Explaining Oregon's Tie-Dye Uniforms, Grateful Dead Connection

"The 1960s. As the nation tested limits, two University of Oregon visionaries were already thinking beyond them, Bill Bowerman and Ken Kesey. One was redefining sport. The other, how people saw the world. Bill Bowerman, a track coach with a soldier’s discipline and a scientist’s curiosity, was tearing apart running shoes in Eugene, searching for ways to make athletes faster. Together with former Oregon track runner Phil Knight, they set out to reinvent the running shoe, a partnership that later became Nike," the narrator in Oregon's video reads..

"Around that time, Ken Kesey, a UO alum and author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Sometimes a Great Notion was leading a different kind of experiment. Accompanied by the Grateful Dead, Kesey helped create gatherings that reimagined how people experience art, community, and consciousness, sparking a movement at the end of the ‘60s that would define the decade."

Oregon news and research writer Ed Dorsch compiled a timeline that explains the events of the Grateful Dead alongside Nike and the success of Oregon's athletics.

In 1972, "the Grateful Dead perform a benefit concert for Springfield Creamery, the makers of Nancy’s Yogurt. The Creamery, owned by Ken Kesey’s younger brother Chuck and his wife Sue, was in financial trouble. The Sunshine Daydream Concert, as it came to be known, was held on the current site of the Oregon Country Fair in Veneta, Oregon," wrote Dorsch.

"The concert also marked the beginning of a lasting bond between the Kesey family, the Grateful Dead, and the Eugene community," Dorsch continued.

Oregon unveiled the "Grateful Ducks" uniforms on Sunday, as a tie-dye green and yellow pattern is accented on the jersey numbers. The shoulder patches feature the Grateful Dead's iconic skull logo with the crack repurposed into a Nike swoosh.

The Ducks' helmets will also have a special decal of dancing ducks on the back, an ode to the rainbow dancing bears that have become associated with the band.

The partnership between Oregon, Nike, and the Grateful Dead is one of the latest initiatives enjoyed by the football program. Earlier in the year, the Ducks wore "Shoe Duck" uniforms as a tribute to the founding of Nike by Knight and Bowerman.

Merchandise available to purchase has been made available to fans, and the jerseys are also set to go on sale before the game.

Oregon and Wisconsin will kick off at 4 p.m. PT from Autzen Stadium.