THAT HAVE LASTED
15 MINUTES 50 YEARS
After leading the Badgers on a legendary comeback in a very memorable 1963 Rose Bowl, Ron Vander Kelen's fame has lasted much longer than he could have expected
BY MIKE LUCAS • UWBADGERS.COM D Bay. Despite the final result, a 42-37 loss, that game will forever be etched in the minds
of a generation of Badger fans. "That was a wild, wild year,'' Vander Kelen said. "Ev- ery day I look back and remember things and I just think to myself, 'Wow.' Everything
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uring his post-football travels, Ron Vander Kelen discovered that his "15 minutes of fame'' still resonated with complete strangers. There was the time that he was checking into a New York City hotel and the bell hop noticed the name tag on his luggage and immediately made the connection to the pass-happy Wisconsin quarterback who trig- gered a furious fourth-quarter rally in the 1963 Rose Bowl. "Oh, my God, you're not him, are you?''
That happened more often than Vander Kelen ever dreamed it would. "It's absolutely amazing to think that, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, someone would just come up and say, 'Are you the Ron Vander Kelen who played at Wisconsin and in that Rose Bowl?''' he said. "And when I would say yes they were just really as- tonished. Those things really make you feel good — like you've done something good in this world and people remember you.'' It has never gotten old for Vander Kelen, now 72 and contemplating the 50th anni- versary of that very special Big Ten championship season and the improbable come- back from a 28-point deficit that fell just short against Southern Cal. As dusk fell over the Rose Bowl, a hush fell over the USC sideline and cheering sections as Vander Kelen completed pass after pass; most of them to Pat Richter. "I was living out my dream,'' said Vander Kelen, a native Cheesehead from Green
