A longtime booster of the University of Wisconsin, known for launching Butch’s Badger Bologna Bash, has died.
Palmer “Butch” Strickler graduated from New Glarus High School in 1940 and played football and basketball at UW-Madison before transferring to Ripon College, where he became a Hall of Famer in both sports, according to his obituary.
After serving in the military and taking part in the invasion of Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge, he returned to the UW, where he lettered in basketball before joining his father in the sausage business.
“Along with running the family business, Strickler’s Market, Butch became a professional official for both high school and college basketball and football, and rose to the level of refereeing Big 10 games,” his obituary read.
“In 1970, Butch took a few rings of venison sausage to a favorite Badger haunt, Rhode’s Steak House. A hat was passed and $45 was collected, launching Butch’s Badger Bologna Bash. Over the course of more than 30 years, the Bash raised more than $3 million for UW athletics and band.”
A fully endowed Butch and Ruth Strickler scholarship is awarded to a UW athlete each year.
Butch died Tuesday at the age of 94.
