Bollinger, Thompson reflect on Barry Alvarez Field
October 01, 2021 | Football, General News, Mike Lucas
Former Rose Bowl captains explain Alvarez’s lasting impact
BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — From afar (on television) or up close (in the stands), Donnel Thompson is eagerly anticipating watching the Badgers playing on Barry Alvarez Field at Camp Randall Stadium. It's bound to mean a little more to someone who was raised in the neighborhood and mentored by Alvarez.
"I grew up four blocks from the stadium," he said.
Thompson lived on Rowley Avenue, a parallel artery to Regent Street. He was not far from Randall Elementary. Or Blessed Sacrament (whose alums included Paul Chryst). He remembered when his dad would take him and his brother Bryson to Camp Randall and they'd throw around a football.
"We'd just walk into the stadium," he said. "On the morning of a game day."
Thompson was later a vendor. On that experience, he once recalled, "We were supposed to have assigned sections, but I went all over the stadium. I'm so competitive that I turned selling Cokes into a competition. I wanted to be the best and beat the other guys. I always sold the most, too."
Before hawking soda, Thompson parked cars in their yard. Business was bad in the late '80s.
"One car, maybe two," he estimated. "We'd use the 5 to 10 bucks to buy a Little Caesar's pizza."
All of that changed with the arrival of Alvarez, who resuscitated a moribund program.
"By the time I went to the university," said Thompson, a 1996 UW walk-on who had played linebacker for his dad Curtis at Madison West, "we were parking 25 cars and everyone in the neighborhood was doing the same. People wanted to come and see the show that was Badger football.
"Going from that and seeing what it is today — droves of fans for one of the top football programs — it's amazing and all of that is really on the back of Coach Alvarez, his staff, Donna Shalala and Pat Richter. The impact Barry had on Madison and more importantly, his players was immeasurable.
"So, I'll probably make sure my daughters understand the importance of what that (Barry Alvarez Field) signifies. More than anything, I'll just be proud to have been part of the transformation. That was my coach. And I was part of changing what Wisconsin football was forever.
"I can still remember when Miami came up here (in 1989). We kicked a field goal and went up 3-0 and they scored 51 unanswered points. We must have ranked 117 out of 117 schools. It's just shocking the change since then. That's all Coach Alvarez. And that's why the field will be named after him."
The official announcement on Alvarez Field was made Friday during a presentation at Camp Randall Stadium. Chancellor Rebecca Blank, former chancellor Donna Shalala and athletic director Chris McIntosh spoke at the event. So did Thompson and Brooks Bollinger, who represented the former Alvarez players.
A reception for the returning letterwinners, numbering close to 300, followed at Union South. The Alvarez Celebration Weekend will continue Saturday morning with a tailgate for the returnees prior to the kickoff between Michigan and Wisconsin. Alvarez and his family will be recognized at halftime.
"There have been so many great players who have helped shape this program and I get a chance to represent all those guys, it's definitely a special honor," said the 43-year-old Thompson, the vice-president of national accounts for Direct Supply in Milwaukee.
"Guys are coming from all over the country — from California to New York, from Miami to Chicago. They're coming back to show respect and homage to Coach Alvarez because of all the things that he has done for us and with us. It's going to be a wonderful weekend. It's a reunion. It's family."
• • • •
Off the top of his head, Bollinger was prodded into dialing up a moment with Alvarez that still puts a smile on his face when the old quarterback reflects on the Hall of Fame coach. In sorting through such an endless memory file, he admitted the difficulty in citing a specific time, place or situation.
"There were just so many times when you're in a tough spot and you'd walk in there (his office) and all of a sudden, you'd have a whole different perspective and belief on it," said Bollinger, 41, a senior vice-president and wealth management director at Bell's Bank Minneapolis-Colonnade location.
"The one thing about Coach was that we all felt when we played for him that we were his 'guys' — and it was his ability to unify and build confidence through the good and the bad that was his greatest strength as a leader. You just felt that he was someone you'd go to battle for.
"I had a level of confidence in myself just by being around him that I would not have otherwise had. When he was standing there with you, not only would you do anything for him, but you kind of had this feeling that you COULD DO anything. He would instill that in you.
"The first thing is he never flinched. The second thing is, he could put his arm around you in the worst situation when you probably didn't have the skill set to do what he was going to ask you to do and make you believe that you were going to be successful. To me that's the greatness of Coach.
"He'd create a plan and unify people to believe in it. That's where he had so much magic. He could take kids from all over the country, from all different backgrounds, and do that over and over again."
In the spirit of full transparency, Bollinger chuckled and said, "By the way, he got good at creating tough spots because he'd find that chip (to put on a shoulder), and he'd say, 'Hey guys our backs are against the wall' when really maybe they weren't. But it was still, 'We've got to rally.'
"It was one of my favorite things about Coach — the tougher the situation, the better he was. And there were plenty of situations where we really did have our backs against the wall. And 100 percent of the time, Coach got better in those situations. It was, 'Here's what we're going to do boys.'
"You'd look to him, and it was impossible not to have confidence in yourself when he was your leader. What was consistent about him through difficult times, it was never a woe-is-me mentality. It was, 'Here's how we're going to win in this situation. Here's how we're getting a competitive edge.'"
Thompson shared an example from the 1999 season. The Badgers got off to a rocky start losing back-to-back games to a 26-point underdog Cincinnati team on the road and the following week in Madison to Michigan which was quarterbacked by Tom Brady.
Next was a road trip to Columbus, Ohio, where the UW had won just twice in the 77-year history of Ohio Stadium. Making his first career start, Bollinger, a redshirt freshman, guided the Badgers to a couple of field goals in the second quarter after the Buckeyes jumped off to a 17-0 lead.
"At halftime, I had never seen Coach Alvarez do this," Thompson said, "but in that moment, he told us exactly how we were going to win the game. At that point in my career, he had never lied to me, so I believed him. And we went out and did exactly what he said that we were going to do."
Wisconsin scored on six straight possessions and shocked Ohio State with 42 unanswered points. Ron Dayne had four touchdowns and rushed for 125 yards in the second-half uprising. The Badgers went unbeaten the rest of the way and Dayne became the NCAA's career rushing leader.
"After we clinched the Big Ten title to go to the Rose Bowl," Thompson said of the regular-season finale, a rout of Iowa, in which Dayne broke Ricky Williams' record, "I got a chance to stand on the stage and hold the trophy with Coach Alvarez and Chris McIntosh (the starting left tackle).
"That picture to this day still brings a smile to my face. It's part of the video intro before home games. My daughters get so excited to see their father holding that Big Ten trophy. That moment was the culmination … we did it … no one else thought we could do it … but we did it."
From the player's perspective, it all turned out just the way Alvarez had planned.
"What I loved about his plan," Thompson said, "was that his plan was always focused on beating the best in the conference. Our defense and offense were set up to beat Michigan and Ohio State. He always assumed that if we could beat them, we didn't need to worry about any other school.
"I've taken that approach in business. Plan to beat the best and everything else falls in line."
Bollinger has also found that to be true in his workplace.
"Life is about adversity," he said. "There's adversity constantly in your job, in your family, in anything you do. It almost becomes second nature to me to say, 'How are we going to win here?' It might not look good on paper. We might not have all the resources we need. It's not going to be easy.
"But here's how we're going to win — and we're going to do it."
The Alvarez model is something that has always resonated with Bollinger, who confided, "I'd follow him through a wall from Day One. I understood him. I believed in him ... The thing that I've appreciated more and more over time is what he could do for the collective."
That will be on display this weekend in celebrating Barry Alvarez Field at Camp Randall Stadium.
"For me," said Thompson, a two-time captain, "all I want to say to him is, 'Thank you.'"
He won't be alone in doing so.
