Art, Lumber & Heritage Team Up To Give Oregon Basketball An Assist
Timber looms large in the history of the region, and in Oregon basketball as well. “Deep in the Woods,” a series of five basketball-inspired artworks, pays tribute to that legacy, while helping members of Oregon’s Men’s Basketball team benefit from their NIL opportunities.
Rosemary St. Clair, Division Street CEO, explains how it all started:
“Jim Morse is the owner and president of Pacific Lumber. He comes from a U of O family and has been a supporter of Duck Athletics for years. In our initial meeting with Pacific Lumber, Jim shared the desire to support the men’s basketball program but was challenged on how to use NIL rights to market Pacific Lumber, a B2B, with no direct-to-consumer marketing.”
Ideally, it would be something that reflected the genuine relationship between basketball and lumber in Oregon’s heritage:
“Working with Bish, a collective made up of Oregon alums and consultants, we developed a plan. Live edge wood, sourced by Pacific Lumber, was delivered to a Portland artist, K. McDowell of Sui Generis Designs. With his love of the game of basketball, McDowell created the ‘Deep in the Woods’ backboard collection.”
It all made sense:
“The inspiration came from Oregon’s unique relations with wood, a natural resource from the state of Oregon. The Tall Firs, a nickname given to the 1939 National Champions and the inspiration for the Pat Kilkenny court within the Matthew Knight Arena, were all used as elements in the ideation.”
The five backboards were promoted and donated by University of Oregon Men’s Basketball to five local charities — Kidsports of Eugene, Youth Era of Eugene, Special Olympics Oregon, The Eugene YMCA and The Falconi Anemia Research Fund to support their fundraising efforts.
“Each participating student athlete received compensation for promoting Pacific Lumber, Sui Generis Designs, and each of the five local charities.”
When asked if she would call this a case of Division Street going against the grain to come up with an unconventional solution, St. Clair responded:
“I wouldn’t use those words exactly, but I see what you did there.”
Photography by Ashley Walters