Ron Dayne lists his favorite races, but one stands out | Sport

At a luncheon earlier this week, Mike Mahnke was introduced to someone who made the connection between his name and his job as an announcer at Camp Randall Stadium.

He has held this job for 30 seasons now.

“The first words that came out of his mouth were 'Rooonnnn Daynnnne,'” Mahnke said, laughing.

After all these years, Mahnke answered logically: “Do you remember?”

“I have been a football fan for over 40 years. Of course I remember,” the fan assured him.

In his description of the brief exchange, Mahnke admitted: “It's hard to understand that after 25 years people still remember it… That phone call.”

That lyrical call from the “UW PA Guy” became synonymous with the 1999 Badger football season and Ron Dayne, a veteran bulldozer who became the NCAA’s all-time leading rusher.

Mahnke's personal pronunciation – “Rooonnn Daynnnne” – turned each of his runs into a sing-along with the UW students, who celebrated Dayne by repeating Mahnke's call around the stadium.

“People still do that to me,” Dayne said Tuesday. “I'm somewhere and they say 'Rooonnn Daynnnne.' I never really heard it during games. But I love it.”

A historic revival will take place at Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday, not only because of the meeting between Alabama and Wisconsin – their first meeting in Madison since 1928 – but also because of Daynefest.

Fans will have the opportunity to “party like it’s 1999” by celebrating the 25th anniversary of Dayne’s record-setting season and Hall of Fame career, culminating in the Heisman Trophy.

Hardly anyone has forgotten the achievements of Dayne (number 33) on the football field. He was only the second player in school history to win the Heisman Trophy, the other being running back Alan Ameche in 1954.

“The best part was that I did it with my team; it was a team thing,” said Dayne, whose personal Heisman Trophy is on display in the reception area of ​​the Student Athlete Performance Center.

“My goal this week was to have all of my offensive players who have played with me over the years be there on Saturday. I want them to share this experience with me.

“It'll be great to see my linemen there. That would be the icing on the cake. My senior year, I would have given them all a Heisman if I could have.”

Early in his career at Wisconsin, Dayne handed out homemade T-shirts to his blockers that read, “O-Line, these are my kind of guys, these are my kind of guys.”

Given today's financial advantages of name, image and likeness royalties, Dayne might have joked that he could have bought each of his boys a scooter, probably even a car.

Yes, he has thought about how much money he could have made if he had received a percentage of the sales of his No. 33 jersey, one of the most popular items on campus.

As a versatile player, a larger-than-life star – not to mention that at 265 pounds he was an above-average tailback – he would have made a lot of money in today's era of college football.

However, he wasn't sure what his legacy was at Wisconsin, other than to note, “I had a lot of good running backs come after me. I would say I turned the school into Running Back U in some ways.”

Dayne likes UW's current RB duo of Chez Mellusi, who is slowly getting back into shape after an injury last season, and Tawee Walker, a transfer from Oklahoma.

“He (Mellusi) is just regaining his confidence and is getting better with each game,” he said. “The only thing I would criticise him for is that he drops the ball.”

Last Saturday, Mellusi lost the ball on his first drive against South Dakota, but the Badgers recovered it. Walker, however, did not play in the 27-13 victory due to an injury.

Walker's running style appeals to Dayne, who can read his mind: “Hey, if I can't run past you, I'll have to run over you, buddy. I'm sorry. We can still be friends after the game.”

Dayne giggled. He had many such runs. But which were his favorites?

Ron Dayne, the “Mack Truck”

The first event I came across was from his freshman season in 1996 – a 59-10 victory over the University of Hawaii at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu.

Dayne, who outperformed all starters on defense, had 36 carries for 339 yards and four touchdowns. He had eight carries of at least 10 yards and did not play in the fourth quarter.

Hawaii defensive back Eddie Klaneski said, “We kept hitting him and he didn't go down.” DB Doe Henderson added, “It was like we were trying to tackle one of our defensive linemen.”

The highest praise came from defensive coordinator Don Lindsey: “It was like trying to stop a Mack truck with a pea shooter. It was no contest. No mas, no mas.”

Dayne recalled one of his hits: “I knocked over a guy. I pushed another guy off the ground with my arm outstretched and then ran faster than the other guys. I don't know if I ran faster or if they were scared. But nobody touched me.”

There were obviously some memorable touchdowns in his senior year.

In the Big Ten opener against Michigan, he had a 34-yard touchdown run. It looked like he was going to be stopped, but he bounced off the tacklers and ran away from the pursuers into the end zone.

“That was a nice one, I liked it,” he said, smiling and with dimples on his face.

There was a 51-yard touchdown run on the first possession against Michigan State – coached by Nick Saban – and the nation's best run defense, finishing the game with 214 yards.

“We wanted to get on his back and ride him,” said UW coach Barry Alvarez.

In the fourth quarter against Purdue, he had a 41-yard touchdown run, his 17th run of 40 or more yards and his 69th career touchdown, a Big Ten record. Dayne beat quarterback Drew Brees.

This put Dayne within striking distance (99 yards) of Ricky Williams' career rushing record before Wisconsin's final game of the season against Iowa at Camp Randall Stadium.

“In many ways, it really seems like it was yesterday. I know that's a cliché,” said Mahnke. “But I remember so much about that day and the week before that I will never forget.”

On an outside wall of the UW Field House, a “Running for the Record” billboard was updated after each game, listing in descending order the distance Dayne needed to overtake Williams.

“I swear, it was like the week before Christmas,” Mahnke said of the preparations for Iowa, “and if you were a good boy, you knew exactly what Santa was going to give you.”

“It was like that feeling when you got up on a Saturday morning and it was like Christmas morning. And that's why it was so fresh for so long. No, it doesn't feel like 25 years.”

A commemorative white towel – with Dayne’s No. 33 and a congratulatory message – was distributed to every fan who entered Camp Randall for the Iowa game on November 13, 1999.

Shortly before kickoff at 2:35 p.m., four F-16 jets from the Wisconsin Air National Guard's 115th Fighter Wing performed a flyby salute to the American veterans.

Michigan's win over Penn State gave the Badgers a chance to secure the Big Ten title on a beautiful day with temperatures in the high 68 degrees Fahrenheit (well above normal).

Remembering the run

With 4 minutes and 32 seconds left in the first half, Dayne received a handoff from quarterback Brooks Bollinger on a zone run, setting a new record.

The video will no doubt receive a thunderous reception here on Saturday.

At the snap, center Casey Rabach (now a UW assistant) fired at Iowa nose tackle Corey Brown. Right guard Dave Costa slid off Brown and blocked linebacker Aaron Kampman.

Right tackle Mark Tauscher blocked defensive end Anthony Herron and fullback Chad Kuhns kicked out linebacker Fred Barr. The running seam was between Costa and Tauscher.

When Dayne reached the second level of Iowa's defense, he used a feint to freeze safety Shane Hall and dodged to the sidelines, where he set up the block angle for receiver Chris Chambers.

Dayne used another feint to get past cornerback Joe Slattery, then pushed through Chambers and Slattery to gain additional yards before being forced off the field by Tarig Holman.

It was a 31-yard run. A run for the ages for Dayne, who to this day remains the all-time leading runner in the Football Bowl Subdivision, the only true measure of greatness, with 7,125 yards (including bowls).

Dayne has a series of three photos from The Run hanging on her wall.

“I see the play every day,” he said.

There was an interesting twist.

“Bill Ferrario asked me about it,” Dayne said of his starting lefty. “When we broke the record in that game, he was in the bathroom and Rob Roell was there.”

“You remember the run – I remember Bill Ferrario telling me he wasn't even in the game.”

At the end of The Run, Mahnke recalled that “my hair stood on end” as he looked around the stadium, the flashing lights flashed and fans held up towels with the number 33 on them.

Since Mahnke was in the middle of reading a prepared statement about Dayne's just-written story, the experienced stadium announcer did not notice the streaker on the field.

Instead, he focused on the essentials: “Congratulations, Rooonnnn Daynnnne.”

All of this can be experienced again here on Saturday.