The tradition began in 1894, when the Ducks, then known as the Webfoots, took the field. In the 1890s, students at the University of Oregon voted to make the school colors green and yellow, from the leaf and flower of the Oregon grape. The football team, however, chose to wear blue and yellow. Even then, the look of the uniforms often switched, from a solid blue sweater with an emroidered O on the chest to a shirt with horizontal stripes of yellow and blue, among other variations. It wasn't until 1925 that the student body voted to force the football team to adopt the official school colors for it's uniforms, and the Ducks have worn some variation of green and yellow ever since. [ref1]

When the Ducks, or Webfoots, started the 1957 season, Oregon was ranked seventh of the nine schools in the PCC (Pacific Coast Conference). However, to everyone’s surprise, the team rallied to finish the season by becoming co-champions for the first time since 1948, and won the vote of PCC faculty representatives as the most eligible candidate for the 1958 Rose Bowl. The team was coached by Len Casanova, a coach that held no delusions for his 1957 team. From a team that had won four, lost four and tied two in 1956, Oregon lost seven starters to begin that 1957 season, leaving the Webfoots with a patched-up team. Thus, development of the reserves had much to do with Oregon’s success. Oregon had never before possessed the manpower to attempt unit substitutions, although Coach Casanova put it through effective use.

Oregon had one bad loss in 1957, a 6-13 loss to Washington, a team Ohio State took care of handedly with a 35-7 victory earlier that season. The only other loss was 10-7 to Oregon State. Despite this fact, 1957 was an otherwise extraordinary season capped off by Oregon’s triumph over Stanford in a 27-26 win, establishing the Webfoots as Rose Bowl possibilities. If there is a character trait shared between the 1957 Ducks team and this 2009 team, it’s their ablilty to win the close ones. Yet, one would be hard pressed to find many comparisons between both offenses. Where the 1957 team lagged in the vertical passing game, the 2009 version Ducks excel in it, armed with a dynamic and quick scoring offense. Notwithstanding, the running game for the ’57 Ducks was in fact the most potent in the school’s history at the time. Led by Jim “The Shadow” Shanley, this halfback had the most career rushing yardage of any in Oregon history.  Also should be noted, Jack Crabtree, the Ducks starting quarterback, was named Rose Bowl MVP, one of only two players from a losing Rose Bowl team to win the award. Jack played a heroic game, seeing that his Ducks were outmatched, yet, almost pulling off the upset. That being said, they did only manage to score 7 points. So, it could be stated, the defense had quite a good game as well, holding Ohio State to only 10. That defense was led by defensive lineman Tom Keele. The 1958 Oregana called Keele the "Webfoot brilliance on the defense".

Going into the game, the Ducks were definitely considered the underdogs. In fact, if they had won, it would have been the second PCC team win since the Big10-PCC pact was established in 1947. USC had won the Rose Bowl in 1953 beating Wisconsin 7-0.

In the 1958 Rose Bowl, the Oregon Ducks had a feature within their jerseys that could be considered distinctly west coast in it's inception. The Ducks were outfitted in their away white Nylon-durene jerseys that featured a UCLA shoulder loop, a feature that was popularized by Red Sanders' West Coast teams in the early 50s(#19 Bruin @left) . For the Ducks, a thin green stripe that bordered a thicker solid middle yellow stripe on each side. The shoulder loop was a very noticeable feature on the jersey that helped Coach Sanders decipher his Bruins on the grainy black and white game films of the time. This look was eventually adopted by some professional football teams in the NFL/AFL; i.e. Vikings, Colts, Chargers(w/center bolt), Patriots, 49ers, NY Titans, and Rams.