There were few things Doug Koke liked better than firing up the ignition of that green 1996 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy and waiting for the roar that followed.
“It’s pretty crazy when you start that thing up and (the fans) hear the motorcycle,” Koke told “College GameDay” in 2022. “They know that it’s getting close for the team to come out and the game to start. It’s pretty noisy. This crowd is out for blood.”
Koke, who piloted the motorcycle that became synonymous with the start of Oregon football games from 1999-2022, died Dec. 31, from a pulmonary embolism, his family said. He was 73.
In addition to his 23 years igniting the crowd at Autzen Stadium just before kickoff, Koke was the president of QSL Print Communications, a fourth-generation business founded by his grandfather in 1907. He left a simple legacy…