So it's official: you're now a Badger.
Perhaps you were born and raised as a Wisconsin fan (if your blood runs red, that might be the case.) It might also be the case that as you're reading this, you have absolutely no idea who Ron Dayne is, what you would ever put in a Rose Bowl or what happens at the Kohl Center.
Whatever your situation may be, this guide is designed to get you up to speed, introducing those most unfamiliar with Badger sports history to some of the school's greatest athletic moments and possibly teaching some new history to even the most diehard incoming students.
The Rose Bowl
The Rose Bowl Game, played every New Year's Day in Pasadena, Calif., is the oldest college football bowl game in the country and features the conference champions from the Big Ten and Pac-10. Although Wisconsin had made three previous trips to the Rose Bowl Game, it wasn't until 1994, when the Badgers finally brought home the school's first Rose Bowl Championship, defeating UCLA 21-16.
Five years later, head coach Barry Alvarez claimed his second Rose Bowl title as the Badgers again defeated UCLA. The following season, the Badgers became the first and only Big Ten school ever to win back-to-back Rose Bowls, defeating Stanford.
The Dayne Train
Leading Wisconsin to dominance and two Rose Bowl titles in the late '90s was a running back few Badger fans will ever forget.
Ron Dayne was a star all four years of his collegiate career at Wisconsin, and during the 1999 season placed himself among college football's greatest by setting the all-time FBS career rushing record. His career total of 6,397 yards still stands as the mark to beat in college football. That season, Dayne also became just the second Badger, and first since Alan Ameche in 1954, to win the Heisman Trophy.
Badger Basketball
The Wisconsin men's basketball team has been a fixture of the university since the nineteenth century and has become a powerhouse in recent decades. Perhaps the finest moment in the program's history came nearly 70 years ago when the team claimed the university's only basketball national championship, defeating Washington State in 1941.
More recently, the Badgers made a surprise run as the eighth seed in the 2000 NCAA Tournament, reaching the Final Four before falling to eventual champion Michigan State. In February of 2007, the Badgers also earned the school's first No. 1 national ranking.
""It's a great [school] for hockey""
Sharing the Kohl Center with men's and women's basketball during the winter months are two programs which have become standards in dominance over the years. The Wisconsin men's hockey team is among the most storied programs in the nation; consistently drawing more fans than any other collegiate hockey team, the Badgers have made 12 appearances in the NCAA Frozen Four, claiming six national titles.
Since its inception in the 1999-'00 season, the women's hockey program has won three national titles. One of those championships came in the 2005-'06 season, the same year the men's team won their sixth title, marking the first and only time the same school has claimed both the men's and women's Division 1 hockey championships in the same year.
Coaching both programs are two former members of the men's hockey 1977 championship team. Mike Eaves commands the men's side, while Mark Johnson has led the women's team to all three titles. Mark Johnson was also a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team in 1980, scoring twice in the ""Miracle on Ice."" More recently, Johnson coached the U.S. Women's National team to a silver medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Boxing Badgers
Just as Bucky today holds court in the rink, Wisconsin also once claimed royalty in the ring. While no longer an NCAA sport or offering at Wisconsin, the Badger boxing program stands as, possibly, the most decorated in Wisconsin sports history. Between 1939 and 1956, Wisconsin won eight national championships in boxing, more than any school in the country.
Wisconsin boxing also holds claim to one of the university's most somber moments in athletics, however. At the 1960 National Championships, the final year for the sport in the NCAA, Wisconsin boxer Charlie Mohr collapsed with a brain hemorrhage and died the following week.
And so while it's important to always keep in mind the past, you as students now have the awesome responsibility and excitement of cheering your Wisconsin Badgers into new frontiers, more championships, and an even greater history.
You're now a Badger. Be proud of it.
For more on Badger history, E-mail Mark at mdbennett@wisc.edu.
