The University of Wisconsin–Madison Ultimate Frisbee team was founded in the 1976–1977 school year. The Hodags participate in the USA Ultimate D1 Men's College Division with notable successes including Championships in 2003, 2007, and 2008 and Dan Heijmen winning the Callahan award in 2007 along with a record-setting 23 consecutive appearances at the USAU D1 Men's College Championship Tournament between 2000 and 2022.
Despite ultimate frisbee being a club sport and fighting for legitimacy as a university recognized and funded NCAA sport, the Hodags train and practice regularly at UW–Madison and external facilities and travel and compete nationally at tournaments throughout the school year with the primary season being in the Spring. Hodag games and highlights have been televised by the CBS Sports Network between 2003 and 2012 and ESPN from 2013 through today.
History
Team name origin At the recommendation of Robert Crowley and Sean Hart in the 1994 season, the men's ultimate team adopted the name the Hodags, inspired by the fearsome critter in American folklore from Rhinelander, WI. The phrase "Hodag Love" was coined by Sam Thomas in that same year. Prior to 1994, the team went by various names such as the Madison Frisbee Club (MFC) and Disconsin.
Early years (1976–1980) As a student at UW–Madison, Gary Stroick read a book about ultimate frisbee and decided to start a team at the university with his roommate Kent Archie. Gary and Kent posted flyers around campus and had the inaugural team meeting on September 29, 1976, at the Memorial Union, which is considered the first instance of organized ultimate frisbee in Madison, Wisconsin. The team formed and received funding from the Intramural Office within University Sports Club department at UW-Madison.
The sport of ultimate frisbee originated in 1968 in a summer program at Northfield Mount Hermon School, MA with influence from Amherst College student Jared Kass; as a student, Joel Silver brought the game from the Mount Hermon summer program to Columbia High School, NJ and formed the first school team in the same year with Bernard "Buzz" Hellring and Johnny Hines. In the early 1970s, high school graduates from Columbia High School started ultimate teams at colleges they attended (such as Jim Powers at Penn State University in 1974), and these individuals are referred to as the "Johnny Appleseeds" of ultimate and have since been inducted into the USA Ultimate Hall of Fame. Future president of the American Nuclear Society Andrew Klein learned and played ultimate at Penn State during his undergraduate studies in the mid-1970s before attending UW–Madison as a graduate student, where he and his wife Tracy Klein attended the aforementioned inaugural team meeting. Klein and Art Vawter (who also played ultimate before attending UW-Madison) were instrumental in teaching the new team disc skills and strategy. Klein went on to vouch for Midwest ultimate as the Ultimate Player Association's first Central Division Coordinator working closely with Tom "TK" Kennedy to draft the first UPA bylaws in August 1980 with wife Tracy being the first typist.
UW–Madison won its first game by one score against UW–Milwaukee in the Fall of 1977. The team is practicing multiple times per week centrally on campus and getting visibility in the news which provides an open, inviting recruiting pipeline in an era where tryouts did not occur to optimize team growth, though the intensity of practices and conditioning work causes self-vetting of new recruits. Early defensive strategy incorporated by Gary Stroick included playing person defense and a 2-3-2 zone which led to success for the team in the Wisconsin-Minnesota area.
John Ballsrud became a coach and statistician of the Madison Frisbee Club after a car accident paralyzed him from the waist down. Ballsrud went on to set the record for the wheelchair Maximum Distance Throw in 1979 and wheelchair Maximum Time Aloft in September 1983.
Mike Wohl was one of the standout players on MFC and considered one of the best players in the world in the late 1970s; Wohl went on to compete in the frisbee finals in the Rose Bowl in 1979
Starting in 1978, the UW–Madison team hosts an annual Wisconsin State Tournament on campus in late September over the next few years with college ultimate teams attending from all over Wisconsin; the Madison Frisbee Club takes first place in this tournament in the first three years. The team also hosts UPA Central Regionals at UW-Madison in 1978 and 1980.
MFC continues to compete at Central Regionals in November but never is able to qualify for Nationals.
Madison Frisbee Club briefly held a record for the longest continuous ultimate frisbee game in conjunction with the Milwaukee Frisbee Club in 1978 at Demetral Fields in Madison, WI as recorded by the (now defunct) International Frisbee Association where donations from the game benefited the Methodist Hospital Retirement Health Center.
1980–1989 With the departure of Andrew Klein from UW–Madison and the UPA as Central Region Coordinator at the beginnings of the 1980s, there is a significant lack of information on UW–Madison ultimate during this period without Klein's voice.
In 1981, MFC continues to play compete regionally at tournaments in the Midwest like the University of Wisconsin-Stout Ultimate Invitational Tournament in April. In this era, college teams would also compete against ultimate clubs not affiliated with colleges such as Chicago Windy City. There are also instances of individuals rostered for MFC who are not students at UW–Madison (which was not uncommon for other college ultimate teams as well) because an independent Madison ultimate club team not affiliated with UW–Madison was not established until the early 1990s.
After playing for MFC and earning Most Valuable Player every season from 1978-1982, Dave Jewell would coach the team from 1983-1987; Jewell was also one of the top professional freestylers in the world and played a big part in growing disc sports by organizing tournaments, school assemblies, and performances in front of the public eye.
Originally, the Madison Frisbee Club was open to all genders to play, but in 1984, Pam Hageny came from Cornell University's women's ultimate team The Wild Roses and started the UW–Madison women's ultimate team called the Mudeaters (after a player took a mouthful of Spring mud laying out), now known as Bella Donna, making MFC a men's team.
In the late 1980s, the team changed the name from Madison Frisbee Club to Disconsin.
In 1987, future Wisconsin Hodag Hall of Fame (WHHoF) inductee Brad "Zeus" Wendt, a rostered player for UW–Madison despite not being a student at the time, made a Cheesehead from a junked mattress that became a rivalry trophy with the University of Kansas Horror Zontals through 1993.
The UW–Madison Dave McClain Athletic Facility opens in 1988 which then serves as an essential indoor turf practice field for the team during the winter.
At the end of the 1989 season, Disconsin ranks 31st of 90 teams in the UPA College Open Division with a 15-8 season record while the Mudeaters ranks 4th of 20 teams in the UPA College Women's Division with a 5-2 season record. Brad Wendt's tireless effort promoting and organizing ultimate events through the mid-1990s and disc golf events over the next few decades along with playing for and coaching Disconsin would be critical for the rise and future successes of the Madison ultimate frisbee and disc golf scene, particularly the UW–Madison Men's Ultimate team.
1990–1999 In the Spring of 1990, Disconsin goes undefeated over Carleton College CUT, the Minneapolis Flying Terrapins, Macalester College, Winona State University Kling Onz, and others in the fourth annual Play Your Hearts Out Tournament hosted by Winona State University; Disconsin continues to compete within the Central Region against both college and non-college affiliated ultimate teams. Annually in April 1990 through 1997, UW–Madison Ultimate hosts the prominent Big Ten Open Tournament in Madison with Samson Sackett helping organize the initial tournaments. In April 1999, a new tournament called Midwesterns organized by Hodag Alumni Andy Pohl at UW-Madison overtakes the Big Ten tournament. UW-Madison qualifies for the UPA Men's College Nationals tournament for the first time in 1990 and takes 7th at the tournament in Phoenix, AZ with future Wisconsin Hodag Hall of Fame (WHHoF) inductees coach Brad "Zeus" Wendt and captain Samson "Sam" Sackett; this is the first recorded tournament that Disconsin traveled outside of the Central Region to play. In 1990, Disconsin finishes 11th in UPA Open collegiate rankings with a season record of 26-5 along with winning a Spirit of the Game Aware at Nationals. In 1992, the team finished 21st in the UPA Open collegiate rankings with a season record of 21-10. The team's best Nationals finishes of this decade are semifinals in 1996 and quarterfinals in 1997 along with appearances at Nationals in 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1994. At the 1994 UPA College Nationals, the Hodags were making themselves known as a defensive powerhouse being at the top of many defensive statistics. In the 1996 UPA College Nationals, the Hodags came into the tournament seeded in the bottom half of the 12 total teams; the implementation of a double-dump offense and superior athleticism on defense forced many confident upsets at Nationals, leading to the team being ranked 5th in the UPA College Open Rankings at the end of the season with a 32-6 record. In 1997, the Hodags finished 5th in the UPA College Open Rankings with a season record of 36-5. In 1998, the Hodags finished 19th in the UPA College Open Rankings with a season record of 20-9. In 1994, 1996, and 1997, alumni and future WHHoF inductee Jeff "Jethro" Yu wins UPA Men's Club Championships with Boston Death or Glory (DoG) in Lexington, Kentucky, Dallas, Texas, and at the Sarasota Polo Club in Sarasota, Florida, respectively.
Future WHHoF inductee Kevin Crowley captains the team in 1992 and 1993; unfortunately, cancer cut Crowley's ultimate career short with his passing at age 25 in 1995. His impact on the team inspired the annual Kevin Crowley Ultimate Invitational Tournament, first hosted in Madison in May 1996, run by Kevin's brother, alumni, and future WHHoF inductee Robert "Rhubis" Crowley as well as the Kevin Crowley Spirit award started in 2013. Graduating players nominate a returning player for the Kevin Crowley Spirit award who they believe embodies the best effort, dedication, and attitude just as Kevin Crowley did during his time on the team.
The team takes on the name the Hodags in 1994 as suggested by captain and future WHHoF inductee Robert "Rhubis" Crowley and Sean Hart. In 1997, Will Henry designs the Hodag logo that is used today. In 1999, baby blue is adopted as the signature color for the Hodags. Hodag alumni Charlie Reznikoff becomes the first coach of the UW-Madison Men's Ultimate B-team in 1999 which becomes an important avenue to grow the population of ultimate athletes at UW-Madison to create a pipeline for the Hodags. At the turn of the century, the Hodags develop an infamous and longstanding regional rivalry with Carleton College's CUT (Carleton Ultimate Team); in 2022, the Grey Duck trophy was created by CUT alumni Tim Schoch to commemorate the historic rivalry and is kept by the winner of the most recent match between the Hodags and CUT.