In less than three years, Dan Lanning has put his stamp on the Oregon football program. When the Ducks take the field against Michigan State on Oct. 4, the Lanning family’s impact will be even more viscerally apparent.
For the fifth time, the UO football team on Friday will debut a uniform designed to show support for those who have battled cancer, and raise awareness and resources for research into beating the disease. The latest iteration is Oregon’s “Heroes” uniform, which is replete with personal touches designed by Lanning and his family, including his wife, Sauphia, who completed treatment for bone cancer in 2017.
“This is her love letter to her heroes, and that’s why we wanted to call it ‘Heroes,’” said Quinn Van Horne, senior designer for Van Horne Brands, which brought the Lannings’ concepts for the uniform to life. “This is her thanking the people who truly helped save her life.”
The Heroes uniform incorporates specific elements suggested not only by Dan and Sauphia Lanning but each of their three sons as well. The base color is yellow, in acknowledgment of Sauphia’s battle with osteosarcoma, but the helmet, cleats, gloves and sleeve patches all feature a multi-color panel acknowledging victims of all cancers.
The helmet features Oregon’s trademark “O” logo incorporated with a yellow ribbon, a concept Sauphia sketched herself. That logo is featured prominently on the back of the helmet and also a sleeve patch, at the urging of the Lannings’ middle son, Kniles.
Their oldest son, Caden, suggested the use of an ice cream cone, available on items to be sold in support of cancer research and acknowledging the treat the Lannings would enjoy to lift their spirits after Sauphia’s treatment sessions. Youngest son Titan suggested the use of the multi-color panel on the cleats, while Dan Lanning himself brought to the uniform the molecular structure of the “red devil” chemotherapy treatment, which is a background image on the gloves players will wear Friday, and on some retail items.
“I’m really glad the boys and Dan got to be a part of it all,” Sauphia said. “They were definitely my driving force in getting better and healing. I’m just so glad they were able to put their touch on it.”
Friday’s debut for the latest “Stomp Out Cancer” uniform caps a process that began shortly after Lanning was hired in 2022. UO director of athletics Rob Mullens suggested telling the story of Sauphia’s battle with osteosarcoma through a new uniform.
Sauphia sketched the logo featuring the “O” with a ribbon during Oregon’s Holiday Bowl trip later that year, which is also around when Dan met a fan who had a tattoo of the “red devil” molecular structure, planting the seed for adding it to the “Heroes” uniform. The following spring, chief creator of Van Horne Brands Todd Van Horne, his son, Quinn, and the Lannings gathered for a design meeting.
The boys were given paper on which to sketch their ideas. From that session came many of the personal touches ultimately featured in the uniform Oregon will wear Friday. “This is beyond what I would have envisioned for this,”
Sauphia said earlier this year, at a meeting to show the family the design concepts as synthesized by the Van Hornes. “We’re just really honored and grateful for you guys, and we’re looking forward to it — I can’t wait to see it all really come to life, and everyone really represented.” Sauphia’s original sketch of the “O” with a ribbon included the phrase “Take Flight + Fight.” She purposely utilized a plus sign, rather than the word “and” or an ampersand, because it mimics the sign of the cross that is an international symbol for health care providers. One sleeve of the uniform has a “Flight + Fight” patch, while the other has one reading “Stomp Out Cancer” under the image of a bell, which cancer victims ceremonially ring to mark the end of their treatment.
“That represents triumph for her,” Todd Van Horne said. Among the design features of the jersey is both wings and diamond plating on the shoulders, “with the diamond plating representing that gritty, tough fight, and then the wings on top representing flight,” Quinn Van Horne said. Much of the imagery will appear on items available for sale to the public. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the University of Oregon’s Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact, yet another nod to the desire of Sauphia Lanning to show support for the heroes involved in fighting cancer.
“The medical staff was a big role in helping us get where we are,” she said. “They were there the entire time, and so I do see them as heroes and I’m so glad (the designers) honored that and put that in there. I think that’s incredible.”