Dental, hospice office celebrate start of OSU football in style

A birthday cake made entirely of orange and black cupcakes tempted visitors to Dr. Kurt Black's dental office with sugary, cavity-inducing sweetness. For one day of the year, clinical-administrative assistant Sandie Bohanan said, customers were being encouraged to eat sweets.

"As long as they're going to brush afterward," she said.

Thursday, two very important events in Dr. Black's life converged: It was his 48th birthday, and it was the first Oregon State University football game of the season. The Beavers were playing Stanford on the Cardinals' home turf in Palo Alto, Calif.

For Dr. Black, a die-hard Beaver fan, it was an exciting day.

"It's pretty cool," he said, sporting a black and orange OSU polo shirt.

Every Thursday is Beaver Day at Dr. Blacks' office, no matter what the season. Staff members are expected to wear orange medical smocks or shirts, adorned with Beaver insignias. Bohanan comes from a family of University of Oregon Ducks, she admitted under her breath, but on Thursdays, she's an honorary Oregon State fan.

Dr. Black hosts an annual tailgater event for clients each year, and the next falls on Sept. 12. Although Black went to college out of state, as soon as he moved to Corvallis and opened his practice, he threw himself into the orange and black with a passion.

"It was a natural (decision)," he said. "Once we landed here, we wanted to be part of the sports (scene.)"

After the office closed Thursday, Dr. Black's wife, Susan McDonald, and their three youngest children, Ian, 11, Matthias, 8 and Sunitha, 6, planned to watch the game at the Corvallis Sports Park.

"My wife is a big kick-off fan," Dr. Black said.

Just across the parking lot on Professional Drive, Debbie Luster at Benton Hospice was wearing her father's 1950s OSU Beavers cap and had surrounded herself with black and orange decorations at the front desk. Luster's dad, Jim Luster, received a full football scholarship to attend OSU and was on the team from 1951 to 1955. She graduated from OSU in 1983.

"Everywhere I've ever worked, we have always had game day," Luster said. "It boosts morale."