Alfred “Bucky” Hudec has seen his fair share of Wisconsin football.

The 79-year-old Badger fan hasn’t missed a home game in 52 years, meaning Hudec has been a fixture at home games nearly as long as the Badger of the same name.

Complete with a Bucky Badger hat, a tie that he’s been wearing to football games since the late 1940s and a pocket full of pictures of himself and the many friends he’s met over the years at games, Hudec looks the part of a lifelong fan.

Still, it’s the people more than the football that brings him back every year.

“I’ve always enjoyed the games because I meet so many great people,” Hudec said. “I’ve been to so many games they call me ‘Bucky.’ Most people don’t even know what my real name is.”

All those friends love “Bucky” just as much, which is evident as he walks through the crowds after the game and seemingly half of those who pass by stop to say hello. With so many friends around, Hudec has developed a unique way of signaling them with a little red kazoo.

“That’s how I get everybody’s attention. That’s how they find me,” Hudec said after pulling out his kazoo and playing a short tune. “I just blow my horn and they say ‘Oh, here he comes.'”

Hudec’s love affair with the Badgers started in 1941, when he went to his first game as a 16-year-old. He was hooked after just one game. The young Hudec, however, was making only 60 cents an hour in those days, and that made it tough to go to any more than a couple games a year in 1942 and 1943.

While he was unable to attend any games over the following two seasons because he was in Europe fighting in World War II, Hudec still believes that his attendance string should date from 1941 through today with no interruptions.

“I still count [the time in the service] as seniority, because if you worked at a shop and you were in the service during the war, then your seniority was still there,” Hudec said.

After returning home from Europe, Hudec was able to attend three games a year from 1946-51. In 1952 he finally got his first full set of season tickets, and he says he hasn’t missed a home game since.

“That’s the truth. I ain’t missed one,” Hudec said. “The only reason my wife missed any was for weddings.”

Mrs. Hudec had a fairly impressive attendance record of her own before she passed away, missing just three games in the 35 years she accompanied “Bucky” to games.

In the 63 years since his first game, “Bucky” has taken in more than his share of Wisconsin football and has plenty of stories to tell. All of them are worth hearing, like the time his RV’s axle broke on the way home from the 1984 Hall of Fame Bowl in Birmingham, Ala., or the short-lived existence of the Wisconsin Central Airlines that offered a flight from Racine to Madison for football games.

Hudec can talk about football, too, like his favorite UW gridiron memory: Wisconsin’s famous skip pass or his list of favorite players, which includes legendary Badgers Alan Ameche and Jim Haluska, both of whom are from the Racine/Kenosha area. During the past five decades, Hudec has seen enough to fill a book with his stories.

“Oh yeah, I could tell all kinds of stories,” Hudec said. “A lot of them are about me getting over-served.”

While the Badger football games are always fun for Hudec, getting to the games has often been a challenge. “Bucky” has made the two-hour ride from Racine to Madison through all kinds of weather, but like the Postal Service for which he once worked, none of it has kept him from the games.

“Some of those trips have been pretty bad,” Hudec said. “Fog, rain, snow … but I always get there.”

When the weather cooperates, the trip isn’t bad at all for Hudec, who doesn’t see a change in his pattern any time soon.

“[The drive] is nice,” Hudec said. “The little towns break up the monotony, and they give me a watering hole to stop at on the way home.”

Another sacrifice that Hudec has made for the Badgers is giving up his chance to take a summer vacation, as the devoted fan has used his vacation time to ensure he would have every Saturday off during football season. While he said it would have been nice to go somewhere in the summer, he had no intention of missing any games, and he had no other choice but to use his vacation time to do it.

“[My boss at the post office] knew darn well that if I called up sick on a Saturday, that I was going to the football game,” Hudec said. “So I couldn’t call in sick.”

Although many things have changed over the years, one thing that hasn’t changed much, except for its location, is the student section. Hudec just laughed about the antics of the students that have entertained Hudec and his friends during their trips to games. Unlike many of the students, though, “Bucky” is there for the football more than the party.

“I come to see the game,” Hudec said after being asked if he, like many students, would sneak some alcohol into the games. “I have enough before and after.”

Hudec did concede that every now and then a touch of alcohol has kept him warm on some of the coldest game days.

“The only time I [bring a flask to the game] is if it’s 10 below zero or something like that,” Hudec said, explaining his method of keeping warm. “Then I’d fill up a small flask with some peppermint schnapps and hot chocolate. That’s what they call a ‘bone-warmer.'”

That’s the kind of advice expected from a seasoned fan, and after 52 straight years without missing a game, Hudec is certainly that.