ASK THE BADGERS
What is the significance of your uniform number?
Josh Thiermann • Senior • Men’s Soccer
“The number 17 has been my number since about sixth grade. Initially it was the number I got stuck with, but as I grew older I began to think of it as my number. Everybody else wanted Beckham’s number, 7, or the number 10 because of Pele, Ronaldinho, and a lot of other top professional players wore it. I simply wanted to be different and have my own number.”
Kirby Toon • Sophomore • Volleyball
“All of the college athletes in my family — Nick, a senior on the UW football team, Molly, a sophomore volleyball player at Michigan, and myself — wear No. 1. Nick chose the number his sophomore year of college and it also just happened to be available for both myself and Molly the years that we were going to be in college. We thought it would be cool for all of us to have the same number and it was just by chance that it was available for all of us to claim.”
Evan Anderson • Redshirt Freshman • Basketball
“I’ve always been a fan of the number 32 for just the way it sounds. It also was Brian Butch’s number and Shaquille O’Neal’s. I was this number my freshman year in high school, too.”
Cassie Rochel • Sophomore • Women’s Basketball
“This will be my sixth year wearing the number 43. I picked my number in eighth grade. It was going to be my first year on the varsity team and my number up until then was 44, but that was taken by one of the seniors. I landed on 43 only because 4 is my favorite number and also the number of people in my family, and 3 is Candace Parker’s number. I looked up to her as a young basketball player.”
