Palmer “Butch” Strickler, whose Bologna Bash was a staple of University of Wisconsin athletics for more than 30 years, passed away Tuesday at the New Glarus Home. He was 94.
Strickler, a New Glarus native, began his association with UW athletics in 1940 as he played both football and basketball for the Badgers before transferring to Ripon College. He was a non-playing freshman on the UW team that won the school’s only NCAA title in 1941.
But his most enduring contribution to the Athletic Department would come later in life with Butch’s Bologna Bash, which became an annual rite of spring and raised more than $3 million over 31 years before ending in 2002.