From 1930 until 1972, Stanford's sports teams had been known as the Indians and during the period from 1951 to 1972, Prince Lightfoot (portrayed by Timm Williams, a member of the Yurok tribe) was the official mascot.

But in 1972, Native American students and staff members successfully lobbied University President Richard Lyman to abolish the "Indian" name along with what they had come to perceive as an offensive and demeaning mascot.

[9][10] However, in 1975, the band had performed a series of halftime shows which facetiously suggested several other new mascot candidates it considered particularly appropriate for Stanford including the Steaming Manhole, the French Fry, and the Tree.

When she left Stanford, she passed along the costume and the role of the Tree to a conga drum player in the band, Robert David Siegel.

At the 1987 Big Game, Stanford Tree Paul Kelly was attacked by several Cal students who ran onto the field during the halftime show.

Before the first song is over, a few heads are starting to bob and feet are moving to the rhythm, but all eyes are on The Band's bizarre mascot.

Due to the heightened visibility of the Stanford Tree, physical altercations with Cal students became commonplace and part of the assignment.

A week later the band received a ransom note offering the Tree in exchange for Oski the Bear (which had been stolen from the UCB Student Union the previous year).

In February 2006, then-Tree Erin Lashnits was suspended until the end of her term as the Tree after her blood-alcohol level was found to be 0.157 (almost twice the legal driving limit in California) during a men's basketball game between Stanford and Cal.

UC Berkeley police observed her drinking from a flask during the game and cited her for public drunkenness after she failed a breathalyzer test.

One example was when Atlanta Braves right fielder Jason Heyward was talking about how baseball bats were made when the Tree, in the background, fell over.