Top Badger running backs of all-time

In the wake of P.J. Hill's NFL declaration, Mike Lucas ranked his top five Badger running backs of all-time. For whatever reason, I can't find the story on BadgerBeat.com now, but I know that Ron Dayne and Alan Ameche were his top two. That's where I'll start my top 15 list.

1. Ron Dayne
Who else?

2. Alan Ameche
You win a Heisman, you're at the top of this list.

3. Brian Calhoun
Quality over quantity. His 2005 was the most well-rounded season by a Badger offensive player, ever.

4. Brent Moss
Many would pick Billy Marek over Moss, but Moss led the Badgers' current resurgence. He was so good on that stretch play. Had a pretty damn good line in front of him, too. Did sharing carries with another great back help or hurt him?

5. Billy Marek
Did it for some bad teams, but never lifted them beyond that.

6. Pat Harder
"Hit 'em Again" Harder.

7. Rufus Ferguson
The Roadrunner.

8. Alan Thompson
Thompson-Ferguson-Marek was a pretty damn good back-to-back-to-back for some pretty damn bad teams.

9. Terrell Fletcher
May have been better than Moss, as he showed in late '94 after Moss was kicked off the team. Lasted a long time in the NFL.

10. Michael Bennett
That speed ...

11. Anthony Davis
Injuries limited his last two years, but he was electrifying.

12. P.J. Hill
Better than many fans gave him credit for.

13. Elroy Hirsch
Thing is, Crazylegs didn't have eye-popping numbers in college, just a couple incredible games on a balance team. Probably better at Michigan and in the pros.

14. Larry Emery

15. Marvin Artley

This list probably excludes some worthy guys from the very early days of Wisconsin football, but it's so tough to compare those guys with the others.

What does your list look like? Even just a top five or 10?

Commemorative Badger Sports Illustrated

Last week while we were waiting in the checkout line at Pick 'n Save Jana spotted the magazine shown at right — Wisconsin: A celebration of Badgers Football from Sports Illustrated. She asked if I wanted it and I initially said no, then relented.

Glad I did. Although I assumed it would contain nothing I didn't know already or hadn't read before, that was not true. Lots of good stuff in the magazine:

-Crazylegs Hirsch feature
-Alan Ameche feature
-Ron Dayne feature
-All-time team
-Preview of this season, along with a P.J. Hill feature
-Barry Alvarez feature
-Jim Sorgi piece

Beyond that there are a lot of great photos. If you live in Wisconsin and see it in the store, snatch one up, it'll be a nice addition to your collection. Cover price is $7.99.

Wisconsin's all-time Top 10 athletes

Last week my brother-in-law Nick (Sorgi-Romo) Barbera emailed me a link to an SI.com feature on Wisconsin's Top 10 all-time athletes. It's interesting -- here's the list:




10. Joe Thomas
9. Tony Granato
8. Pat Richter
7. Michael Finley
6. Red Below
5. Mark Johnson
4. Alando Tucker
3. Ron Dayne
2. Suzy Favor-Hamilton
1. Alan Ameche



Here's my top 20:
20. Gene Englund
19. Lee Kemp
18. Joe Thomas
17. Mark Johnson
16. Sara Bauer
15. Chris Solinsky
14. Al Toon
13. Alando Tucker

12. Amy Wickus
11. Cathy Branta
10. Kathy Butler
9. Robert Butler
8. Arlie Mucks
7. Pat O'Dea
6. Dave Schreiner/Pat Harder
5. Alan Ameche
4. Mike Eaves
3. Ron Dayne
2. Pat Richter
1. Suzy Favor-Hamilton

Don't know some of these names? Visit www.uwbadgers.com and do some research. Please return and discuss.

UW football and basketball books

The holiday break gave me a chance to read two other Wisconsin sports books by UW alum Dave Anderson. The books cover the Badgers' football and basketball history.

While these books will help fill out the UW section of my bookshelf, I can't in good faith recommend buying them - save the combined $30. Instead, buy The World Without Us (read it over Thanksgiving, still getting my thoughts together for a review), and download the history sections of the media guides posted at uwbadgers.com. Because that's all these books really are: a collection of team, stadium, and athlete pictures from the UW archives accompanied by redundant captions that often contain errors. There's no new analysis or historical context.

The first thing I said to Jana about them was "I can't believe this guy got paid to put these books together," and then kicked myself for not getting there first. In fairness, Anderson probably didn't set out to write a Halbertsam-esaue tome about his alma mater's athletics, and my expectations shouldn't have been to receive anything along those lines. Also, having been exposed to so many media guides over the years, I probably know more of this historical stuff than the average fan.

Anderson does make the good point that while the last 15 years or so have undeniably been a Golden Era in UW athletics, it wasn't always as bad as the preceding couple decades. In fact, UW athletics in the first three or four decades of the 20th century were pretty damn good, with plenty of conference titles, All-Americans, and even a few national titles. Then we hit a 50-year dry spell with a good season here and there.

What happened? Good question, and one that's not answered in these books. My thought is that the coaches of the times did not adapt quickly enough to changes in strategy and recruiting; the radical/turbulent nature of Madison during the '60s and '70s scared off many kids who weren't up for that kind of college experience; and a bad football team drags down everything else. Without the '93 Rose Bowl, does the Kohl Center get built?

Also took the time to read Game Day: Wisconsin Football by Athlon Sports. A much better book, it had lots of color photos and in-depth sections on players, coaches, games, rivalries, etc. If you're a true Badgers fan, you need to learn about Pat O'Dea, Pat Harder, Dave Schreiner, Crazylegs Hirsch, Alan Ameche, the Hard Rocks defense, Dan Lanphear, Ron Vander Kelen, Pat Richter the athlete, Dennis Lick, Ray Snell, Mike Webster, Tim Krumrie, Matt Vanden Boom, Al Toon, Ivy Williamson, Harry Stuhldreher, Milt Bruhn, Dave McClain, and the other men who made Badger football great in previous generations.

I recommend taking the time to learn UW athletics history. It does, in fact, predate Barry Alvarez and Dick Bennett.