Jay, here.
This past Thursday, Sports Illustrated opened the vault on all of their content.
Covers. Articles. Ads. Everything.
That got me to thinking: how many times has the University of Oregon been represented on the cover of Sports Illustrated? The answer? Four. (Unfortunately, I can’t count Eugene resident Brian Lanker’s 1985 Swimsuit Issue cover photograph of Paulina Porizkova.)
Then I was curious as to how that stack up against the rest of the Pac-10. Pretty well. But, as you will see, USC and UCLA are in a league of their own.
This is not an exhaustive list (because of USC and UCLA). And the cover count only represents the instances where a school is the primary focus on the cover. For example, USC’s Todd Marinovich made the cover throwing against Stanford. But Stanford really isn’t the focus (Actually, they’re kind of oblique and out of focus.). So, that doesn’t count. And SI.com’s search feature is OK, but sometimes returns inconsistent results.
Here are the Pac-10 covers of Sports Illustrated.
Sports Illustrated Covers: OREGON - 4
Cover Dates: 06.15.70, 02.25.74, 08.13.01, 09.29.03
The Ducks kind of have one more cover. Well, a lot of schools have at least one cover, sort of, with this year’s NCAA Tournament Preview edition. Kind of like “Where’s Waldo?”, where’s Malik Hairston?
Did you find him? Look right next to the “I” in “Illustrated. And, I think, that’s Malik.
UPDATE: In the comments section, Chris pointed out that Aaron Brooks was on the cover of the 2007 NCAA Tournament Preview edition (03.19.07). I kind of put this cover in the category with the above cover: it’s nice, but doesn’t count as Oregon having a cover. That’s Aaron on the basketball.
Sports Illustrated Covers: OREGON STATE - 5
Cover Dates: 10.16.61, 01.07.63, 03.05.90, 03.23.81, 09.29.03
Sports Illustrated Covers: WASHINGTON - 3
Cover Dates: 10.03.60, 10.04.71
Thanks to Alex, there is one more from 11.24.06 that did not come up in SI’s search feature.
Sports Illustrated Covers: WASHINGTON STATE - 0
Washington State joins Arizona State as the only Pac-10 schools not to have a Sports Illustrated cover. Although, I think there is a WSU player (Cowgill?) on the cover of the 2008 NCAATournament Preview edition.
Sports Illustrated Covers: CAL - 2
Cover Dates: 11.24.75, 03.29.93
Sports Illustrated Covers: STANFORD - 5
Cover Dates: 11.08.02, 03.17.97, 11.23.98, 10.07.02, 03.29.04
Sports Illustrated Covers: ARIZONA - 4
Cover Dates: 08.29.94, 04.07.97, 04.02.01, 11.25.02
Sports Illustrated Covers: ARIZONA STATE - 0
Like Washington State, Arizona State does not have a Sports Illustrated cover to its name. Unlike Washington State, though, I don’t even think they have a player on the cover of the 2008 NCAATournament Preview edition.
Sports Illustrated Covers: USC - 31
Cover Dates: Too many. First: 11.26.56 Most Recent: 11.19.07
Sports Illustrated Covers: UCLA - 35
Cover Dates: Too many. First: 01.05.59 Most Recent: 03.18.08
