Wisconsin Tackles Poor Past in Bowl : College football: Badgers hoping to wipe out memories of humiliating defeats in 1953 and 1960.

Wisconsin’s first two visits to the Rose Bowl resulted in frustration, humiliation and embarrassment.

In 1953, Coach Ivy Williamson’s Badgers piled up a big statistical advantage over USC, but blew chance after chance and lost, 7-0.

In 1960, things went wrong for Coach Milt Bruhn’s Badgers from the coin flip to the final gun. They took a 44-8 pasting from lightly regarded Washington.

Both Wisconsin losses broke six-game winning streaks for the Big Ten in its Rose Bowl rivalry with the Pacific Coast Conference, now the Pac-10. Big Ten schools won every game from 1947, the first year of the interconference agreement, through 1952 and from 1954 through 1959.

The embarrassment caused by being the goat of the Big Ten was eased considerably in 1963 when Wisconsin staged the most stirring comeback in Rose Bowl history before losing to USC, 42-37.

Nevertheless, the frustration of 1953 and the humiliation of 1960 still kindle unpleasant memories among Wisconsin followers.

In 1953, the Badgers outgained USC, 353 yards to 233, including 211 to 48 on the ground, and ran 87 plays to USC’s 65. They began drives on the Trojans’ 35-yard line or closer seven times without scoring.

Even a 54-yard run by fullback Alan Ameche, who gained 133 yards and two years later became Wisconsin’s only Heisman Trophy winner, didn’t produce anything.

The final blow to the Badgers came with 1 1/2 minutes to play when a pass by quarterback Jim Haluska into the end zone was tipped by Trojan safety Harry Welch and squirted off the fingertips of halfback Harland Carl.

USC ran the single wing in those days under Coach Jess Hill, and All-American Jim Sears was its do-everything tailback. But Sears suffered a leg injury in the opening minutes, and his replacement, Rudy Bukich, wound up as the game’s most valuable player.

Bukich, who was drafted by the Rams and once led the NFL in passing for the Chicago Bears, completed 12 of 20 passes for 137 yards and the only score of the game, a 22-yard play to wingback Al Carmichael in the third quarter.

“Maybe they got a break when Sears got hurt,” Wisconsin’s Williamson said.

Bukich was so impressive that R.G. Lynch, sports editor of the Milwaukee Journal, wrote: “He was Annie Oakley with a rifle and little David with a slingshot.”

Looking back, Bukich, now retired and living in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, said: “We won, No. 1, because we had a great defensive team. And I was fortunate to have three receivers like Ron Miller, Don Stillwell and Tom Nickoloff. They caught everything I put in the air.

“We had all we could handle, though. No one has ever given a very good Wisconsin team enough credit.”

The touchdown pass capped a 73-yard drive, and Bukich said, “Carmichael was split out at flanker. He ran a deep hook and I hit him in the face with the ball. If he didn’t catch the ball, he’d still be sorry (since players didn’t wear facemasks in those days).”

Wisconsin was weakened late in the second quarter when its best pass rusher, All-American defensive end Don Voss, suffered a career-ending knee injury. With Voss out, Bukich was seldom under pressure.

Voss, who now operates a travel agency in Milwaukee and is running tours to this Rose Bowl, recalls that the Badgers considered themselves the better team.

“We should have won,” Voss said. “We moved the ball well, but something always happened. On defense, we hadn’t faced much single wing, only UCLA, and they beat us, too.”

As for the 1960 game, the Badgers were simply awful. They won the toss, but Bruhn chose to kick off, and the rout was on. Coach Jim Owens’ Huskies scored a quick 17 points, and after fullback Tom Wiesner’s touchdown averted a shutout, Washington ran off 27 more.

Bob Schloredt, a run-oriented quarterback with sight in only one eye, was the MVP. He rushed for 81 yards and passed for 102, including a 65-yard play with halfback George Fleming.

Afterward, reporters and fans ripped the badly beaten Badgers.

Melvin Durslag of the Los Angeles Examiner, later of The Times, wrote: “The men from Wisconsin couldn’t play football for sour apples, or for that matter, sauerbraten.”

Even a cab driver got into the act, unknowingly at the expense of Williamson, who was then Wisconsin’s athletic director.

“What a bunch of bums,” the cabbie said to Williamson. “I lost $100 on them Wisconsin guys seven years ago and another $100 on them today. They can keep Wisconsin.”

Jim Bakken, who backed up Wisconsin quarterback Dale Hackbart and is now director of community relations in the school’s athletic department, said the Badgers were overconfident. Like Bukich, Bakken was drafted by the Rams and became a star elsewhere, once kicking a record seven field goals in a game for the St. Louis Cardinals.

“We had a conservative offense, not the type to come back from such a deficit,” Bakken said. “Once they jumped on us, it was like a big snowball.”