Wisconsin Football Countdown: No. 60, Darryl Sims and Bill Ferrario

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.

Next up in our countdown, signifying 60 days until college football is back, is a pair of Badgers to wear No. 60: Darryl Sims and Bill Ferrario.

Wisconsin Badgers /

Wisconsin Badgers

Darryl Sims

Sims was a stud on the Badgers defensive line from 1980-1984 after committing to the Badgers out of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He was academically ineligible in 1983, but played for UW from 1980-1982 and again in 1984.

During his career, UW went 3-1 against rival Ohio State, including a 6-0 win in 1984 that Sims remembers this way: “I’ll never forget that game. It rained the whole day, and when the final gun sounded, the rain stopped, and it was a blue-sky day.”

He’s 10th all-time at Wisconsin with 39 career tackles for loss and tied for eighth all-time at UW with 17 career sacks.

His single-season mark of 24 tackles for loss in 1982 is the third best single-season number in school history, and his 11 sacks the same year is tied for fifth-best on the school record list.

Sims was a first team All-Big ten selection in 1981, 1982 and 1984.

He went on to be selected 20th overall in the 1985 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he would play in 1985 and 1986 before playing for the Cleveland Browns from 1987-1988.

Currently, Sims is the athletic director at UW-Oshkosh.

Bill Ferrario

A Scranton, Pensylvania native, Ferrario was at UW from 1997 to 2000. He was Wisconsin’s left guard for three out of the four years Ron Dayne was running through opposing defenses.

A four-year starter, Ferrario played in 50 games — starting them all — for the Badgers, and he earned first team All-Big Ten honors in 1999 and helped Wisconsin win back-to-back Rose Bowls.

Ferrario played well enough to be taken in the fourth round of the 2001 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers (No. 105 overall). He played with the Packers in 2001 and 2002, and later spent time with the Washington Redskins and Carolina Panthers.

Who wore No. 60 first?

• Center Norman Wigdale was the first Badger to wear no.60 in 1927.

Who wears No. 60 now?

• Redshirt junior long snapper Connor Udelhoven currently wears No. 60 for the Badgers. He has been the Badgers snapper for field goals and PATs for the past two seasons, and will likely continue that job this season.

Stay tuned to Badger of Honor as we continue our daily countdown in preparation of the season opener against Alabama.

Next: Wisconsin Football Experience