Meet Doug Koke.
Some may know him from his 36 years spent in the printing business in Eugene. Others know him as the man behind what The Sporting News deems one of the top game day traditions in all of college football.
For the past seven seasons, Koke has driven the Oregon-decorated 1996 Harley-Davidson FatBoy that cruises across the Autzen Stadium turf immediately before the team takes the field to the roar of the crowd at each home game.
“Sensory overload,” Koke said, describing the feeling of taking the field. “It’s pretty wild. I’ve never known a crowd of people that get so excited over the sound and sight of a motorcycle.”
Koke is a Eugenean born and raised and currently serves as the Vice President of Business Development for Koke Printing, where he is a third-generation printer with the corporation.
But seven years ago, he found a way to combine two of his passions. As the president of the local Oregon Club and a football season-ticket holder since 1982, Koke was approached with the rare opportunity by former Oregon assistant athletic director Jim Bartko.
“He knew that I had my own Harley Davidson,” said Koke, who began riding at age 15 and has owned five to six different motorcycles.
Former Oregon and NFL lineman Gary Zimmerman did the riding duties the two previous years but no longer wanted to, and it took a little persuasion on Bartko’s part, but Koke finally agreed to take over.
“I always thought it was exciting, but Jim kinda had to talk me into it,” Koke said. “I wasn’t really keen on doing it at first. I’m not one that goes out and performs.
“The first time I did it, I didn’t quite know what I was doing. There’s somebody that signals you that gives you the cue to go and the Duck was brand new and I was brand new and the fact that it came out OK was a good deal. It was interesting.”
The bike Koke rides, which fans can take pictures of before each game, belongs to the athletics department and was painted by a Portland business, which also did free-hand artwork. Koke said the bike is covered with color-changing DuPont paint.
The base color and airbrushed Oregon logos on the bike also match the helmet Koke wears.
“It’s way cool, as a matter of fact,” Koke said.
Koke’s game day routine includes meeting and escorting the team buses from the Eugene Hilton to Autzen Stadium along with the Oregon Hummer nearly two hours before kickoff.
Koke then meets his family at their tailgating location and leaves nearly 30 minutes before kickoff to warm up the motorcycle for his grand entrance.
After driving across the field, he takes the bike out of the stadium and parks it near the locker room so he can return to the seats he’s held for 24 years.
While it’s the same routine nearly every game for the past seven years, it rarely gets tiresome – until late in the November portion of the season, that is.
“I don’t know how long I’ll be doing it,” Koke said. “These cold rainy Saturdays are getting to me a little bit. I’m not as young as I used to be. But it’s still about the most exciting minute-and-a-half a person can have.”
And so far in his seven years, he’s avoided anything too embarrassing.
“The last thing I want to do is to make ESPN highlights for falling down or something like that,” Koke said. “I think about that all the time. We’ve slid around a little on wet days, but no close calls.”
Though he averted that, he was once assessed a penalty prior to the Oregon-Mississippi State game in 2002 for “buzzing” by midfield where players and officials gathered for the coin toss.
“I think I basically scared the (official) when I went by and made so much noise,” Koke said. “I didn’t do anything I don’t normally do but this one official took exception to it. I think he was a traffic cop by trade.”
The penalty forced Oregon to back up five yards on a kickoff. Koke said he was not alerted until near halftime that he had committed the penalty and read about in the papers the next day when Oregon coach Mike Bellotti told reporters that it wouldn’t happen again.
But for now, his joy ride continues.
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