Oski the Bear: The Enduring Legacy of UC Berkeley's Beloved Mascot
For the past several decades, Oski the Bear has been UC Berkeley's fun-loving mascot and a major campus tradition. Oski's milestone birthday, Tuesday, Sept. 27, will be celebrated in a belated, but bear-sized, way. Events include a Homecoming 2016 pep rally on Sproul Plaza at noon on Friday, Sept. 1, at Homecoming headquarters before the Cal vs.
The Genesis of a Mascot
Most origin stories are lost in the mists of time. Not Oski’s. Thanks largely to a 1994 oral history with Rockwell housed in the Bancroft Library, the Cal mascot’s genesis is well-documented, if not widely known. The creation of Oski the Bear marked a pivotal shift for UC Berkeley's mascot program, moving away from live bear cubs that had posed logistical and safety challenges at athletic events. Back in 1895, before Oski was born, the men's track team chose a golden bear on blue satin for the banner it brought back to Berkeley after winning a national competition; a bear already was a symbol on the state flag because of the animal's strength and unyielding resistance.
In 1941, William C. Rockwell crafted the initial costume using everyday materials: he sewed together two pairs of old pants for the legs, painted a pair of football shoes gold, added a baggy yellow sweater stuffed with padding for bulk, wore white gloves, and molded a bear head from clay-complete with oversized teeth-fitted over a football helmet for the headpiece. Rockwell designed the costume as an alternative to live bear cubs that had been used at times during the 1930s, and was the first student to assume the role. This homemade ensemble transformed Rockwell into a lively, anthropomorphic bear capable of leading cheers and interacting with spectators, contrasting sharply with the immobile live animals of prior years.
Before he had a name, Oski in 1940 was a character in Daily Cal art editor Warrington Colescott's sports page cartoons. Colescott had already begun working on a cartoon strip to run during the football season featuring a little bear in a letter sweater who did weekly battle against opposing team mascots. Created as a funny loser, the bear was thwarted each week by rivals as he pursued young Rosy Bowl, but he never gave up. In 1941, Colescott would name and help craft masks for the three-dimensional Oski, a mascot to cheer up fans of the struggling football team. As Colescott told California in 2011, the bear “had the hots for this young lady named Rosy Bowl … and each week he had to face off against someone else.
On Sept. 27, 1941, a painfully shy Berkeley student named William "Rocky" Rockwell debuted as mascot Oski at a Cal football game. That same evening, Rockwell’s Oski made his debut at a bonfire rally at the Greek Theatre, where he pantomimed speeches, threw tomatoes at freshmen, and jitterbugged with the girls. Rockwell had approached Colescott for help turning the art editor's cartoon bear into a school mascot to replace the unruly live bears that reportedly were used for a decade. Rockwell got to work. With $25 from the Rally Committee, he bought clay to make the mold for the head and padding for the stomach. The band gave him two old pairs of pants that he had turned into one. From the athletic department he bummed a pair of size 13 ½ shoes, which he painted gold. He fashioned the mask around a football helmet.
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Now he gave Rockwell some sketches upon which to model his masks and costume. Colescott called his cartoon bear Oskie-spelled with an “e”-after the traditional “Oski Wow-Wow” yell, which, lore has it, was brought to Cal from the University of Illinois around the turn of the 20th century. On Friday, September 26, 1941, the day before the season opener against St. Mary’s, Colescott’s cartoon bear premiered in the Daily Cal. Under the title “First Stop Moraga - Rose Bowl in Sight,” it showed Oskie bidding his mother adieu to search for his true love, Rosy Bowl. Meanwhile, a “slicker” in a car labeled “St.
Oski's Endearing Appearance and Signature Style
The Oski the Bear costume centers on a faux fur bear suit that covers the head and upper body, designed to evoke a cartoonish and approachable grizzly with padded elements for added bulk, including a prominent pot-bellied stomach. The bear head, featuring a stitched-closed mouth, goofy grin with two large front teeth, and detachable vacant eyes, is molded from clay formed around an old football helmet base for structural support. The two stripes on his sweater show he's a sophomore student-athlete in his second year on the varsity team.
Over the faux fur torso sits a signature yellow (or gold) cardigan sweater, size 54, emblazoned with blue "Cal" lettering across the chest to represent the university. These blue and gold hues directly draw from UC Berkeley's official colors, reinforcing Oski's ties to the "Golden Bears" athletic nickname and school spirit. He also has both blue and khaki pants, headbands, stomach padding and an assortment of size 17 shoes. Oski has many size 54 cardigans, some blue, some gold.
Tailored for performers of short stature (typically 5'4" to 5'7" tall), the costume reaches about 6 feet in height when worn, thanks to the elevated bear head and padding that enhance the bear-like proportions without overwhelming mobility. The thick, heavy fur and materials demand regular maintenance, including frequent dry cleaning by the Oski Committee and wearers to preserve the suit's integrity.
Oski Through the Decades
The incident prompted immediate administrative response, including a memo from William Manning, director of Berkeley Recreational Sports, declaring that "Oski has gone much too far," and a letter of apology from Vice Chancellor Watson M.
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Student William “Rocky” Rockwell brought Oski to life in 1941. He created a bear suit by sewing together two pairs of old pants, painting some large football shoes gold, putting stomach padding inside a baggy sweater and adding a pair of gloves. Then-Daily Cal art editor Warrington Colescott helped Rockwell brainstorm facial expressions for the bear and offered the name Oski, instead of Rockwell’s suggestion of Algy. Oski balances on a goal post in the 1950s at Memorial Stadium. Oski soon became a hit at athletic events, leading cheers at games, waving to children, flirting and even walking across the crossbar of goal posts. Being Oski also allowed Rockwell, who Pacheco says was so painfully shy he rarely made eye contact with people, “to do things he normally couldn’t do. When he put on the costume, Rocky didn’t exist.
Early in his history, Oski sometimes had buck teeth. He was supposed to embody a silly, goofy, often bumbling college sophomore. The mold for his head originally was shaped around an old football helmet. This photo is from the late 1940s. Oski's head was made of a hard shell until around 1980, when it became furry. His face also had freckles for a brief time due to a manufacturer's mistake. In this 1949 shot, legendary Cal football coach Pappy Waldorf (left) helps Oski practice a kick. For decades, the student cheering section at Cal football games wore white. This helped create a solid white background for the card stunts that students performed. Some of the young men surrounding Oski are wearing striped freshmen beanies. Oski wore rabbit ears and whiskers and carried an Easter basket at a 1965 Easter Seals event. For decades, Oski has loved performing at games with Cal spirit groups, including the dance team and cheerleaders. Here he is at a football game in the 1960s. A 1970s Oski poses at Memorial Stadium with one of his many young fans. Oski rides a motorcycle on the football field in this 1970s shot. He also sometimes wore a helmet and a blue cape on his rides. An inflatable Oski was hoisted into place on Cal Day 2007 for Oskiland, a children's play area. On ESPN College GameDay at Haas Pavilion in 2009, Oski smiles approvingly at student fans, some with painted bodies. In 2012, Oski visited the Nanofabrication Lab at Sutardja Dai Hall. At a football game against Sacramento State in fall 2014, Oski does his trademark high-stepping skip to lead the Golden Bears onto the field. In 2015 at a men's basketball game against Stanford, Oski shows the camera which school is #1 with his ever-present white cotton gloves. Oski and one of his many mascot friends, Stomper of the Oakland A's, goof around at Memorial Stadium in summer 2016. On Lower Sproul Plaza, Oski recently pondered turning 75 and the big celebration to come.
The Oski Committee and the Culture of Secrecy
That committee formed in the early 1940s because Oski’s growing popularity caused worry that the mascot could be kidnapped. Performers who embody Oski swear a secrecy oath committing to lifelong anonymity, ensuring the mascot's mystique endures across generations; this tradition began with the role's creator, William C.
Also keeping mum are students on the secret Oski Committee, a group described as “Oski’s inner circle,” who use code words like “our friend” when talking about him with each other in public. “There are very few mascots across the country that have a secret identity like Oski,” says Milano. The secrecy surrounding Oski began with William C. “Rocky” Rockwell, a transfer student from Long Beach Junior College who arrived at Berkeley in 1940. Even in 1999, when Milano began supervising the Oski Committee, which purportedly includes students who become Oski, “the members were tight-lipped about who was on it. As for Oski’s identity, “One alumnus told me he always suspected his roommate from the ‘60s was Oski, but he still doesn’t know,” says senior Andy Keeton, chair of the current Rally Committee.
Oski's Wartime Service and Post-War Transition
In 1942, Rockwell left Berkeley to join the military during World War II. Rockwell joined the Navy in July 1942 and formed a “Flying Golden Bear Squadron,” which included several other campus servicemen. Naval Air Corps squadron called the “Flying Golden Bears” that was deployed to the Pacific and East Asia. Rockwell designed the squadron’s symbol - Oski flying over the clouds carrying a lightning bolt like a marching baton. It was painted on the fuselages of the squadron’s planes. After training, Rockwell switched to the Marines and flew torpedo bombers in the Pacific, earning a Distinguished Flying Cross for action in the Solomon Islands and Bismarck Archipelago.
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But upon returning to campus in 1946, “The rah-rah spirit wasn’t with me after the excitement of war… Flying airplanes in combat (was) a lot more interesting than playing around on a football field,” Rockwell said in a 1999 Regional Oral History Office interview. On his return to Cal, Rockwell briefly became re-involved with Oski, but his heart was no longer in the mascot business. “The rah-rah spirit wasn’t with me after the excitement of war,” he said. He never completely moved on from his creation however. And he left a set of rules for all future Oskis. A hand-scrawled note in the oral history lays out his guidelines. Rule No.
Controversies and Evolution
For many decades, the committee was one of many Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC) organizations. Oski can’t bear to look when the game goes south. Or is he embarrassed by his own behavior? Major concerns surfaced when Oski got into headline-making mischief, such as throwing a layer cake like a discus into a crowd at an Oregon State University basketball game in 1990 and hitting 15 people, including the mother of the school’s point guard, All-American candidate Gary Payton. “Young people look to Oski as something almost mythical,” Manning wrote in a memo to the Oski Committee at the time. Tussles with Stanford’s tree mascot also made news, including one at an ESPN-televised timeout during a February 1995 basketball game that left Oski headless and revealing the identity of the student in the costume. Alumnus Nadesan Permal, now a Berkeley adjunct faculty member, was dispatched to be an adviser to the Oski Committee in 1990.
“I talked with the kids, set some ground rules,” says Milano. “Oski would have to be breathalyzed before games, and the UCPD supported me on these rules. I began managing his schedule and finances. One thing that’s never changed is Oski’s signature style, despite the passage in 1999 of an ASUC Senate bill calling for the makeover of the “poorly constructed and pathetic version of a bear.” Student leaders felt he needed to lose his pot belly, slouch and silly smile, wear hipper clothes and act more ferocious.
During that era, when superhero films like Spider-Man, released in 2002, were attracting a new generation of college students, says Pacheco, “Oski wasn’t what everyone thought a hero should look like.” A few years later, Nike introduced a new logo for a Cal Athletics bear that was vicious, with teeth bared.
Oski's Enduring Appeal and Community Impact
Today, Oski represents the university at about 300 events a year, including children's birthday parties. Oski's community impact extends through annual events like the Oski's B-Day Bear-a-thon, a multi-day fundraiser held each September to celebrate his birthday and support student initiatives. Oski the Bear has made several notable appearances in television and news coverage, often tied to major athletic events and rivalries. In the digital era, Oski has embraced social media and online video platforms to extend his reach. Print media has long documented Oski's milestones and cultural significance. Originating as a comic strip in The Daily Californian in 1941, created by Warrington Colescott to depict Oski's misadventures, the mascot's story was revisited in a 2021 feature marking his 80th anniversary since live debut. Sports Illustrated included Oski in its 2023 "Cal 100" list at No. Oski's visibility extends to merchandise, with official and fan-made items like plush toys and apparel available through university stores and online retailers.
As Oski’s 75th birthday dawns, says Permaul, “What’s most important to me is that his tradition has been preserved, the one Rocky Rockwell created. “Students graduate every four to six years, including on the Rally Committee,” he adds, “and you don’t really know whether the base of knowledge about tradition is going to survive from year to year. Oski often gives and gets hugs on the sidelines, like this one from Cal cheerleader Santia Andrews, who is now an alumna. One of Milano’s favorite memories of Oski, she says, was a 2007 men’s basketball tournament in Los Angeles where “he had a dance-off with the (Stanford) tree and was so creative and lively and danced so well. That’s the best I’d ever seen him perform.
Oski: An Imperfect Yet Cherished Symbol
“Yes, he’s a bit creepy-looking and not as up-to-date as other Pac-12 mascots,” says Katie Russell, a member of the Cal Dance Team, which Oski crashes - often to steal pom poms - at athletic events. “But he’s our mascot, and since we’re the oldest UC campus, I think it’s quite fitting that he’s an old bear. We count down the top 100 individuals associated with Cal athletics, based on their impact in sports or in the world at large - a wide-open category. See if you agree.No. 50: OskiCal Sports Connection: Oski debuted on September 27, 1941 and has remained Cal's athletic mascot for nearly 82 years.Claim to Fame: Oski's look -- including a yellow cardigan and white gloves -- has remained consistent for eight decades, a nod to his forever-sophomore persona. .He has never scored a touchdown for Cal, hit a home run or dunked a basketball. He cannot run or jump. When he walks, his hands clasped behind his hunched back, the gentle back-and-forth sway in his step is reminiscent of Richard Nixon. And almost no one knows his real name.But he boasts a longer uninterrupted involvement with Cal athletics than anyone. Ever. You didn’t really think we were going to forget Oski?Cal’s unmistakable mascot has been on the sidelines, quietly cheering on his school since 1941. Even Clarence “Nibs” Price coached the basketball team for “only” 30 seasons.Oski will celebrate his 82nd birthday on Sept. 27. On that date in ’41 - more than two months before Pearl Harbor was attacked - Oski made his debut as the Bears routed visiting Saint Mary’s 31-0.He has been a staple on the Cal sideline ever since.Named for the “Oski Wow-Wow Yell” that was recited at Cal football and basketball games more than century ago, Oski was the creation of William “Rocky” Rockwell and Warrington Colescott.Colescott years later gave himself away during a lecture titled, “A Few Thoughts about My Life in Art,” acknowledging his drawings of Oski were a “cynical creation meant to be a funny loser,” a reference to Cal football’s record during those seasons. Oski is the depiction of the forever sophomore, “growing in wisdom, but not yet grown up,” as suggested by a 2016 Berkeley News story.He has mostly been a fun-loving character, interacting with kids and firing up the home crowd. But he’s had a few run-ins over the years, including a series of skirmishes with the Stanford Tree.In 1990, Oski flung a cake into the crowd at an Oregon State basketball game, hitting 15 people including the mother of Beavers’ star Gary Payton. He was subsequently suspended, at least partly for drinking alcohol on the job.
Bleacher Report in 2011 rated Oski as the 42nd-best college mascot, hardly high praise but five spots higher than the Stanford Tree.“While most mascots dress appropriately for the game by adorning a jersey or shirt showing their school pride, Oski is too cool and hipster,” Bleacher Report wrote. “Instead, he wears a cardigan sweater, which is what I imagine every faculty member from Berkeley wears. Don’t let Oski's faux-intellectualism fool you though. He can still pack a punch, especially if it's against a rival tree.”In 2016, on the occasion of his 75th birthday, a celebration at Sproul Plaza included a lecture titled, “Oski Bear and the Struggles of Being a 75th-Year Sophomore.”A recent survey involving nearly 1,300 participants labeled Oski as the least-sexy mascot in college sports. “This is certainly no surprise though, given his weak chin, long face, large nose, and, ahem, soft middle,” the author wrote. “But let’s cut him a break, as some of these features are often associated with age - and Oski’s been around for a while.”
So would other Oski enthusiasts, who can’t imagine a Cal game without him and request his presence at retirement parties, campus East Coast fundraisers, community events and weddings. He’s even walked a bride down the aisle. “He sweats a lot, a lot, a lot, and the suit can stink,” explains Diane Milano, a longtime director of Cal spirit groups who retired last June. A rare look into Oski’s secret lair, or dressing room, revealed numerous bottles of air freshener and disinfectant.
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