A deep dive into the mysterious Platypus Trophy of the Oregon-Oregon State rivalry

EUGENE, Oregon -- College shot is yet conscionable 1 large trophy case. Every lobby of each squad installation greets visitors with awards and placards of each sorts, beryllium they crystal footballs, existent bowls from vessel crippled victories oregon aged oaken buckets and brass spittoons.

But connected Saturday (3 p.m. ET), erstwhile Oregon and Oregon State quadrate disconnected successful Eugene, determination volition beryllium nary authoritative postgame grant exchange. No reluctant turning implicit of a rusty memento from years gone by with immoderate elaborate sort-of-true backstory. Not adjacent immoderate modern corporate-sponsored Lucite oregon aluminum monstrosity.

That makes nary sense. Not for a crippled that is being played for the 129th time, the astir of immoderate rivalry successful the occidental fractional of the state and the 5th astir each clip successful the full FBS. Ducks vs. Beavers has history, stars, drama, each of it. It conscionable doesn't person a trophy.

Or does it?

The reply is yes. Well, partially yes. There is simply a trophy. It is not officially official, but it is officially real. And its comparatively caller realness reveals 1 of those elaborate trophy backstories that is wholly true, though it sounds wholly made up. Just similar the carnal it emulates. The 1 immoderate visitant to the University of Oregon's alumni relations bureau tin spot for themselves.

It's the Platypus Trophy, and precisely similar its namesake, it has spent the past 66 years stealthily burrowing its mode successful and retired of obscurity on the 44 miles that abstracted Corvallis and Eugene. And, similar immoderate existent platypus, it adjacent recovered its mode into the water.

"It's a weird animal. It's weird. It doesn't really travel from a duck and a beaver, but it definite looks similar it does," explains Raphe Beck, enforcement manager of the University of Oregon Alumni Association and existent keeper of the trophy. "I'm nary zoologist, but my knowing is it's conscionable this weird mishmash animal. Also, it's lone successful Australia, truthful it's benignant of a comic happening for Oregonians to adopt."

"Of people we adopted it," adds John Valva, Beck's Oregon State counterpart. "It's weird, and Oregonians emotion to clasp their ain weirdness, truthful it's a large fit. I conscionable don't deliberation those radical cognize astir this trophy similar they should."

In 2004, nary 1 knew astir it astatine all. That November, successful the days starring up to the crippled formerly known arsenic the Civil War, a question was asked that flushed our shy duckbilled person retired into the open, presented successful The Oregonian by John Canzano, the sportswriter laureate of the Beaver State.

"Like, where's the trophy? Somebody forgot something. This crippled needs a trophy. That's a low-hanging effect column," the writer and vigor big confesses. "So, instantly aft I record the column, an email pops up from a antheral named Warren Spady. 'Hey, determination is simply a trophy. I sculpted it.'"

"Well, archetypal of all, I don't deliberation of myself arsenic an artist. I deliberation of myself arsenic a sculptor. It's different. It's a manly thing," Spady says, laughing successful his surviving country adjacent Carlton, Oregon. Today, helium is an 89-year-old retiree, a erstwhile longtime creation teacher, sitting successful a surviving country that is decorated with his sculptures. In the autumn of 1959, helium was an Oregon undergrad creation student.

"The thought was not mine," helium remembers. "The thought was developed by 2 administrators, 1 from the University of Oregon and the different from Oregon State College, which didn't go a assemblage until a twelvemonth later. I deliberation they'd had a batch of beer.

"But anyway, they came up discussing ideas for something, you know, for a trophy, because, you know, each the different teams had one. So somehow, during 1 of these meetings, they came up with a platypus."

They approached respective postgraduate students to bring their thought to creator life, but they each passed. So the task fell to undergrad Spady. He chose Oregon maple arsenic his mean and went to work, 7 days a week for a month, close up to kickoff of the large game. That led to an creator decision.

"I wasn't going to person capable clip to bash its feet, truthful I decided to enactment the platypus successful mud. And if I had time, I'll cleanable that mud disconnected the feet," helium recalls thinking. "We were a touchdown favourite successful that 1959 game, but I ne'er had a accidental to hole it due to the fact that they lost. The trophy went to Oregon State. Then they won it again successful 1960...