Editing Stanford Tree

{{Short description|Unofficial mascot of Stanford University}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2023}}
{{Infobox college mascot
| name = Stanford Tree
| image = Stanford Tree at 2008 Big Game.JPG
| image_size = 200
| caption = The Tree (left) at the 2008 [[Big Game (American football)|Big Game]]
| university = [[Stanford University]]
| conference = Atlantic Coast Conference
| conference_short = ACC
| description = [[Evergreen]] tree
| name_origin =
| first_seen = 1975
| related_mascots =
| hall_of_fame = 
}}
The '''Stanford Tree''' is the [[Stanford Band]]'s mascot and the unofficial [[mascot]] of [[Stanford University]]. Stanford's team name is "[[Stanford Cardinal|Cardinal]]", referring to the vivid [[Stanford Cardinal Red]] color (not the [[Northern cardinal|common songbird]] as at several other schools), and the university does not have an official mascot. The Tree, in various versions, has been called one of America's most bizarre and controversial college mascots.<ref>{{cite web |last=Howell |first=Sean |date=2005-09-26 |title=How the Card got its color |url=http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2005/9/26/howTheCardGotItsColor |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070129082745/http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2005/9/26/howTheCardGotItsColor |archive-date=2007-01-29 |access-date=2007-04-14 |website=[[The Stanford Daily]]}}</ref> The tree regularly appears at the top of Internet "worst mascot" lists<ref>{{cite web |last=Whitt |first=Richie |date=2008-11-20 |title=The 10 Worst Sports Mascots of All-Time |url=http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/sportatorium/2008/11/the_10_worst_sports_mascots_of.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090225103655/https://blogs.dallasobserver.com/sportatorium/2008/11/the_10_worst_sports_mascots_of.php |archive-date=2009-02-25 |access-date=2009-09-24 |website=Sportatorium |publisher=[[Dallas Observer]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Golokhov |first=Dave |title=Top 10 Lame Sports Mascots |url=http://www.askmen.com/top_10/fitness/54c_fitness_list.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090517003217/https://www.askmen.com/top_10/fitness/54c_fitness_list.html |archive-date=2009-05-17 |access-date=2009-09-24 |website=[[AskMen]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Top 10 worst college mascots |url=http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/pgStory?contentId=8654338&MSNHPHCP&GT1=39002#sport=COLLEGE%20FOOTBALL&photo=8652682 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081020032214/http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/pgStory?contentId=8654338&MSNHPHCP&GT1=39002#sport=COLLEGE%20FOOTBALL&photo=8652682 |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 20, 2008 |access-date=2009-09-24 |website=[[Fox Sports]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Jordan |first=Andrew |date=2009-04-10 |title=The 10 Worst Mascots of All Time |url=http://bleacherreport.com/articles/154086-10-worst-mascots-of-all-time#page/11 |access-date=2009-09-24 |website=[[Bleacher Report]]}}</ref> but has also appeared on at least one list of top mascots.<ref>{{cite web |last=Hodkowski |first=Ryne |date=2011-10-11 |title=Top 50 Mascots in College Football |url=http://bleacherreport.com/articles/887515-college-football-top-50-mascots-in-college-football/page/5 |access-date=2012-03-19 |website=[[Bleacher Report]]}}</ref>

==History==
The Tree is a member of the [[Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band]] (LSJUMB) and appears at [[college football|football]] games, [[college basketball|basketball]] games, and other events where the band performs.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Tree |url=http://www.stanford.edu/group/lsjumb/tree.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070307044810/http://www.stanford.edu/group/lsjumb/tree.html |archive-date=2007-03-07 |access-date=2007-04-14 |website=[[Stanford Band]] |publisher=[[Stanford University]]}}</ref> The "Tree" is representative of [[El Palo Alto]], the tree which appears on both the official seal of the University and the municipal seal of [[Palo Alto]], Stanford's nearby city.

From 1930 until 1972, Stanford's sports teams had been known as the Indians and during the period from 1951 to 1972, Prince Lightfoot (portrayed by Timm Williams, a member of the [[Yurok tribe]]) was the official mascot. But in 1972, [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] students and staff members successfully lobbied University President [[Richard Wall Lyman|Richard Lyman]] to abolish the "[[Native American name controversy|Indian]]" name along with what they had come to perceive as an offensive and demeaning mascot. Stanford's teams unofficially reverted to using the name "Cardinal", the color which represented the school before 1930.<ref>{{cite web |title=Native American History at Stanford |url=http://www.stanford.edu/dept/nacc/timeline.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020306153421/http://www.stanford.edu/dept/nacc/timeline.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 6, 2002 |access-date=2007-04-14 |website=[[Stanford University]]}}</ref>

From 1972 until 1981, Stanford’s official nickname was the Cardinal, but, during this time, there was debate among students and administrators concerning what the mascot and team name should be. A 1972 student referendum on the issue was in favor of restoring the Indian, while a second 1975 referendum was against. The 1975 vote included new suggestions, many alluding to the industry of the school's founder, railroad [[tycoon]] [[Leland Stanford]]: the [[Robber baron (industrialist)|Robber Barons]], the Sequoias, the Trees, the Cardinals, the Railroaders, the Spikes, and the Huns. The Robber Barons won, but the university's administration refused to implement the vote. In 1978, 225 varsity athletes started a petition for the mascot to be the [[griffin]], but that campaign also failed. Finally, in 1981, [[Donald Kennedy]], the president of Stanford, declared that all Stanford athletic teams would be represented exclusively by the color cardinal.<ref>{{cite web |title=What is the history of Stanford's mascot and nickname? |url=http://gostanford.cstv.com/school-bio/stan-nickname-mascot.html |url-status= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207030910/http://gostanford.cstv.com/school-bio/stan-nickname-mascot.html |archive-date=2009-02-07 |access-date=2008-07-24 |website=[[Stanford Cardinal]] |publisher=[[CBS Sports]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Palmer |first=Barbara |date=2003-11-12 |title=Cardinal Chronicle |url=http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2003/november12/column-1112.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060911081157/http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2003/november12/column-1112.html |archive-date=2006-09-11 |access-date=2009-03-10 |website=Stanford Report |publisher=[[Stanford University]]}}</ref>

However, in 1975, the band had performed a series of halftime shows which facetiously suggested several other new mascot candidates it considered particularly appropriate for Stanford including the Steaming [[Manhole]], the [[French fried potatoes|French Fry]], and the Tree. The Tree ended up receiving so much positive attention that the band decided to make it a permanent fixture, and the Tree came to be embraced by the Stanford community at large.

The original Tree costume was conceived and constructed by Christine Hutson. When she left Stanford, she passed along the costume and the role of the Tree to a conga drum player in the band, Robert David Siegel. 

[[File:Kelly as Tree 1987.jpg|thumb|The Tree at the Big Game, 1987|left]]

At the 1987 Big Game, Stanford Tree Paul Kelly was attacked by several Cal students who ran onto the field during the halftime show. Barely escaping, Kelly led them to the drum section where all three Berkeley students were tackled.

{{Blockquote|text=The staffers, many still in their grounds-crew uniforms, sit in neat rows, attentive if slightly bemused. Then the trombones kick in, and the audience is blasted back in its chairs like jet pilots. Before the first song is over, a few heads are starting to bob and feet are moving to the rhythm, but all eyes are on The Band's bizarre mascot. The Tree, a nine-foot pillar of bark and foliage–with legs and a maniacal smile–looks like a character from some low rent Disneyland. He ricochets around the stage and into the audience with alarming abandon, rarely quite vertical but never entirely horizontal.|title=Band on the Run|source=[[Rolling Stone]], Issue 509, September 24, 1987}}

Due to the heightened visibility of the Stanford Tree, physical altercations with Cal students became commonplace and part of the assignment. At the annual Battle of the Bands at [[University of California, Davis]], Kelly left the Tree costume on the bus after a long day in the sun and Cal students broke into the bus and stole the costume. A week later the band received a ransom note offering the Tree in exchange for Oski the Bear (which had been stolen from the UCB Student Union the previous year). The band did not think much of the trade and a tradition of making a new costume was begun. Every year since then, the band and their many admirers now expect the Tree to be reinvented every fall. With more exposure, the decision about who would become Tree became more rigorous and the band had to adopt a more formal selection process. Today's Tree candidate must go through "grueling and humiliating physical and mental challenges" to demonstrate sufficient [[chutzpah]] to be the Tree. During "Tree Week," candidates have been known to perform outrageous, unwise, and often dangerous stunts in order to impress the Tree selection committee, so much so that the university has felt the need to prohibit certain types of audition activities over the years.<ref>{{cite web |last=Condon |first=Stephanie |date=2004-02-25 |title=Students try out to be Tree |url=http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2004/2/25/studentsTryOutToBeTree |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070220181830/http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2004/2/25/studentsTryOutToBeTree |archive-date=2007-02-20 |access-date=2007-04-14 |website=[[The Stanford Daily]]}}</ref>[[File:11-04-06-LSJUMB-StanfordTree.jpg|thumb|The Stanford Tree entering [[Stanford Stadium]] in November 2006]]

The Tree's costume, which is created anew each year by the incumbent Tree, is a prominent target for pranksters from rival schools, in particular from Stanford's [[San Francisco Bay Area|Bay Area]] nemesis, the [[University of California, Berkeley]] ([[California Golden Bears|Cal]]). The tendency for the Tree to come to harm at the hands of Cal fans was showcased in the run-up to the 1998 [[Big Game (football)|Big Game]]. An anonymous coterie of [[Fraternities and sororities|fraternity]] brothers from Cal known as the [[Phoenix Five (prank)|Phoenix Five]] stole the costume and held it "hostage" for two weeks until it was turned in to the UC Berkeley chancellor's office and returned to Stanford by the [[University of California Police Department|UC Police]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Mulhauser |first=Dana |date=1998-11-02 |title=Tree relinquished by Cal captors; revered mascot safely back on campus |url=http://daily.stanford.edu/article/1998/11/2/treeRelinquishedByCalCaptorsReveredMascotSafelyBackOnCampus |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080310005542/http://daily.stanford.edu/article/1998/11/2/treeRelinquishedByCalCaptorsReveredMascotSafelyBackOnCampus |archive-date=2008-03-10 |access-date=2007-04-14 |website=[[The Stanford Daily]]}}</ref>

In 1996 two Cal students emerged shirtless from the stands at Memorial Stadium at the Big Game during halftime and tackled the tree, breaking branches and eliciting cheers from the Cal alumni prior to being handcuffed and led away. The most recent theft of the Tree was during the 2012 basketball game against Cal, when a member of the Cal band entered LSJUMB's bus and removed the mascot. Older bandsmen quickly sent the Tree outfit back that evening and no charges were pressed.<ref>{{cite web |author=Kodiak |date=2012-01-29 |title=Cal Men's Basketball Puts Down Stanford, 69-59 |url=http://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2012/1/29/2757409/cal-mens-basketball-puts-down-stanford-69-59 |access-date=2016-09-29 |website=California Golden Blogs |publisher=[[SB Nation]]}}</ref>

Violence and absurd levels of prankery have been a two-way street between Cal and Stanford. A few years earlier, during an [[ESPN]]-televised timeout during a February 1995 basketball game at [[Maples Pavilion]], the Stanford Tree and Cal's mascot [[Oski (mascot)|Oski]] got into a fistfight in front of the Stanford student section. The Oski costume's headpiece was forcefully removed by the Tree during the scuffle,<ref>{{cite web |date=2004-02-10 |title=Defining a Rivalry: Cal versus Stanford |url=http://www.dailycal.org/sharticle.php?id=14096 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930015200/https://www.dailycal.org/sharticle.php?id=14096 |archive-date=2007-09-30 |access-date=2007-04-14 |website=[[The Daily Californian]]}}</ref> an act of special significance because Cal has taken great pains to keep the identities of its Oski costume wearers secret since the 1940s.<ref>{{cite web |last=Shaffer |first=Rachel |title=Cool Alum: OSKI |url=http://www.coe.berkeley.edu/labnotes/0107/coolalum.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080518032959/http://www.coe.berkeley.edu:80/labnotes/0107/coolalum.html |archive-date=2008-05-18 |access-date=2008-08-24 |website=[[Berkeley Engineering]]}}</ref>

A spate of troubles brought the Tree even more notoriety in college sports circles. In February 2006, then-Tree Erin Lashnits was suspended until the end of her term as the Tree after her [[blood-alcohol level]] was found to be 0.157 (almost twice the legal driving limit in [[California]]) during a men's basketball game between Stanford and Cal. UC Berkeley police observed her drinking from a flask during the game and cited her for public drunkenness after she failed a [[breathalyzer]] test.<ref>{{cite news |last=Rubenstein |first=Steve |date=2006-02-17 |title=University's tree mascot gets the ax for drinking on the job against Cal |work=[[The San Francisco Chronicle]] |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/17/BAG9UHAELT1.DTL |access-date=2007-04-14}}</ref>
In August 2006, the NCAA fined Stanford University for what it termed "multiple violations of tournament policies" after an on-court altercation involving Tree mascot Tommy Leep and tournament officials as the Stanford women's basketball team participated in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Denver. The Tree was then banned from the 2007 Women's Tournament.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Michelle |date=2006-08-26 |title=Tree ruled over the top / NCAA fines Stanford for mascot's behavior at Tournament |url=https://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/Tree-ruled-over-the-top-NCAA-fines-Stanford-for-2513191.php |website=[[The San Francisco Chronicle]]}}</ref>

The Tree was also featured in a few ESPN "This is SportsCenter" commercials. One example was when [[Atlanta Braves]] right fielder [[Jason Heyward]] was talking about how baseball bats were made when the Tree, in the background, fell over. Another example was when golfer [[Bubba Watson]] and his caddie were "playing through" the Tree, which was referred to as an obstacle. In 2022, the 44th Stanford Tree, Jordan Zietz was suspended from his role for holding a sign reading "Stanford Hates Fun" with the [[Sparky the Sun Devil|Arizona State mascot]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bonagura |first=Kyle |date=2022-10-31 |title=Stanford student rides pine after trouble as Tree |url=https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/34918726/stanford-student-suspended-serving-tree-mascot |access-date=2022-11-27 |website=[[ESPN]]}}</ref> The "Stanford Hates Fun" sign was part of a student backlash against the perceived curtailing by the university of student activities, which some students started calling a "War on Fun".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Baker |first=Theo |date=2022-10-24 |title=Inside "Stanford's War On Fun" |url=https://stanforddaily.com/2022/10/24/inside-stanfords-war-on-fun-tensions-mount-over-universitys-handling-of-social-life/ |access-date=2022-11-27 |website=[[The Stanford Daily]]}}</ref> The previous Tree, Grayson Armour, said that he would take over as mascot until Zietz returned.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Chen |first1=Caroline |last2=Kim |first2=Yana |date=2022-11-01 |title=Stanford Tree gets the axe, suspended until January |url=https://stanforddaily.com/2022/11/01/stanford-tree-gets-the-axe-suspended-until-january/ |access-date=2022-11-27 |website=[[The Stanford Daily]]}}</ref>

==List of Trees==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Years
!Tree
|-
|1975–1977
|{{Sortname|Chris|Hutson|nolink=yes}}
|-
|1977–1978
|{{Sortname|Robert David|Siegel|nolink=yes}}
|-
|1978–1980
|{{Sortname|Meredith|Fondahl|nolink=yes}}
|-
|1980–1981
|{{Sortname|Judy|Mischel|nolink=yes}}
|-
|1981–1982
|{{Sortname|Eliza|Pond|nolink=yes}}
|-
|1982 football season
|{{Sortname|Annelies|Kelly|nolink=yes}}
|-
|1983–1984
|{{Sortname|Pat|Leckman|nolink=yes}}
|-
|1984–1985
|{{Sortname|Mardi|Dier|nolink=yes}}
|-
|1985–1986
|{{Sortname|Mary|Boyce|nolink=yes}}
|-
|1986–1987
|{{Sortname|Carole Sams|Hoemeke|nolink=yes}}
|-
|1987–1988
|{{Sortname|Paul Brendan|Kelly|nolink=yes}} III
|-
|1988–1989
|{{Sortname|William Washington|Thomas|nolink=yes}} III
|-
|1989–1990
|{{Sortname|Gil|Blank|nolink=yes}}
|-
|1990–1991
|{{Sortname|Todd|David|nolink=yes}}
|-
|1991–1992
|{{Sortname|Pete|Huyck|nolink=yes}}
|-
|1992–1993
|{{Sortname|Greg|Siegel|nolink=yes}}
|-
|1993–1994
|{{Sortname|Charles|Goodan}}
|-
|1994–1995
|{{Sortname|Ari Benjamin|Mervis|nolink=yes}}
|-
|1995–1996
|{{Sortname|Christopher Jeffrey|Bonzon|nolink=yes}}
|-
|1996–1997
|{{Sortname|Christopher Anselmo|Cary|nolink=yes}}
|-
|1997–1998
|{{Sortname|Matthew James|Merrill|nolink=yes}}
|-
|1998–1999
|{{Sortname|Christopher Matthew|Henderson|nolink=yes}}
|-
|1999–2000
|{{Sortname|Evan Fletcher|Meagher|nolink=yes}}
|-
|2000–2001
|{{Sortname|Alexandra Mary|Newell|nolink=yes}}
|-
|2001–2002
|{{Sortname|Charles Monroe|Armstrong|nolink=yes}}
|-
|2002–2003
|{{Sortname|Andrew Daniel|Parker|nolink=yes}}
|-
|2003–2004
|{{Sortname|William Robert|Rothacker|nolink=yes}}, Jr.
|-
|2004–2005
|{{Sortname|Daniel Isaac|Salier-Hellendag|nolink=yes}}
|-
|2005–2006
|{{Sortname|Erin Wright|Lashnits|nolink=yes}}
|-
|2006–2007
|{{Sortname|Thomas Elwood|Leep|nolink=yes}}
|-
|2007–2008
|{{Sortname|John Henrique|Whipple|nolink=yes}}
|-
|2008–2009
|{{Sortname|Patrick Jonathan|Fortune|nolink=yes}} (Patchez)
|-
|2009–2010
|{{Sortname|Jonathan Patrick|Strange|nolink=yes}} (Shü-Fry)
|-
|2010–2011
|{{Sortname|Benjamin Cortes Fernando|de la Guerra|nolink=yes}} (Bollox)
|-
|2011–2012
|{{Sortname|Michael Benjamin|Samuels|nolink=yes}}
|-
|2012–2013
|{{Sortname|Nicoletta|von Heidegger|nolink=yes}} (Pacman)
|-
|2013–2014
|{{Sortname|Calvin|Studebaker|nolink=yes}}
|-
|2014–2015
|{{Sortname|William|Funk|nolink=yes}}
|-
|2015–2016
|{{Sortname|Sarah|Young|nolink=yes}}
|-
|2016–2017
|{{Sortname|Sam|Weyen|nolink=yes}}
|-
|2017–2018
|{{Sortname|Tyler|Clark|nolink=yes}}
|-
|2018–2019
|{{Sortname|Dahkota|Brown|nolink=yes}}
|-
|2019–2020
|{{Sortname|Caroline|Kushel|nolink=yes}}
|-
|2020–2022
|{{Sortname|Grayson|Armour|nolink=yes}}
|-
|2022–2023
|{{Sortname|Jordan|Zietz|nolink=yes}}
|-
|2023–2024
|{{Sortname|Emily Jordan|Rodriguez|nolink=yes}} III
|-
|2024–2025
|Ruby Marie Coulson
|-
|2025–2026
|Sonnet Loki Van Doren
|}

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}
{{Commons category}}
{{Stanford University}}
{{Navboxes
|titlestyle = {{CollegePrimaryStyle|Stanford Cardinal|color=white}}
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{{Stanford Cardinal football navbox}}
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}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Stanford University|Tree]]
[[Category:Atlantic Coast Conference mascots]]
[[Category:Plant mascots]]
[[Category:Anthropomorphic trees]]
[[Category:Mascots introduced in 1975]]