Wisconsin

With Coatta fired, former Purdue guard John Jardine, who had been one of the Chicago area’s top high school coaches and won the Illinois State Championship, became the head coach. He had served his apprenticeship as the line coach at his alma mater and at UCLA and had the reputation for being the best recruiter of Chicago talent in the country. As UCLA’s line coach he actively and aggressively pursued the Wisconsin head coaching job and got it. He promised an improved offense and delivered. The opener actually had the Badgers leading Oklahoma by 7-0 at the half but reality hit in the form of a 21-7 loss and it set the tone for the 4-5-1 season with the highlight, a 29-16 upset of number-two ranked Penn State. Running back Alan "A Train" Thompson was limited to only 455 yards due to a knee injury and sophomore Rufus "The Roadrunner" Ferguson picked up the slack by rushing for 588 and was a twin-terror on kickoff returns with "Grape Juice" Johnson. Quarterback Neil Graff was the conference leading passer with thirty-three of his balls caught by All Big Ten tight end Larry Mialik who later played three years with the Falcons and one more with the Chargers. The porous defense could boast only of Bill Gregory who was moved from tackle to end and who served the Cowboys well from 1971 to '77 and then played three more seasons with the Seahawks. Jardine put his stamp on the program by introducing a new helmet design featuring a white shell with a medium sized scarlet colored oval on each side. The ovals contained a white “W” logo that maintained the identifying feature for the state university. Adding an eleventh game to the 1971 schedule translated to one more loss in a 4-6-1 season, a year of poor defense and inconsistent play. In Jardine's first two seasons, the Badgers set twenty school offensive records but every opponent except Northern Illinois put up double-digit scores on them. Quarterback Graff completed his career with 4134 total yards and managed a brief three-year NFL run with the Patriots and Steelers. 5’6” tailback Ferguson lived up to his hype with 1222 rushing yards, breaking Alan Ameche's single-season record, running behind sophomore center Mike Webster. The short but powerful and shifty Ferguson was a fan favorite, celebrating each touchdown with a patented end zone dance. “Grape Juice” Johnson again was great on kick returns, teaming with Ferguson and was moved to defensive back to bolster the weak defense.

1972’s 4-7 record reflected better defense but even with career marks of 2814 rushing yards, second only to the great Alan Ameche, and 158 points by "The Roadrunner" Ferguson, and a team total offensive yardage production of 3492, the scoring offense just wasn't there. Center Webster again was the line stalwart with support from freshman tackle Dennis Lick. Short, fast Ferguson was backed up well by short, fast freshman Billy Marek, Lick’s high school teammate. Ferguson had a good burst in the World Football League with Portland and became active in Wisconsin public and political affairs. If nothing else, the presence of Ferguson had boosted attendance significantly to an average of over 70,000 per game. ’73 was a 4-7 season, this one marking the fourth consecutive year that Jardine's troops seemed stuck in mediocrity. The offense bounced back and ranked third in the conference in total yards with 1207 of that coming from the rushing of 5'8", 180-pound All Big Ten tailback Marek. Fullback Ken Starch, the former Wisconsin State High School shot put champion, contributed another 632 yards and for the second straight year flanker Jeff Mack led receivers with forty-one catches for 755 yards. Big tackle Lick teamed with All Conference center Webster to control the line and Webster of course, went on to a Hall Of Fame career with the Steelers.

SPOTLIGHT ON MIKE WEBSTER:

At 6'1" and 215-pounds, sophomore center Mike Webster may have been seen as an adequate offensive lineman by his Wisconsin teammates and coaches but he had that indispensable "something" that makes some work harder and longer than others to succeed. More than a bit undersized after graduating from Rhinelander High School, the Tomahawk, Wisconsin native was relentless. Quarterback Neil Graff stated, “I remember him running and working out just endlessly, lifting weights, being at the stadium virtually every day, all the time. He was a constant fixture over there. I don’t think anybody had a clue he would rise to the levels that he did, but when you talk about a self-made man, he certainly was.” As a three-year starter and All Big Ten center, Webster used a diligent approach to strength training to build himself up into a 255-pound All Pro and Pro Football Hall Of Famer with the glory-teams of the Super Bowl Steelers. Webster started 150 consecutive games until dislocating an elbow prior to the 1986 season. As offensive captain for nine years, Webster played fifteen seasons before concluding his career with two more seasons with the K.C. Chiefs. A seven-time All Pro and nine-time Pro Bowl participant, Webster was a shoo-in for The Pro Football Hall Of Fame and was named as a member of the All-Time NFL Team. Tragically, he passed away at the age of fifty and had spent the final few years of his life living on the streets as a result of depression and what proved to be a ground-breaking case in the study of CTE and related brain damage.

If interested in any of these Wisconsin helmets please click on the photos below.