ANDY BAGGOT Insider Related Content Varsity Magazine

BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider

MADISON, Wis. -- The impact Wisconsin student-athletes have on our world can be measured in a multitude of ways.

Some are obvious, like stat sheets, headlines and highlight videos.

Some are more subtle, like budget items and ticket prices.

Some dredge deeper, like grade-point averages and Academic Performance Rates.

Then there are those impressions, largely unseen, that might be the most impactful of all.

They happen on a daily basis. They occur at hospitals, senior centers, food pantries and elementary schools. They involve the sick, the frightened, the needy, the lonely and the disabled.

Badgers Give Back has become such a phenomenon in three-plus years that approximately 70 percent of student-athletes at Wisconsin are involved in the volunteer initiative. Some are so smitten by the experience that they build their class schedules to avoid conflicts. Some are so involved that they spend more than 100 hours a year selflessly giving of themselves to the cause.

Most don't wait to be asked. They just call or visit Jackie Davenport, the newly-installed Director of Community Relations for Wisconsin Athletics, whose small basement office at Kellner Hall belies the size of her mission and ambition.

"We're the outreach arm of Wisconsin Athletics," she said. "The whole purpose of Badgers Give Back is to give back to the community that's given so richly to us."

Davenport, who assumed the newly-created role in August, said putting down strong roots in Madison and Dane County is one of the initial goals, but she doesn't want to stop there.

"It's expanding it and saying, 'OK, now that we've done really well at what we do here, how can we expand that to the state of Wisconsin?'" she said. "Then how can we expand that to Badger Nation? Then how can we expand that globally?"

An answer to that last question will come to life when the Wisconsin football team takes up temporary residence in San Diego, California, for the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 30. In the midst of preparing to play USC, Badgers players will join former teammate and current NFL running back Melvin Gordon at an area food bank on Dec. 29. That will come on the heels of Wisconsin Athletic Department staffers visiting a senior center on Christmas Day.

Davenport said those two projects reflect her desire to be more proactive. Prior to her hiring, she estimated that 80 percent of these activities came through parties reaching out to Wisconsin Athletics and the rest was outreach.

"That's been flipped," Davenport said.

According to Davenport, her office fields a half-dozen specific requests every day and she's determined to accommodate them if possible. She has a squadron of 11 student volunteers and access to two new passenger vans -- donated by Smart Motors -- to transport student-athletes to their assigned locations. Events are scheduled from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Some functions are seasonal, like having student-athletes gather at various locations to ring bells on behalf of the Salvation Army, appearing at a benefit luncheon for the Empty Stocking Club or collecting contributions for Toys for Tots.

Some are periodic, like reading and interacting with elementary school kids throughout the Madison area.

Some are weekly, year-round commitments. On Mondays, student-athletes get together with a group of developmentally disabled adults to sing karaoke. On Tuesdays, it's a visit to a food pantry. On Wednesdays, it's Caleb's Pitch at the American Family Children's Hospital, an activity designed to help young patients get comfortable with the equipment used by nurses and physicians. On Thursdays, it's bingo at a senior center. On Fridays, it's back to AFCH for room-to-room visits.

During a visit to the senior center this year, members of the women's swimming team learned that one of the residents attended UW, but had to cut short her education at the advent of World War II. Lo and behold, an honorary graduation ceremony was staged earlier this month.

Davenport said BGB does 15 events on a weekly basis, which appears to distinguish it from other comparable programs around the Big Ten Conference. Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Northwestern are among those with volunteer initiatives, "but I'm not sure they're all as robust as ours," she said.

When Badgers Give Back was introduced in 2012-13, volunteer hours totaled 4,185 and community appearances topped out at 145.

A year later saw a 94-percent increase in volunteer hours to 8,124 and a 93-percent upgrade in appearances to 280.

With one semester in the books in 2015-16, volunteer hours are at 4,304 (on track for a 34-percent bump from last school year) across 192 appearances in the community (on pace for a 35-percent increase).

Most of Davenport's time is spent administering BGB, but she makes a point of going out with the student-athletes to gauge their experiences. She said seeing the humility -- the act of giving a relative stranger their undivided attention -- "is pretty cool."

Justin Doherty, Wisconsin's Senior Associate Athletic Director for External Relations, said Davenport brings a unique skill set to the role as outreach coordinator. In addition to a "high level of energy" and "remarkable organizational skills" she has an undeniable passion.

"Her heart is in the right place," he said of the Wisconsin alum.

Davenport said the job was perfect because it "combined my love of sports and athletics with my outside life of serving people."

Davenport assumed a role that had been handled by Kayla Gross, another Wisconsin alum who helped establish Badgers Give Back and now helps coordinate a program for the Oregon State football team called "Beyond Football."

Who gets the most out of these volunteer moments? Davenport and Gross say it's a benefit shared equally.

Davenport said the impact for the families is immediate, while the student-athletes get theirs on the back end.

"When they step back and think about it, it's 'Oh, wow, I made a huge impact there,'" she said.

Gross said "everyone wins" in the exchange, but added that many times the student-athlete leaves wanting to be able to do more for the people they encounter.

"You feel grateful to be welcomed into their home, their situation and their lives, but you almost feel inadequate sometimes," she said.

Davenport said that approximately 490 student-athletes are involved in the Badgers Give Back program this year. Outside of a friendly competition between the 23 sports programs and an entry on one's resume, the payout is strictly emotional. No one is forced to volunteer and there are no required hours to fill.

According to Davenport, the hope is to someday solicit corporate sponsorships for Badgers Give Back, but right now Wisconsin Athletic officials are "waiting to grow the program first."

Exposure to the BGB program resonates beyond the walls of Camp Randall Stadium and the Kohl Center. Former men's basketball player Duje Dukan, now in the NBA with the Sacramento Kings, recently helped give away new bikes to needy kids for Christmas, while former men's hockey standout Joel Rumpel was front and center in a Toys for Tots campaign with the Allen (Texas) Americans with the East Coast Hockey League.

Rumpel said one of the best lessons from BGB lies in being exposed to real-life moments that demand a certain gentleness, empathy and respect.

"You learn how to be in those situations and handle it," he said. "I can do it on my own now, and I look forward to doing it on my own."

Gross has a thick collection of favorite moments during her time with BGB, but one stands out and it involves Rumpel. He and several teammates developed a remarkable bond with Lucy Cunningham, a 5-year-old cancer patient with Down syndrome, and her Reedsburg family. Ultimately Lucy became a loving focal point for both the men's and women's hockey teams.

"That will always stay with me for sure," Gross said. "It was pretty cool to be a part of."

Rumpel, now in the San Jose Sharks farm system, said he got more out of the four-year arrangement with BGB than anyone he came in contact with. 

"The Badgers Give Back program put more of my life in perspective," he said. "There's a lot more to life and being a good person than there is to just playing hockey and being a student.

"Just how it makes you feel, how it makes you want to be a better person and how it makes you want to open your heart to those kinds of people and see how much they've been through. It makes you become a strong person. It makes you understand you can't take any day for granted."

Chris Borland, an All-America linebacker for the football team in 2013, was a weekly fixture at the hospital where he saw the influence big-time sports can have on communities.

"More personally, it made me feel more a part of the university, Madison and the state," he said.

Davenport said her favorite memories typically happen during visits to children's hospital.

"There are those times when you walk in and you can just see the sadness on the family's face and on the kid's face," she said. "Then you walk in and they instantly light up."

Some Wisconsin student-athletes are more well-known than others, but it doesn't matter in this particular arena. Davenport told a story about a recent hospital visit by members of the men's rowing team.

The first room they visited, they encountered a 17-year-old boy just out of surgery. The rowers were there for a couple minutes when one asked if the boy would like a picture with the group. The boy began to sob.
"Thank you so much for stopping," he said. "You just made my day."

Davenport said the rowers didn't know how to react because it was their first time visiting the hospital.

"They walked in and they're like, 'We're nobody,'" she related. "But to this kid, they made his day. It was incredible."

It's been fun for Davenport to see how certain student-athletes engage people on the various visits. She identified Andrew Endicott with football, Mikayla Johnson with women's hockey, Graham Mink with men's rowing and Ali Nageotte with women's golf.

"They're just naturals," Davenport said. "They're really good at just going up to people and talking to people. It doesn't matter if they're old or they're young or who you are. It doesn't matter if you have tubes in you and can't talk. They'll engage with you."

Gross said the experience of overseeing the Badgers Give Back program affected her in countless ways. She wishes people could see what she saw from the Wisconsin student-athletes on her watch.

"It's cultural there," she said.

How did it change her?

"Two ways," Gross said. "One, particularly relevant to Wisconsin, is it really gave me an appreciation for the caliber of student-athlete that goes to Wisconsin and their general character. You have across the board -- across all sports -- kids that are really dedicated to using their platform to make a difference and they genuinely care about it and get involved enthusiastically.

"Personally, it changed me in every sense of the word. You really come to understand how grateful you are and how much you can do to really impact other people and how much need there is out there. You develop an appreciation of the human condition."

Gross said she cherishes the framed pictures she has of her days with all the Wisconsin student-athletes. The memories of their deeds inspire her.

"You see that human side and so much about who they are as people," she said. "I wish that everyone was able to witness those moments and get to know the student-athletes like that.

"You didn't have to get the kids onboard. You didn't have to call to them. They show up and are eager to get involved."

The community give-back culture within the Wisconsin Athletic Department is something to behold.  

"It's absolutely something special," Gross said.