By UO student Chelsea Fullmer
With roughly 500 Ducks in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and football season around the corner, UO alumnus and UOAA board member Al Steinhaus ’84 brought together alumni and friends to discuss future watch parties and various events. While not an official UOAA chapter, the Dallas Ducks are looking to create a fan base and a way to connect the numerous Ducks in the area.
Meeting at Pluckers on August 20 for the Dallas Ducks Football Kickoff Celebration, 17 loyal Duck fans gathered together to meet each other and plan watch parties for the upcoming football season. An array of Ducks fans—some travelling more than 40 miles, and alumni spanning from 1963 graduates to 2003 graduates—planned a first watch party for the Tennessee game on September 14. Hosting the watch party at the same location where these Ducks came together, they look forward to continuing to host watch parties throughout the season.
Watch parties are a popular way to cheer on the football team wherever fans may be. Besides mingling with other Ducks and cheering on the team, the UOAA provides raffle prizes for the official watch party locations—last year’s being various styled football helmets from UO athletics and this year’s being signed footballs from new head coach, Mark Helfrich. At the end of each season, an overall raffle prize winner is chosen from all the chapter watch parties for a special bowl game prize.
With watch parties hosted all over the country and a strong following in Dallas, Ducks in the area are ready to show off their green and yellow pride. “There was great enthusiasm from everyone,” Steinhaus said about the Football Kickoff Celebration.
Dallas Duck David Anderson said, “Al did a great job pulling this together and I can't wait until the first watch party on the 14th—looking forward to more exciting DFW Alumni gatherings."
For more information about the Dallas Ducks Watch Parties, visit
uoalumni.com/watchparties.