Wisconsin Athletics will celebrate the 25th anniversary of running back Ron Dayne’s Heisman Trophy-winning season this Saturday.
The celebration will take place during Wisconsin’s Week 3 contest against the No. 4 Alabama Crimson Tide, UW’s first marquee matchup of the 2024 slate. Several members of the Heisman Trophy Trust will be present in Madison for the commemoration as well.
Not only did Dayne pocket the 1999 Heisman, college football’s most prestigious honor, but he also set the NCAA Division I rushing record in a home game against Iowa at Camp Randall. His 216-yard output brought his career total to 6,288 rushing yards, breaking Texas’ running back Ricky Williams’ previous record.
Currently, the NCAA considers former San Diego State running back Donnel Pumphrey as the career leader in rushing yards with 6,405. That number fails to consider Dayne’s rushing explosions in bowl games during the late ’90s. If those performances were taken into account, as they are for Pumphrey, Dayne actually boasts a remarkable 7,125 yards on the ground during his collegiate tenure. That would be good for the highest total in the sport’s history.
In addition to the Heisman Trophy, Dayne also owns 1999’s Maxwell Award, Walter Camp Award and Doak Walker Award.
The New Jersey native helped guide UW to consecutive Rose Bowl victories in 1999 and 2000. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2013.
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“That was one of the great years in the history of both our football program and athletic department,” UW’s Athletic Director McIntosh told UWBadgers.com. “Ron [Dayne] was a unique combination of size, speed and power and he epitomized the blue-collar, hard-nosed style of football our team played…Ron is college football’s career rushing leader and no debate over whether his bowl game statistics count changes that.”
Chris McIntosh alluded to the celebration during Wisconsin’s appearance at July’s Big Ten media days. Nonetheless, the honor is unique to Dayne and encapsulates UW’s storied history in fielding running back talent. That talent is quite extensive.
While Wisconsin has welcomed Jonathan Taylor, Melvin Gordon, James White and Montee Ball at Camp Randall, Dayne is inarguably the greatest running back to lace up for the Badgers in the backfield.