As the countdown to the first Wisconsin football game of the season continues, Badger of Honor is taking a look at Badgers by the numbers, checking in on a different Badger or Badgers players who wore the number corresponding with the remaining days until the Badgers head to Texas to take on the Alabama Crimson Tide Saturday, Sept. 5.
We’ve got another 88 days until the showdown in Jerry’s World, but right now our countdown focuses on players that meant the world to Madison, Pat Richter and Chris Chambers.
Pat Richter
By all accounts, Pat Richter’s time as a player for the Wisconsin Badgers was all-around above average. He lettered in football, basketball, and even baseball when the school had a team.
His No. 88 was retired during the 2006 season, two years removed from serving as one of the school’s better, if not best, athletic director from 1989-2004.
Richter stood 6-foot-6 and weighed 230 pounds, downright enormous for any football player of any position from 1960-1962. He led the Badgers to a Big Ten title in 1962 and a berth against USC in the 1963 Rose Bowl.
Richter’s 11-catch, 163-yard output also included the final touchdown in the No. 5 Badgers’ 42-37 loss to the No. 1 Trojans.
Richter was the seventh overall selection in the 1963 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins. Richter played eight seasons before retiring and spending nearly two decades with Oscar Mayer before being called to drastically overhaul the athletics department.
Almost everyone born after 1988 remembers what Richter built. The hiring of Barry Alvarez, three Rose Bowl victories, a Final Four with Dick Bennett, and later the hiring of Bo Ryan.
Simply put, Pat Richter deserves to be on Camp Randall’s wall even if he didn’t have a number.
Chris Chambers
Chris Chambers wore No. 88 for four years between 1997 and 2000 and deserved every right to become the best receiver in Wisconsin history after Richter and Al Toon.
Chambers was not only fast (4.33 40-yard dash) but could haul in just about everything thrown at him.
With only nine games to work from his senior season due to injury, Chambers racked up 22 catches for 364 yards against Iowa and Purdue, and added another 8 for 169 against Hawaii before the victory over UCLA in the 2000 Sun Bowl.
Transitioning to Nos. 84, 89 and 11 in the NFL, Chambers proved to be one of the best professional athletes Madison ever produced.
Chambers totaled 7,648 yards and 58 touchdowns over 10 seasons with the Miami Dolphins, San Diego Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs. He earned a trip to the 2005 Pro Bowl after a 1,118-yard, 11-TD season. He now owns Chamber Fitness in South Florida.
Who wore No. 88 first?
Clarence Tommerson wore 88 in 1934. A player so early he was a halfback for the Pittsburgh Pirates (Steelers) in 1938.
Who wears No. 88 now?
Camp Randall Stadium.
Jarvis Minton was the last player to don 88 before it was retired. Minton was a receiver and played special teams. He served in the U.S. Army for four years and is now the owner of Mixed Views Productions in the Dallas, Texas area.
Stay tuned to Badger of Honor as we continue our daily countdown in preparation of the season opener against Alabama.