Jesse Temple - 100 Things Wisconsin Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die

To my wife, Jamie, and my family. Thank you for your love and support.

Contents

Foreword by Barry Alvarez

The story of the turnaround of the Wisconsin football program, and subsequently the entire athletic department, is by now well known not only to Badgers sports fans but most who follow college athletics as well. Yes, it was a difficult process. It took a lot of hard work by a great many people on and off the fields of play.

There was, however, one element in the whole rebuilding process that helped to make it all just a bit easier and that was the passion and loyalty of the alumni and fans who bring such energy and commitment to Wisconsin sports. When I came here in 1990, it was obvious that people were hungry for a winner. They wanted to wear the W proudly. They wanted to compete for championships and go to bowl games and NCAA tournaments. And they wanted it done the right way. The Wisconsin Way.

I had a plan for how I felt the football program could be resurrected. It was important to keep our best in-state student-athletes at Wisconsin. We had to hit the recruiting trail hard and we had to sell our vision not only to potential student-athletes, but to the fan base. The same was true for our athletic administration at the time. Tough decisions had to be made and goals had to be set. Eventually, though, it all worked out. The Rose Bowl win over UCLA on New Years Day of 1994 was one of the highlights of my career and it turned out to be a jumping-off point for Wisconsin athletics.

Im not always one to dwell on the past. I prefer to focus on today and the future. There is always more to be done and we want to keep Wisconsin athletics healthy and competitive. But when I do reflect back on the past quarter century, Im filled with a great sense of pride and satisfaction in what has been accomplished. The bowl games, the Final Fours, the national titles, the legendary student-athletes and coaches, along with a million memorable moments have made this a magical ride for so many people.

As I said, however, I like to focus on whats ahead. College athletics faces a great many challenges, but also a great many opportunities. Sports in our country have never been more popular and, with all the great technology available now, there have never been so many avenues to connect with and follow our favorite teams. Sporting venues are tailoring everything toward creating an exhilarating experience for fans. Its a great time to be a sports fan.

At the same time, legal issues, health and safety concerns, and changing attendance patterns are just a few of the challenges we face in the sports world. We have to tackle those issues head on so that we continue to provide a great experience for our student-athletes and for the fans who follow them in person, online, or on television or radio.

College athletics and Wisconsin athletics in particular are steeped in tradition. We want to maintain those great traditions while also remaining current and competitive as the landscape continues to change. In the pages that follow, you will read about our traditions and many of our memorable moments. Enjoy it, and know that well keep trying to create more of them.

On Wisconsin!

Barry Alvarez

January 2016

Introduction

Success is not measured by what a man accomplishes, but by the opposition he has encountered and the courage with which he has maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds.

Charles Lindbergh

Kickoff for the inaugural Big Ten football championship was fast approaching, and most sportswriters sat in the press box above Lucas Oil Stadium, engrossed in their own Twitter dialogues, stressing over late-night deadlines, worrying about themselves and nothing else.

Tom Mulhern never was like most sportswriters.

I had known Tom all of eight weeks when Wisconsin and Michigan State were to meet in the 2011 title game, which is to say we didnt know each other well at all. Just before kickoff, Tom stopped what he was doing and turned to me. He wanted to let me know hed appreciated the questions I had been asking on the Badgers football beat, to tell me he thought Id done a good job in my first two months and to keep it up. He didnt have to do that, of course. But knowing a well-respected veteran on the beat was paying attention and taking an interest in my growth meant everything.

That was Tom in a nutshellsomeone who was more concerned about other people, who was always there to offer encouragement, even to those younger sportswriters he hardly knew.

Tom died October 3, 2014, at age 56 from complications of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare, degenerative brain disorder that affects one in a million people. The Madison community, and by extension Badgers fans everywhere, lost a thoughtful, caring man whose prose as a sportswriter was second to none.

As this book is published, Tom remains at the forefront of my mind. He was the one, you see, who was supposed to write this book. He began working on it but was unable to complete the project because of his diagnosis. Later, family members and colleagues searched for remnants of chapters hed written to no avail. It is an honor and a privilege, then, to try and carry on the work that Tom started.

Tom grew up in Madison and achieved his dream of covering the Badgers football program for his hometown paper, the Wisconsin State Journal , in 1999a job he performed better than anybody for the next 15 years. Three times he was named the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association state sportswriter of the year, in 2005, 2010, and 2014. But the accolades and recognition never mattered to Tom. It was always about the peopleboth on and off the field.

I always admired the way in which Tom found unique and interesting angles of covering the football team. He asked intelligent, pointed questions of players and coaches with a level of research and refreshing positivity that was infectious to people around him. And even when his writing sometimes offered criticism, it came from a place of fairness, which earned him the respect of those he covered.

In addition to the effort he put into covering the beat, Tom demonstrated a genuine interest in the work of others. He once emailed words of encouragement out of the blue after reading a feature story I wrote on a Badgers basketball player. Nice way to start my day, reading that, he wrote.

We began to forge a stronger bond just as his time on the beat was coming to an unexpected close. One July night at the Big Ten preseason media days in Chicago, we talked about football and about life. I had recently gotten married, and he had served as an officiant in one of his sons weddings. Talking to him was easy because he was so relatable, someone with whom I could swap journalism stories, hear about Badgers games from yesteryear, or simply share how our days were going.

During Toms final weeks, a gathering was held for him so family members, friends, and colleagues could celebrate his life and let him know how much he was loved. The turnout showed just how many people Tom had impacted. And through the hours of greeters, Toms zest never faded.

I told him how much hed meant to me, how hed shown me what it was like to handle oneself with passion, humility, and grace in a profession that does not always encourage writers to do so. He responded by offering me one last bit of encouragement. He told me I was a bright, young talent on the beat. He told me to keep it up.

Even in his last days, Tom never made the story about him. He made others feel good when he had every reason to be down. The true measure of a man is the people whose lives he touched in a positive way, and Tom did so until the very end.