
as he was in his campaign ap
proach last spring, but first there
was more partying, Duck-style, to
do.
A rarity among the Oregon
fans, George Mattox Was not in El
Paso for the first time. A season
ticket holder who has lived in
Eugene since 1960, Mattox
cheered the Ducks in their first
Sun Bowl appearance, a 1963
win over Southern Methodist.
And he had a tickling memory
from that game, to boot.
Mattox said he and a friend
traveled across the border to El
Paso’s Mexican sister city, Juarez,
for a meal in the days leading up
to the game. There, Mattox and
company persuaded a restaurant
band to play “Mighty Oregon”
for them.
When Duck coaches entered
the restaurant soon after, they
were pleased to find what they
thought was a greeting being
played in their honor.
Such bowl memories were rare
for Oregon fans until the last
decade. After winning the 1963
Sun Bowl, the Ducks did not
play again in the postseason un
til the 1989 Independence Bowl.
Now, with eight bowl appear
ances in the last 11 years, Oregon
fans are getting used to success
— and loving it.
“They’ve done a great job,”
said Jeff Coffee of Eugene, a
Ducks fan since 1962 who was
attending his fifth bowl game.
“Bill Moos is a real good athletic
director, and Mike Bellotti is a
great coach.”
And Oregon fans were equally
enthusiastic .about the warm re
ception they had received in El
Paso.
“It’s pretty cool,” said Matt
Groshong, a 28-year old Univer
sity alumnus now working for
Microsoft in Seattle. “People are
really friendly.”
Between the warm, sunny
weather, El Paso’s hospitality
and what would be a great Ducks
win New Year’s Eve afternoon,
there would be nary a Sun Bowl
experience complaint among
Oregon fans.
Hedk, even a Washington
Huskies fan originally from Kel
so, Wash., who had retired in El
Paso was having a blast with the
pregame tailgating.
“I haven’t missed a Sun bowl
in I can’t remember how many
years,” said Allan Jones from be
neath his purple Huskies cap.
“I’m cheering for the Ducks, and
I’d like to be happy when I go
home.”
Jones assuredly joined legions
of other .Oregon fans in being
much more than satisfied when
ail was said and done.