At 1:05 p.m. Saturday the streets of Madison had an eerie resemblance to those of a Monday or Tuesday. State Street was quiet, the bars were empty, and University Avenue had a leisurely stream of people walking in both directions. There was no wave of cardinal and white, there was no band playing, and there was no singing of “On Wisconsin.”
This, of course, is because there was no football Saturday.
For the first time in almost 40 years, since the Nov. 23, 1963 game against Minnesota was cancelled after John F. Kennedy was assassinated the day before, a Badger football game was cancelled. Western Kentucky was scheduled to come to Camp Randall on Saturday, but the game was postponed due to the terrorist attack Sept. 11.
Earlier in the week, it appeared that Wisconsin would still play Western Kentucky despite the tragic events. The Big Ten announced that its conference teams would be allowed to play their scheduled games, as long as both teams agreed to the match-up. UW head coach Barry Alvarez was in favor of playing the game, saying that it was important for his team to play in order to get their minds off of the tragic events. His players felt the same way.
“It’s just a way of getting our minds off [of the recent tragedy],” quarterback Jim Sorgi said. “It’s just kind of a release for us, kind of a way [for us to] put it out of our minds.”
But Thursday it was announced that Wisconsin would call off all sports for the weekend in honor of those that were killed and injured in the terrorist attack.
“Out of respect for the people who lost their lives in the tragedies this week, the university has decided to suspend all athletic competitions for the remainder of the weekend,” UW chancellor John Wiley said.
This decision left a campus and a football team without plans on a Saturday afternoon.
For the players, Saturday offered a day of rest and a day of opportunities that couldn’t otherwise be had.
On the same day that New York and Washington, D.C. suffered a tragic loss, Badgers’ receiver David Braun suffered a loss of his own. In Illinois, far away from the destruction of the East Coast, his grandmother died of old age. Instead of playing the Hilltoppers Saturday, he laid her to rest. If the game had gone on as scheduled, Braun said he probably wouldn’t have been able to make it to the funeral, but due to the NCAA postponements the receiver was able to pay his last respects to his grandmother.
Elsewhere on campus, the day’s events were not as heavy.
Alvarez spent the day with his family and his players spent time with their friends.
But away from the Badger squad, some Madison residents just couldn’t let a Saturday in September go by without gridiron action. On porches some students light-heartedly passed the football back and forth, and in James Madison Park, a group got together for a football game of its own.
Next week NCAA football action will return across the country, and Wisconsin will take the field in Happy Valley, where they will open the Big Ten season against Penn State. As was announced over the weekend, the Badgers will play Western Kentucky Sept. 29, a day that was supposed to be a bye for Wisconsin. The Hilltoppers were supposed to play Illinois State on that date, but both teams rescheduled their game for Nov. 3.
“Schools across the nation had to work hard this week to change schedules after Thursday’s postponements,” UW athletic director Pat Richter said. “We could not have rescheduled our game so quickly without the diligent efforts and cooperation of both Western Kentucky and Illinois State.”
UW sports will resume this week and the football players and coaches will go back to practice in preparation for next week’s game, a game that is sure to bring life back to the streets of Madison, even if the game is in Pennsylvania.
