Wisconsin football has a rich tradition and as we move along our countdown to the start of a new era in that tradition we've come to another retired number. Unlike our previous honoree though this isn't so much a happy situation.
Allan Schafer, a graduate of Madison West high school in 1944 as an all-conference and all-state center went to the UW to study engineering before a turn at the U.S. Naval Academy.
He never made it to the academy, as on November 11, 1944 Schafer passed away during a game with the Iowa Hawkeyes in a Madison hospital. He was just 17 years old at the time of his passing.
Schafer had a special leadership quality to him, being named a captain of the 1944 team as a Quarterback, but his life was tragically cut short and ever since that day no one on the University of Wisconsin football team has worn that number.
Today it hangs alongside all of the other officially retired numbers on the facade of Camp Randall in honor of his memory. Additionally, to this day there is a "Living Memorial" scholarship given in his name and there is the Allan J. Schafer, Jr. award given (usually to football players) based on scholastic achievement and citizenship.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
