ESF’s Oakie the Acorn Enters SUNY’s Mascot Madness

03/01/2013

Oakie the Acorn, the mascot of ESF's Mighty Oaks athletic teams, is one of 30 SUNY mascots competing in SUNY's first Mascot Madness this March.

The online contest pits SUNY mascots against each other in a standard single-elimination bracket of four divisions with five rounds. Thirty SUNY campuses representing 472 athletic teams and more than 220,000 students are participating.

ESF's Oakie, who is seeded 28th, is going up against the fifth-seeded SUNY Delhi Bronco when voting begins March 4. Voting will be conducted via social media and voters must follow SUNY on Twitter (@SUNY) or "like" SUNY on Facebook. Each person is allowed one vote per round, per matchup.

The competition includes five rounds of voting and runs through April 4. The winning college will receive a yet-to-be named prize from SUNY.

The competition is based on a series of questions posed to the mascots prior to the tournament including mascots' origin stories, thoughts on representing their teams, favorite events, friends and food, and what they like to do for fun.

Seed rankings are based on the number of teams a particular campus represents with enrollment data used to break any ties. Oakie currently represents nine men's and women's teams in ESF's growing athletics program.

The intercollegiate athletics program at ESF can trace its roots all the way back to 1912, when students organized a Forestry Club on campus that has sponsored an intercollegiate timber sports team every year since.

Today, students can compete on several ESF intercollegiate athletic teams, including soccer, golf, cross country, timber sports (Woodsmen's Team), basketball, and track. The Mighty Oaks are a member of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA).