How do you
connect with
Oakland
University?
✁
Pick your piece of
Oakland University
connections!
reunite with OU
Anniversary
Edition
✁
Pioneer Pete
Oakland’s first nickname was the Pioneers, and the unofficial mascot was Pioneer Pete. Pete started out
in the 1950s as an aerospace pioneer, but when a student drew a buckskin-clad Pioneer Pete, the image
stuck. In 1977, Pioneer Pete (aka Charles “Chick” Conklin, SBA ’79) sported a fringed leather jacket,
moccasins, a coonskin cap and a toy rifle, and cheered on the men’s and women’s basketball teams at
every home game for the next two years.
TM
The Grizz
In 1997, when Oakland University moved its athletics programs from NCAA Division II to Division I, the
university adopted the “Golden Grizzlies” as its new nickname. The "Grizz" made its debut at OU's inaugural
basketball game against Michigan State University in the new athletics arena on Nov. 17, 1998.
Meadow Brook Hall & Gardens
The fourth-largest historic house museum in the United States, Meadow Brook Hall was built by
Matilda Dodge Wilson and her second husband, lumber broker Alfred G. Wilson. The 110-room, 88,000square-foot, Tudor revival-style mansion is complete with vast collections of original art and furnishings.
In 1957, the Wilsons left their residence and its contents along with the estate’s 1,500 acres and
$2 million to found what has become Oakland University.
Alumni
There are more than 76,950 Oakland University alumni,
living in every state in the United States and in many
countries around the world.
ANG-1788/10.07
✁
✁
llll