My Words: What it means to be a Badger

What does it mean to be inducted into the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame?

That’s a question I’ve been thinking about a lot lately and the best way I can answer that is by going back to the beginning. And for me, that beginning was not glamorous. It wasn’t headlines or hype. It was a quiet drive north, a small hotel room with my dad snoring all night and a campus I’d only seen on TV.

It was my first-ever college recruiting visit and at that point I had one scholarship. Very few schools were recruiting me, so we figured this trip to Wisconsin would be one of those polite, routine stops, the kind where coaches pretend that they’re interested and you pretend you can grow two more inches and put on 20 pounds of lean muscle by the end of the summer.

My visit started off with a meeting with Coach Ryan, just me, my dad and coach. The first 20 minutes of it were basically just my dad and coach swapping stories about the old days, how tough guys used to be, how soft the new generation was. I wasn’t sure if I was being recruited or being used as an example of what went wrong with the new generation.

At some point, coach turned to me and asked a few of the classic questions (“How are your grades? What do you like to study?’’) Of course, I gave the standard answers (“I’m one A-plus away from making a run at valedictorian.’’ And (“I’m not sure yet, but something super academic.’’) Which translated to me meant I have no idea and I’m hoping you don’t ask more about my grades. 

But then Coach Ryan did something I’ll never forget. He pulled out my high school game film. He started with the East Suburban Catholic Conference championship game from my junior year and what happened next has stuck with me since. He started showing me clips of me passing, the way I ran up and down the floor, cheering for my teammates, blocking shots, playing defense, diving on the floor. I don’t remember exactly what he said, but I believe he said I had a “happy trot.’’

He said he wanted guys like that in his program and that really stuck with me. After that, he offered me a scholarship. I remember sitting there, staring at him for a few minutes, thinking he’d probably lost a bet and his punishment was to offer a scholarship to the weirdest kid on the list and see how it played out.

I was stunned, but in that moment, I knew I had to go to Wisconsin. Little did I know that would become one of the most important moments of my life. Because when I got to campus, I quickly learned this wasn’t just a basketball program. This was a culture, a family, a standard.

Being a Badger meant showing up every day and grinding no matter how you felt, what the scoreboard said or whether anyone was watching. And let’s be honest, early on, not many people were watching me.

I was tall, skinny, trying to find my footing. Not exactly the handsome man you see standing here before you now, which took weight gain, hair spray and an irrational amount of belief in myself.

There were days I walked out of the gym wondering if I was ever going to figure it out, but the coaches never let me off the hook. You either rose to the standard or got left behind and I’m forever grateful for that.

We can talk about the stats, banners, tournament runs and the truth is we will at some point, but that’s not where my mind goes first.

So, what does it mean to be inducted?

For me, it means standing in a moment that didn’t always feel guaranteed. One that was earned, shaped, built over years of work, belief and growth. It’s easy to look backwards and see the finished product, but what makes this honor so meaningful is knowing that every person being inducted has a story to tell, a different road that led them here. No two journeys were the same. Some paths were direct. Others were full of twists, setbacks and moments where the dream almost slipped away, And, yet, somehow, all of us with all our different beginnings, ended up here.

That’s what makes it special. Not just the celebration, but the reminder that every name being honored carries with it a story worth telling.

It means the kid who showed up with one scholarship offer and no idea what was coming did something right.

It means the early mornings, tough practices, the hard losses, the big wins, they mattered.

It means the sacrifices paid off. It means the effort was seen, not just the stats or highlights, but the work, growth, commitment – something bigger than yourself.

It means that when you wore that Wisconsin jersey you represented something real, something tough, honest, loyal and proud. And now, somehow, you get to be a part of that forever.

Because the truth is, we didn’t set out to chase a legacy. We just showed up everyday trying to get it right. Somewhere in the middle of all that work we built something bigger than ourselves.

Now, years later, to have that work remembered, to have it honored in this way, it means more than I can say. Not because it proved something, but because it reflects something – who we were, what we stood for, the way we did things even when no one was watching.

So, that’s what being inducted means to me. Not a finish line. Not a highlight. Just a reminder that everything we did mattered and that it still does.