Wisconsin

With the forced resignation of Milt Bruhn, Wisconsin sought a "name" coach and Notre Dame defensive coordinator John Ray was the first choice. The financially strapped athletic department could not meet his demand for a $25,000.00 per year salary which was standard at the time, so looked to their own staff of Bruhn assistants and hired former Badger quarterback and passing great John Coatta for a bargain-basement price of $19,500.00, less than Bruhn received in his final years. Money was found however, to upgrade the helmets. The Badgers entered the season wearing cardinal helmets with a white “Bucky Badger” logo on each side and three-inch, white medium rounded style identifying numerals were placed on the rear of the shells. Coatta had been a Bill Peterson assistant at pass-happy Florida State yet his offenses proved to be non-productive. Its not as if the defenses he presented were great either as in his three-year tenure, every team on the schedule scored in double-digits! The season began and ended terribly with only a 21-21 tie against lowly Iowa the "highlight" of a 0-9-1 year. Fullback Kim Wood was denied a medical redshirt year which hurt the rushing attack and he went on to become the very first officially hired strength coach in the NFL, beginning his work with the Bengals in 1974 and serving until his retirement thirty years later. John Smith, the next fullback in line was the leading rusher with a paltry 362 yards and basketball player Mel Reddick proved to be the best receiver with forty-two catches for 524 yards. Defensive tackle Tom Domres and linebacker Ken Criter were the only consistent defensive standouts on a squad that yielded 3404 yards and 224 points with Domres going on to a five year career split between the Oilers and Broncos and Criter being named All Big Ten by way of his 132 tackles. Six missed field goals which resulted in a 21-20 loss against Indiana mirrored the type of 1968 the Badgers had, finishing 0-10. In a season bereft of highlights, wide receiver Reddick again was the top target, snaring 34 passes for 375 yards and wingback Stu Voight, a former high school national record holder in the shot put who had bounced around as a ball carrier and receiver at UW, was the second leading receiver. The defense was led by tackle Bill Gregory an All Big Ten honoree and tackle leader Criter who then took his linebacking skills to the Denver Broncos for six seasons.

The agony of defeat continued until the fourth game of ’69 when the losing streak ended against Iowa with a twenty-three point explosion that resulted in a 23-17 victory, prompting fans to storm the field in ecstasy. The delirium did not end at the stadium. According to newspaper reports literally thousands of celebratory students first marched on the state capitol after the game and then continued their beer fueled antics in the streets. The end of the twenty-three game losing streak was heralded with cheers of "We're Number One!" into the early morning hours. Quarterback Neil Graff had decent numbers of 93 completions for 1086 yards and Alan "A-Train" Thompson rushed for nine touchdowns and 907 yards of the Badgers' 3377 yearly total. Big Ten 60-Yard Sprint champ Greg "Grape Juice" Johnson was a leading kick returner, bringing back twenty-five for 541 yards. The offense was bolstered by tight end Stu Voight who pulled in thirty-nine passes and completed his Wisconsin career with three letters won in football, three in track and field, and two in baseball. He later played eleven seasons for the Vikings and has been named to their All Time Team. Defensive tackle Bill Gregory played well but 3-7 and a three-year total of a painful 3-26-1 was the worst run in Wisconsin history and Coatta was shown the door. With him went the black shelled “Savage Award Helmets” given to “the most aggressive Badger players” during the 1969 season ( see HELMET HUT

http://www.helmethut.com/College/Wisconsin/UW1969.html ). Though the award had been introduced by Coatta after 1967’s opening game against Washington and continued throughout his tenure at Wisconsin, it was during the 1969 season that both the cardinal and black helmets featuring Bucky Badger shared the field. Coatta continued to coach at Minnesota’s Mankato State from 1970 through ’75 when the school dropped the program, and then scouted in the NFL. Former Badger great Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch had taken the AD post and in a cost-cutting move by the State Board Of Audit, former coach Milt Bruhn was released from his position as Assistant Athletic Director except nobody bothered to tell him. Poor Bruhn who had served Wisconsin so well for many years, was told he had been fired by a gas station attendant that had read it in the morning newspaper.

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