2008 Homecoming: Tailgating with alumni
October 25, 2008 | Football
Homecoming weekend is a time when Wisconsin Alumni come back to cheer on the new generations of Badgers and share memories with their old college buddies. I dropped by some of the tailgates around Camp Randall to chat with various UW graduates as they shared everything from their favorite student experiences to their preferred choice of tailgate food.
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I found Mark Gissel, a 1997 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, tailgating on Orchard Street with tons of friends and family. Gissel shared his favorite aspects of Badger homecoming weekend.
'My favorite things about coming back for homecoming are the tailgate and the camaraderie of the alumni. Also, I really like the drinking, the festivities, and the food. I'm eating a little bit of beef stew and carrots. It's really good and it 's a classic thing for us to eat on a colder day like this.'
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Joel Taylor was tailgating on Spring Street with his father, cousin, and other family friends. Taylor is a 1998 graduate and his ideal tailgate foods are fluffy chocolate chip pancakes. Taylor shared his memories as a member of the UW Marching Band.
'Well I love to come back to see my cousin. We go to every game, we have season tickets and it's great to come back. It's great to be in the atmosphere and remember what it was like to go to school here. Not a whole lot has changed. Obviously the stadium is a lot different than it was 10 years ago, but overall it's the same basic atmosphere.'
Joel Taylor was accompanied by his father, Don Taylor. Don is a 1972 graduate who usually takes over the spatula during tailgates. Today, he had his high tech, red gas grill fired up and was making his own version of the 'Egg McMuffin' for his fellow Badger fans. Joel has been a season ticket holder for the past 25 years and he explained how his tailgates have developed from simple into the full breakfast buffet that it is today.
'We used to just have sandwiches and something to drink. Then we moved on to charcoal with brats and burgers. Then maybe in the last 10-12 years we've made our own Egg McMuffins. We are all season ticket holders. I had tickets when I was a student, and then I started having season tickets consistently again about 25 years ago. '
Don couldn't keep the smile off his face when thinking about his years as a student here at the UW.
'I just really enjoyed the campus and the whole college experience overall. I just really enjoyed going to school. I don't have one particular experience that I can name because there were so many. If I had to choose something, it would probably be the year I got a 4.0,' Taylor laughs. 'There was a lot of play when I went to school, so that 4.0 only happened once.'
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Greg Renz was tailgating in a parking lot off of Orchard Street. Renz was a 1976 graduate who has recently retired from the Milwaukee Fire Department. He has been a season ticket holder since he was a freshman at the UW in 1972. Renz introduced a new tailgate food to me: the omelet in a bag.
'Today we are doing omelets in a bag,' Renz said. 'We are scrambling eggs and then putting the omelets and other fixings all in a Ziplock bag. Then we are boiling them in hot water until they are done. They just sit in the water for awhile and then there you have it, `The Omelet in a Bag'. We also have potato dishes, side dishes, everyone brings a little something.'
Renz was tailgating with some truly avid Badger fans. Mark Nelson and Brad Oltrogge are so dedicated to Badger football that they even started an organization called Badger Invasion. Badger Invasion is something that started as a small get-together for away games and has grown into a large bus trip.
'I was born and raised in Madison and I went to high school at Madison East, ' Nelson said. 'We have been doing the bus trip for 15 years. We started out with road trips to Northwestern, Minnesota ' we would get 10-15 people to go on those and then it grew and Brad decided to make a bus trip out of it. So we started enlisting the Badger Coaches to haul us down. We would leave on a Friday and come home on Sunday and go to various schools for all of the Big Ten games. Most of us are in our 30s, 40s, 50s.'
Brad Oltrogge commented on his favorite food tradition that the 'Badger Invasion' crew has made a tradition for some of their tailgates.
'We love to eat chili. We all make a different kind of chili and we pool it together and there you have it, a bunch of chili in a big bucket.'
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As I made my way to various tailgates, I ran into Tim Rentmeester, a 1983 alum. Rentmeester is not only an alumnus, but his son Bill Rentmeester is a senior fullback on the Wisconsin football team. Rentmeester shared his favorite memories about being a student in the 1980s.
'I really liked some of the intramural football and baseball programs that they had here,' Rentmeester said. 'Those were real good times with friends. Our hockey games were also great times because they were national champions when I went here.'
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My last stop was with the charming Patty Brady. She was tailgating with her grandson and husband on Regent Street. She is a 1948 graduate with a degree in education. Brady reflected on her memories as a student 60 years ago.
'For awhile, it was wartime, so there was not a lot of social activity and predominantly more girls than men, but then the war ended and it was much more social and the activity really picked up. My husband and I have had season tickets for years. We have friends that we meet when we come back for the games. My favorite thing to eat is bratwurst.'
Her grandson, Joe Noteboom is currently a Badger sophomore majoring in political science. It was obvious that he really cherishes the time that he gets to spend with his grandparents before football games.
'It's just great to see that they have been coming back for so long and living the dream after so many years,' Noteboom laughs. 'My grandpa, John, is full of football stories and memories ' but we won't get into that.'
