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 54 days until college football is back, is Gary Messner.
With the Badgers from 1952 to 1954, Messner stayed at home in Madison during college.
By the time he left the Badgers, he had helped Wisconsin bring its first Heisman Trophy to Madison.