TIM HACKER second NCAA team title in four years THEN
profile. So he has been informed. But he doesn’t see himself in the same light. “I still look at myself as a very blue col- lar kind of person,’’ he said. “I’m better at working hard than working smart. I don’t think I’ve ever had any great ideas. “I have a lot of good ideas and I’m will- ing to work hard to implement those -- the science I do is incremental; it fills in gaps; it brings things along slowly.’’ Who impresses Hacker? “The Jamie Thompsons of the world,’’ he said. Thompson is a pioneer and leader in stem cell research.
“I would love to make the big leap for- ward in science,’’ Hacker said. “But I feel like I’m not smart enough to do that. But I’ll keep trying.’’
Looking back, Hacker had a plan in bal- ancing academics and athletics at Wiscon- sin. More than anything, he had structure in his life which punctuated the value of organization and discipline. “I realized I didn’t have any time to waste,’’ he said. “Running is a little bit easier than some other sports because you’re really limited how much time you can spend running.’’
As a freshman, Hacker won a Big Ten cross country championship belying his early insecurities. That told him how good he was as a runner, and how good he
