While many fans may be familiar with the fact that the University of Oregon’s sports teams were known as the the Webfoots before they were simply the Ducks, that name wasn’t in general use until the 1920s and only became official in 1932. Even so, there was a mascot of a web footed man as far back as the 1890s. The term referred to a group that lived in a rainy river valley in Massachusetts during the US Revolutionary War whose descendants headed west to Oregon. The term didn’t accuse them of cross-breeding with water fowl, but insinuated they spent so much time in the water their own feet became webbed.
Oregon Mascots: A Brief History
