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| Wisconsin Badger football Head Coach Paul Chryst and the team captains gather around Msgr. Michael Burke, better known as Father Mike, at a recent practice at Camp Randall Field in Madison. Father Mike has been the team chaplain for 40 years. Players from left are: tight end Troy Fumagalli, defensive end Alec James, defensive end Conor Sheehy, and safety D’Cota Dixon. (Catholic Herald photo/Mary C. Uhler) |
MADISON -- When the Wisconsin Badger football team travels to Indianapolis for the Big Ten Championship Game on December 2, they will take with them a perfect 12-0 record.
Accompanying them will be Msgr. Michael Burke -- better known as Father Mike to the coaches and players. He has been the team’s chaplain for 40 years.
Dates back to seminary training camp
He began working with the team when he was on the faculty of Madison’s Holy Name Seminary. The Badgers used the seminary fields and facilities for their summer training camp for many years.
Father Mike was a faculty member, rector, and vocation director during the years from 1977 until the closing of the seminary in 1995.
He remembers the training camps well. “The team was usually at the seminary for over three weeks,” he recalled. “They were locked in and had to stay there the entire time. They certainly got focused, since there were no distractions.”
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