UO fans donate the most blood

It’s a day before the game, but the Ducks have already won the Civil War.

The annual Civil War Blood Drive, that is.

It’s always a bloody battle on the field, and Saturday’s 115th version of the annual University of Oregon and Oregon State University football game at Autzen Stadium should be no different. But the blood actually starts spilling a few weeks before the game, when the American Red Cross, the Lane Blood Center in Eugene and the UO and OSU alumni associations team up to collect as much blood as possible from Duck and Beaver fans.

This year, more than 6,500 fans donated blood between Nov. 3 and Nov. 19, the blood bank’s Kristi McElhinney said. And 3,416 of those fans said their allegiance is to the Ducks, while 3,173 said they back the Beavers.

It’s the second straight year more UO fans than OSU fans have given blood, but only the third time in the 10-year history of the Civil War Blood Drive that the UO has topped OSU in the draining of the red stuff.

But the real winners, McElhinney said, are those who need life-saving blood transfusions.

The donations always come at a critical time of the year, when blood donations decline because of the busy schedules of regular donors during the holidays, coupled with the start of the cold and flu season, according to the blood bank.

Blood has a shelf life of 42 days, so the blood collected during the Civil War Blood Drive will help patients well into the holiday season, McElhinney said.

All blood drive participants are entered in a drawing to win tickets to Saturday’s game, a $100 gift certificate to either the Duck Store in Eugene or the Beaver Store in Corvallis, or a Civil War party package, among other prizes.

Doug Engel, executive director of the Lane Blood Center, will present the Civil War Blood Drive trophy to Tim Clevenger, director of the UO Alumni Association, on the field at Autzen Stadium about an hour before the kickoff of the game.