A life-sized bronze statue has been cast to immortalise the deceased Long Boi following a massive student-led fundraising campaign. Standing proud at 70cm (2’4), Long Boi was presumed to be an Indian Runner duck-Mallard cross who resided near the lake at Derwent College. But more than that, he has been mentioned in James Corden’s Late Night Talk show, made headlines at the BBC and even been dubbed a brief “internet meme” by Wikipedia.
With his list of qualifications as long as his neck, Long Boi has made a name for himself beyond his humble origins. Last year, the former YUSU President Pierrick Roger launched a project on York Unlimited, the University’s fundraising platform, to raise donations and create a memorial to honour the deceased duck. The Long Boi fundraiser raised a massive £5527 from 340 donors.
Alongside the donation request, Roger wrote that: “Long Boi was much more than just a very long duck or just another University mascot.
Pierrick clarified that: “any excess funds will be donated within the University to either Mentally Fit York because of the joy Long Boi brought to our community or to a Travel Abroad Award in the form of a York Futures Scholarship named after Long Boi.”
The University has a record of 20 donations over £50 and 10 donations over £100. Donations to the statue ranged anywhere from £1 to a staggering £500, showing that this is a project that students and staff members alike were keen to get involved in.
While a significant number of the donations were made anonymously, York Vision was able to speak with donor Gary Brannan, 36, who donated a generous £50 to the Long Boi statue.
Mr Brannan was an undergraduate student at the University of York. Since then, he has been employed at the University for over 10 years and works at the Borthwick Institute for Archives. During his time in York, he has seen the legend of Long Boi come to life and grow into a true Quacks-to-riches Cinderella story.
Speaking about Long Boi, he tells me that “he wasn’t around when I was an undergraduate… I was here up until 2005 and there was no Long Boi then, but when I came back in 2014, there was a Long Boi.
“The whole Long Boi thing, I think it took off in about 2017-2018. I think that’s when it really caught on from my memory. That’s when he became a meme, if you like, at that point.”
Henrique Plihal Ferreira is a 21-year-old studying Biotechnology. He donated £20 to the Long Boi statue and explained: “The funniest memory I have is just seeing how much of a celebrity he was for humans but not so much for fellow ducks. Just seeing him pampered by people but running from other ducks was always a curious and funny moment,” he says, adding that the concept “of this exceptionally tall campus duck was always very cool. Almost from a fairytale.”
Antonio Garcia-Dominguez, a lecturer in Software Engineering at the Department of Computer Science at the University, donated roughly £20 to the cause.
She said: “In one of the modules I teach, we have students develop video games, and there have been many fun references to him and the rest of the York fauna in those games. I can tell you that it’s rare to see a game without a duck or a goose involved somehow, regardless of what we set as the brief each year.”
Lauren Shields, 21, said: “As someone who guides students around campus through outreach in my department, I love to tell them about York and ask if they know about Long Boi. It’s safe to say that students across the UK still know who he is!”
One of my initial concerns about this project was the degree to which it was instigated and funded by students.
In response to this, Mr Brannan said: “I’ll take it from the position of someone who works with the University art collection. We didn’t suggest it; it came from the students. We were fully supportive of it…gently in the background, helping them out in terms of…working out how you do a commission and stuff like that. But the fundraising was done by students.
“The design was chosen, I think through the students as well. We’ve kind of let this develop organically.
“Who created the legend of Long Boi? Did the University create it? No. It was created by the students…from my perspective, this is something that the students have generated and we’re really, really delighted with that. I think that’s something we want to see more of.”
The Long Boi statue will solidify his memory on campus, ensuring that future years of students will not be deprived of his presence. Roger said that once the sculpture is completed, it will be placed alongside the lakes by Derwent College, which was believed to be one of Long Boi’s favourite spots.
Radio 1 host Greg James presented the statue’s unveiling on Thursday September 26.