Stanford Tree to celebrate 50 years at Big Game

Big Game has seen its share of legends, but this year, one of them will turn 50: the Stanford Tree.

Since the Tree’s debut at halftime of the 1975 Big Game, 47 students have served as Stanford’s unofficial mascot and most spirited leader, following in the footsteps of the original, Tree Chris Hutson ’76.

The Tree’s origin traces back to 1972 when the University discontinued its official mascot, the “Indian”. In the years that followed, the Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band (LSJUMB) proposed a series of bizarre replacements, including French Fries, Steaming Manhole, Robber Barons, Banana Slugs — the kind of “make your parents cringe” kind of mascots, as Hutson recalled. 

The Tree emerged from a late-night brainstorm between two band members, Eric Strandberg ’76 and Bob Tiffany ’76, on their drive to a USC game, an idea the band would hail as a “Personification of our Fighting Spirit” just two weeks later.

“And it’s organic,” a member wrote in The Daily on the day of the 1975 Big Game. 

Hutson, who had no connection with the Band besides the fact she was living in a trailer with four roommates whose boyfriends were all members, was the one to bring the Tree to life. On the night of Big Game, for what would only be her second-ever Stanford football game, she stayed up until 4:30 a.m. with Jan Kraus Wolfe, ’76 M.S. ’77 to create the first-ever Tree out of red construction paper, a scuba backpack and a styrofoam cone top. 

The next day, the 1975 halftime show featured a parade with a tree queen, flower-tossing wooden nymphs and, of course, the Tree herself, who eventually was “attacked” by Cal’s Oski the Bear.

“He was stoned on marijuana and thought it was his halftime show,” Hutson said. “He just charged over to me on the field and knocked me down, started pulling my leaves off until the Stanford band came over and saved me.”

The Tree idea stuck with Stanford students and Hutson, who returned for a second year as her mascot during her master’s. Hutson’s all-red Tree design, however, quickly turned into the green one we recognize today after repeatedly being mistaken on the field as a chicken with ruffled feathers, she said.

Much else has changed in the past 50 years, including the role’s anonymity. The early Trees followed just two rules — to never speak and never dance in front of the Dollies — and wore padded, paw-like gloves that encouraged head pats and hand shakes. Today, however, the identity of each Tree is revealed immediately following the annual turnover.

“I love being not anonymous,” said current Tree Sonnet Van Doren ’28.  “I was talking to one of my friends who’s a mascot at another school and I was like, how do you keep this a secret? How could you not tell your closest friends about this and when you’re traveling to these places, what do you tell people?”

Hutson passed off her Tree costume after her two-year stint to Bob Siegel ’76 M.A. ’77 M.D. ’90, then a conga drum player in the band who is now a Stanford professor in microbiology and immunology. Hutson found in Siegel qualities that have defined Trees ever since: bouncy, energetic, courteous and able to dance and spin for well over 2 hours. The two drove to a wildlife preserve in central California two years ago to retire their now-deteriorating construction paper costume.

Each Tree today is tasked with designing a new costume around a 45-pound aluminum frame. With every Tree allowed to take on a different form, Van Doren believes there is no “wrong” or “right” way to be the Tree. 

“Not gonna lie, Oski doesn’t have that much personality because Oski’s costume stays the same every year,” Van Doren said.

Hutson was surprised by the now week-long tryout process called Tree Week and the mascot’s duties at sporting events beyond football. This was all part of the evolving “Tree lore” she recently rediscovered at Stanford’s homecoming game against FSU in October, where she wore a makeshift tree made from an Amazon box. 

“I just went to the football games,” Hutson said, who was studying to become a veterinarian at the time. “I would study until the last minute, run to the trailer, put on the tree costume, walk on over to the stadium, dance around for 2.5 hours, have a great time and walk on back and hop back in the library.”

Though Stanford’s unofficial mascot has endured with a rich history, the question to establish an official mascot beyond just the color Cardinal remains deeply rooted in Stanford’s past. In a 1975 referendum of 2800 students, held just two weeks following Big Game, 60% voted for Robber Barons, with Sequoias and Trees coming in close second and third. 

In 1978, 225 athletes presented University president Richard Lyman with a petition to establish the griffin as the official mascot in an attempt to “rectify the weak mascot situation.”

Hutson hopes that in 50 years, it will be the Stanford Sequoias, as giant sequoias are trees only native to California. 

“There’s a tree on the trash cans. A tree on the flag when you go into the quad,” said Hutson. “Your backpack, your sweatshirt, everything has a tree. So even if they don’t acknowledge it, it’s still there.”

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