Moment in time: Hall of Famers’ pride captured in a photo
September 29, 2017 | Football, General News, Men's Basketball, Men's Cross Country, Men's Hockey, Men's Track & Field, Women's Basketball, Women's Hockey, Andy Baggot
Who knew an image would represent so much 10 years later?
 |
||
|
BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — It was a photo shoot for the ages, but, of course, no one really knew it at the time.
To usher in the 2006-07 school year at Wisconsin, six notable student-athletes were brought together in front of the Kohl Center. They were dressed in the uniforms of their sports teams. They stood in a V-shape pattern, mostly small smiles on their youthful faces.
Left to right: Joe Thomas, Chris Solinsky, Brian Elliott, Jolene Anderson, Sara Bauer and Alando Tucker.
They were headline-makers at the time, but by the time they left Madison, the six were legends.
Thomas was a two-time All-America left tackle in football — good enough to be the third overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft — and a UW record-holder in the shot put for the track team.
Solinsky was a five-time NCAA individual title-winner in track and field — the most in program history — who ran for two national championship squads at Wisconsin (cross country in 2005 and indoor track in '07).
Elliott was arguably the greatest goaltender in UW men's hockey history — career leader in goals-against average, save ratio and shutouts at a school renowned for its elite puck-stoppers — who helped lead the Badgers to the NCAA title in 2006.
Anderson is the all-time leading scorer in UW women's basketball history — 2,312 points in 132 career games — and the most prolific point-producer regardless of gender at the school.
Bauer was the first Wisconsin recipient of the Patty Kazmaier Award — given to the national player of the year in women's hockey — who helped maneuver the Badgers to consecutive NCAA championships in 2006 and '07.
Tucker is the all-time leading scorer in UW men's basketball history — 2,217 points in 134 career games — who helped guide the Badgers to their first-ever No. 1 national ranking by the Associated Press in 2007.
It's hard to imagine a more impactful, diverse, prophetic snapshot of modern-day UW student-athletes.
Three of the participants are about to share in another moment.
Bauer, Elliott and Solinsky are part of an 11-person class that will be inducted into the UW Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday night.
The other three are shoo-ins.
1 NHL all-star 1 WNBA player 2 gold medalists 3 NCAA champs 2 Rose Bowl QBs Meet our 2017 Hall of Fame Class
— Wisconsin Badgers (@UWBadgers) September 28, 2017
Bauer, from St. Catharines, Ontario, has a copy of that photo snapped by Greg Anderson and remembers its production fondly, if humbly.
"To a certain extent, I was a little bit star-struck," she said.
This is the same Bauer, a waifish 5-foot-3 and 125 pounds, who led the Badgers in scoring all four seasons and gamely starred in the '07 Frozen Four despite playing with a broken rib.
"I'm a pretty reserved person," she said, "so to be hanging out with these athletes who were the best in their sport at such a wonderful school — knowing they were probably going to go on and do some great things — it was really neat to be able to be in their company."
Elliott, from Newmarket, Ontario, remembers the shoot in part because he kept company with guys like Thomas, now a first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Fame-caliber performer for the Cleveland Browns, and Tucker, a first-round NBA draft pick of the Phoenix Suns.
"Football's the biggest sport in the school and your kind of in awe of that, especially with a guy like Joe," Elliott said. "Basketball's a big presence on campus, too, and Tucker was the man when we were going there."
Honored, but wish we could have our whole team up there with me. Best team in the Nation! #onceabadgeralwaysabadger
— Brian Elliot (@KidElls1) September 28, 2017
This is the same Elliott who's been a record-setter in the NHL, the pinnacle of his sport.
"It was a cool thing to be part of and talk shop a little bit because you don't really get a chance to talk with people from the other sports as you might think you would," Elliott said. "It's kind of just passing in the hall usually, but you actually had some time with each other."
Solinsky, from Stevens Point, recalls that photo project with a wry sense of self-deprecation.
"I remember thinking I'm probably the least qualified to be in this room," he said. "Everyone else was a big-time superstar."
This is the same Solinsky who remains the only UW student-athlete to place and score for NCAA championship-winning teams in different sports.
"Your kind of in awe at what they've done," he said of the others in the photo. "I just felt honored to be invited."
Solinsky doesn't have a copy of the photograph — he'd like one, of course — but one of the greatest distance runners in UW history doesn't need it to appreciate its spirit. He won two 5,000-meter national titles outdoors and one indoors to go along with two 3,000-meter crowns indoors.
"It symbolizes that Wisconsin athletics was in a very good spot at that point and it's continued to evolve from there," Solinsky said. "It's a really good culture that people fed off of."
Solinsky, now an assistant track and cross country coach at Florida, noted with great pride that in addition to winning national titles, the Badgers won every Big Ten Conference title in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track during his career.
"It's the culture of UW Athletics where we're not just satisfied with being good at the Big Ten level," he said. "We're about being accomplished and striving for greatness at the NCAA level and beyond."
Elliott is playing for the Philadelphia Flyers, the fifth stop on his NHL career. He makes his offseason home in Madison like a host of his teammates from that 2006 club.
"I've always been looking forward and sometimes it's hard to look back at things," he said when asked about his legacy. "But now, looking back over 10 or 11 years, you definitely get a sense that it's pretty cool what I've done at the school with the team and how we've all come back and stuck together. That's what I really look at are those friendships, that family that we still have."
Bauer is pursuing her PhD at Brock University in Ontario — also home of the Badgers — and runs the Sara Bauer Academy where she teaches individual hockey skills to youngsters.
Typical of Bauer, she defined her legacy in terms of the teams she played on at UW.
"I look back and I think about the players who went before us and the fact the program, when I came in as a freshman, was only 5 years old," she said of her arrival in 2003. "There were players who sort of took a leap of faith, although after visiting the school I think you should be smart enough to realize and recognize what a good opportunity it is."
The Badgers have won four NCAA titles, appeared in 10 Frozen Fours and produced a bevy of Olympians for Canada and the U.S. since 2006. But it wasn't until Bauer's sophomore season that UW qualified for its first national tournament.
"We obviously took it to a new step, but then you see where they are now — perennially one of the top teams in the country and a desired destination for a lot of top-end student-athletes," Bauer said. "We were a team that really laid the foundation for future success in the school and that's something we all take pride in."
The feeling is mutual.
