While most UW students will most be enjoying drunken debauchery on Mifflin Street this Saturday, many others will be doing their body good by participating in the annual Crazylegs Classic. This annual 8K run, 2K walk throughout the downtown area starts at 10 a.m. on the Capitol Square and will finish at the 50-yard line in Camp Randall Stadium.
This Saturday's race marks the 24th year of the event which benefits the UW Athletic Department. Over the years, the race has attracted over 200,000 people from throughout the state country and has risen over $2.5 million for the benefit of Badger sports. Last year, the race broke records with 12,222 participants and $313,000 in proceeds for the UW Athletic Department and, this year, more records are expected to be broken.
According to Terry Murawski, Executive Director of the National W Club, the Crazy Legs Classic is the second largest event of its kind in America??-?? over 12,000 runners are already signed up, while 13,000-14,000 participants are expected to show up Saturday.
Even though Mifflin falls on the same day as this race, Murawski is not concerned with the event affecting the race's turnout.
\I'm certain it doesn't affect our run at all. We don't handle the Mifflin street area,"" Murawski said. ""Unfortunately, we don't have a large participation from students. We're working hard in trying to promote our event on campus more aggressively than we have before ... I would love to have a lot of students, faculty and staff take part but the truth of the matter is we don't have a lot of students.""
Murawski is also not worried about some slightly intoxicated students stumbling into the race.
""I don't even know if they would know what they were doing,"" Murawski joked. ""Another thing, is our event starts a little earlier ...I don't think the students will get wild and crazy until a little later ... you guys aren't even up by 10 o'clock are you?""
The idea for this run came about in 1981 coincidently over a couple of beers after Crazylegs chairmanTom Grantham, Ken Sparks and Rich Backus all went for a run. They wanted to find a way they could support the athletic department and came up with the idea to do so with a run. At the time, Elroy ""Crazylegs"" Hirsch was the Athletic Director at UW so they decided to name it after him.
Besides once holding the athletic director position, Hirsch was also a notable football player at Wisconsin. He only played for the 1942 season at Wisconsin because he joined the U.S. Marines for World War II, but he still garnered All-American honors and earned his ""Crazylegs"" nickname. According to the Crazylegs Classic website, one of Hirsch's feet pointed out farther than the other, causing him to wobble as he ran. He did not get the official nickname until a sports writer watched him wobble through a 61-touchdown run that gave Wisconsin a 13-7 win over Great Lakes Naval Station.
As a star in the National Football League for the St. Louis Rams, Hirsch became one of the best receivers in football history. He finished his professional career with 17 touchdowns on 66 receptions for 1,495 yards. As a Ram, Hirsch won a championship in 1951.
Though Hirsch passed away January of 2004 at the age of 80 from natural causes, his memory continues to live on with the Crazylegs Classic.
""We did a significant tribute last year following his passing."" Murawski said. ""His race and the fact that it will be ongoing, hopefully forever, is a lasting tribute to Elroy.""
