🗽AS LAST AFGHAN REFUGEES LEAVE FT. MCCOY, WI, U.S. RESETTLEMENT SYSTEM CONTINUES TO SUFFER FROM DAMAGE INFLICTED BY TRUMP KAKISTOCRACY!☹️

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‘I don’t know what will happen’: After months at Fort McCoy, Afghan family resettled in separate states

Living 120 miles apart, family shares hopes and anxieties while navigating ‘chaotic’ resettlement process

Lamha Nabizada spent nearly six months at Fort McCoy, a 60,000-acre Army base in Monroe County, Wis., before she was relocated with part of her family to Rockville, Md. Here, she looks through the window of a hotel room on Feb. 22, 2022, during the family’s search for permanent housing. She is among 76,000 Afghans evacuated to the United States during the country’s largest resettlement operation since the Vietnam War. (Eman Mohammed for Wisconsin Watch)
By Zhen Wang February 28, 2022
Wisconsin WatchIn her final hours living at Fort McCoy, an Army base in rural Monroe County, Wisconsin, Lamha Nabizada searched for an interesting place to pose for a photo at this reporter’s request. The task wasn’t easy.“Everywhere is the same thing, same barrack,” the 27-year-old told Wisconsin Watch.Venturing outside into frigid air, she posed in front of a flagpole and gun turret.It was Feb. 6, the day before Nabizada and her 22-year-old brother Masroor would travel to Maryland — continuing a resettlement journey that began last August when the Taliban took over Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul. They were among tens of thousands airlifted from the country with passports, legal documents and little else.Nearly six months later, the siblings were among the last to leave Fort McCoy, which housed as many as 12,600 Afghans.

Lamha felt mixed emotions as she prepared to leave: hope for new opportunities and anxiety about moving to an unfamiliar place.

“I don’t know what will happen in the future,” she said.

On Feb. 15, Fort McCoy became the seventh of eight U.S. military installations to send its final evacuees to host communities. Four days later, the eighth base cleared out the last of the 76,000 total evacuees who arrived for the largest resettlement operation since the Vietnam War.

Through Feb. 23, Wisconsin had resettled about 820 of the 850 Afghan evacuees currently slated for the state, according to Bojana Zorić Martinez, director of the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families’ Bureau of Refugee Programs.

Zorić Martinez said serving so many people at once was difficult. Aside from housing, they need Social Security numbers, jobs, food and other basic items.

Evacuees are eligible to apply for benefits available to refugees, according to the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement. That includes job preparation, English language training and medical aid. They may also be eligible for other federal benefits such as Medicaid and food assistance.

Zorić Martinez said the system shrunk under Trump, who slashed the country’s refugee cap each year he was in office, which meant less money for resettlement agencies.

“We are now seeing the consequences of that,” she said.

Read the full story

 

*

ZHEN WANG / WISCONSIN WATCH

zwang@wisconsinwatch.org

Zhen Wang joined Wisconsin Watch as a reporting intern in May 2021. At UW-Madison, she is pursuing a master’s degree in journalism, honing her investigative journalism skills, and preparing herself for a career in health care journalism. She previously worked for the Guardian Beijing bureau and China Daily. Before joining the journalism industry, she worked in various sectors and obtained a master’s degree in international relations in New Zealand. She speaks Chinese and is a member of Asian American Journalists Association.

More by Zhen Wang / Wisconsin Watch

**********************

Reprinted from Wisconsin Watch under Creative Commons License. Full story available at the link. Nice reporting by Zhen Wang!

Here are some additional quotes from Zhen’s article from my good friend and NDPA superstar Professor Erin Barbato of the U.W. Law Immigration Clinic, among the many clinical teams who have “stepped up” for Afghan refugees:

“The government has to provide more resources, if we’re going to ensure that everybody has their basic needs met during this transition time, and it’s wonderful to see people in the community coming together,” said Erin Barbato, director of the Immigrant Justice Clinic at the University of Wisconsin Law School. “But that’s not going to solve the problem for everybody.”

The legal clinic is helping evacuees file for asylum and training attorneys to represent them in that process — positions that are in short supply. Barbato and other immigration experts fear some people will fall through bureaucratic cracks unless the federal government takes action to stabilize the system.
. . . .

Barbato, the UW legal clinic director, said the two-year parolee status leaves evacuees vulnerable to future deportation — a potentially deadly proposition. The U.S. asylum program last year faced a backlog of nearly 413,000 applications.

Congress has historically passed such laws to protect evacuees from U.S. military conflict zones, including in Vietnam and Iraq.

 

Echoing immigration advocates and veterans, Barbato said an Afghan Adjustment Act, which has yet to be introduced in Congress, could pave a safer, quicker path to citizenship. Lawmakers must also inject more resources into the immigration bureaucracy, she added. How these resources are allocated will shape the fate of applicants who have waited years in the queue — as well as new Afghan arrivals.

Professor Erin Barbato
Professor Erin Barbato
Director, Immigrant Justice Clinic
UW Law
Photo source: UW Law

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

 

PWS

o3-01-22

☹️🏈 THUD! — Cold, Snowy 13-10 Loss To 49ers Ends Pack’s Super Bowl Quest, Possibly Closing “Rodgers’ Era” In GB!

☹️🏈 THUD! — Cold, Snowy 13-10 Loss To 49ers Ends Pack’s Super Bowl Quest, Possibly Closing “Rodgers’ Era” In GB!

By Paul Wickham Schmidt

Courtside Exclusive

Jan. 23, 2022

The #1 seed Green Bay Packers (13-5) laid another playoff egg before stunned fans at frigid, snowy (0 degree wind chill) Lambeau Field Saturday night. The Pack lost to the underdog San Francisco 49ers (11-7) and their much maligned quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, 13-10 on a “walk off” 45 yard field goal by Robbie Gould, who remained perfect in playoffs. 

This deflating loss comes in a post-season where the Pack was one of the odds-on favorites to win the Super Bowl. It could be the “swan song” in green and gold for future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers and his sidekick, superstar wide receiver Devonte Adams.

The Packers got the opening kickoff and went on an impressive 69 yard drive, ending with running back A.J. Dillon plowing six yards into the end zone taking more than five minutes off the clock. Sadly, however, for Packer fans, their team was unable to repeat that success.

Basically, Rodgers and the offense took the rest of the night off, mustering only three more points on a field goal. Another field goal try was blocked at the end of the first half.

That left the Pack’s fate in the hands of a defense that was somewhat inconsistent over the regular season. This time, they showed up and almost pulled it off, holding Garopollo and his offense out of the end zone.

Unfortunately, however, the Green Bay “D” fell victim to the offense’s anemia, compounded by more chronically lousy special teams play, an Achilles heel for the team during the season. After the offense failed to move, deep in Packer territory, a blocked punt was scooped up by SF and run into the end zone for a then-tying touchdown.

On the ensuing possession, needing a sustained drive resulting in points to clinch a trip to the Conference finals for the second straight season, Rodgers and the “O” fired a blank — big time! Following a quick and inept three and out, consisting of poorly conceived plays without realistic probability of success, they punted the ball back to the 9ers, thus giving them a shot at winning a game in which they had never led.

Everybody in the stadium knew that SF was likely to lean primarily on its running game, rather than put the game solely in Garopollo’s hands, particularly since he had already thrown one ridiculously bad interception to kill a drive in the red zone.

This time, the worn-down Packer defense could not get the 49ers off the field. The killer came on third and seven on the Green Bay 38, about a minute left in the game, and the Pack out of time outs. SF faced a possible dilemma. If the Pack could hold them to no gain, Gould would have had to attempt a 55 yard field goal in the freezing cold and swirling snow. A miss would have given Rodgers the ball near midfield with about half a minute on the clock. Even a make would have given Rodgers two or three plays after the kickoff to get into field goal position.

But, that moment of truth never came. The Packers let SF all-purpose star Deebo Samuel run for nine yards and a first down at the GB 29. The 49ers then ran the clock down and called on the reliable Gould for the 45 yard game-winner as time expired and the Lambeau faithful looked on in shock.

So, despite a league-best 39 wins over Coach Matt LaFleur’s first three seasons, most in Packer history, the Pack again find themselves as Super Bowl spectators for the 11th consecutive year since winning it all in 2011.

It’s also quite likely the end of the road for the Pack and Rodgers, who almost refused to play this season. And, if Rodgers goes, his friend and All-Pro wide receiver Davonte Adams, who will be a free agent, is likely going with him. 

If AR does reach his second Super Bowl, it will probably be in a different uniform. Tennessee, Indianapolis, and Cleveland seem like logical possibilities. All have strong running games and basically are “a quarterback away” from championship contention. 

Another intriguing possibility is the Washington Football Team. Rodgers, Adams, paired with existing receiver Terry McLaurin, healthy tight end Logan Thomas, and a revived defense with Chase Young back would be a formidable combination.

The Pack is likely to go into “modified rebuild mode” behind quarterback Jordan Love who will be entering his third season. Love seems like a nice young man with some arm strength. But, frankly, I don’t see him making fans forget Rodgers or getting very deep into the playoffs.

Case in point, Rodgers threw 531 passes this year with 4 interceptions and 0 lost fumbles. Love threw 62 passes with 3 interceptions and 1 fumble lost.

Indeed, Packer fans might well find themselves spared the suspense and disappointment of season-ending playoff losses for some years to come in the “Post-Rodgers Era.” I’m among those “die-hards” to remember the very gloomy quarter-century hiatus between the “glory days” of Lombardi and Starr and the arrival of Holmgren and Farve and a long-awaited return to relevance for the NFL’s oldest franchise.

Perhaps, the strongest factor favoring the Packers’ future playoff chances is that they play in the NFC North. Their divisional competition, Chicago, Minnesota, and Detroit are among the most inept franchises in football these days, with all of one Super Bowl victory among them (Chicago — 1986 ) in the “modern age” of the NFL.

With the Packers off the field until next fall, the “action” is likely to shift to the “off-season drama” between Rodgers and the Green Bay front office.

“Who is Aaron Rodgers?” Maybe, the “answer” will be: “Former Packer quarterback who was both a contestant and a guest host of Jeopardy.”

GAME DAY IN GREEN BAY — NOV. 14, 2021


Packers 17, Seattle Seahawks 0

 

PWS

11-15-21

🗽👍🏼😎NDPA NEWS: AMAZING PRACTICAL SCHOLAR PROFESSOR ERIN BARBATO LEADS UW LAW CLINIC IN HELPING AFGHAN REFUGEES @ FT. McCOY, WI!

Professor Erin Barbato
Professor Erin Barbato
Director, Immigrant Justice Clinic
UW Law
Photo source: UW Law

Here’s Erin on PBS-Wisconsin:

https://pbswisconsin.org/news-item/legal-aid-for-afghan-refugees/

*******************

Thanks, Erin for all you and your students do for American justice and social justice. You and your students make me proud to be a UW Law alum!

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

10-21-21

🦨🤮STINKER IN THE SUN — SANS ATTACK & DEFENSELESS, PACK IS NOT BACK, AS A.R. & FRIENDS FTA FOR OPENER👎🏽 — Winston, Saints Romp 38-3! 

Aaron Rodgers 2021
“New look” Aaron Rodgers appears to have head somewhere other than football field! Is he looking to become Willie Nelson?
PHOTO: USA Today

🦨🤮STINKER IN THE SUN — SANS ATTACK & DEFENSELESS, PACK IS NOT BACK, AS A.R. & FRIENDS FTA FOR OPENER👎🏽 — Winston, Saints Romp 38-3!

By Paul Wickham Schmidt

Courtside Sports Exclusive

September 13, 2010

Reigning NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers vs the Brees-less New Orleans Saints was supposed to be one of the prime-time “marquee matchups” of a generally exciting NFL opening slate. Someone forgot to tell A.R., sporting a new look — “retro-70’s” beard, scraggly hairdo, and head scarf — and his buddies in green and gold that there was a game on.

After a tumultuous off-season, featuring threats to sit out the 2021 campaign, Rodgers looked every bit like a guy who would rather be: 1) chatting with Erin Andrews, 2) strumming a six string for State Farm, 3) hosting Jeopardy, 4) chilling on the beach with latest gal pal Shailene Woodley, or 5) doing almost anything else not involving a football. After throwing only five interceptions last season, he threw two key interceptions, one in the red zone the other setting up a Saints’ score. His miserable 36.3 QB rating probably was generous.

The rest of his buddies from the NFC North followed AR’s lead, acting as though they were on vacation in Jacksonville, where the Saints’ “home game” was played because of hurricane damage in New Orleans. The receivers got no separation. The line didn’t block. The runners couldn’t run. The defense let the Saints have their way, en route to 322 total yards total offense. 

The only reason  the Saints didn’t pile up even more yards was because they were efficient on offense and defense and didn’t have to. But, on Sunday, this looked like a Packer “D” that could have 600 yards laid on them. Easily!

The Pack coaching staff, including new defensive “wizard” Joe Barry, looked like shell-shocked zombies. And, the “strategy” of resting all all the starters for the entire preseason played out every bit as dumb and ill-advised as it appeared to many pundits.

Lest anyone think that “relief is on the horizon,” the Pack’s “QB of the future,” Jordan Love looked like a “permanent work in progress” as he completed five of seven passes, but fumbled in the red zone in his unimpressive NFL debut against the Saint’s “mop-up defense.” The only “bright spot” for the “visitors” was the tens of thousands of loyal “Packer-backers” in the  stands who waited in vain for their guys to show up. 

By contrast, Drew Brees’s replacement, Jameis Winston, a “refugee from Tampa Bay” who hadn’t started a game in more than a year looked worthy of being “the successor” in New Orleans. He was 14-20-148-0  with an astounding five TD passes against the hapless Pack secondary (thought be one of their “strengths” going into the season) and earning a Brees-like QB rating of 136. In a flip with the usually reliable Rodgers, Winston threw “smart passes” and avoided interceptions — the “Achilles heel” that ended his tenure with the Bucs.

The final score of 38-3 wasn’t indicative of how one-sided this game really was. Sure, it’s only one game.  But, beyond “they couldn’t play any worse,” I didn’t see a lot to build on here! This team bore no resemblance to the group that was basically one play away from a possible Super Bowl last year.

Perhaps, as many assume, AR is merely “playing out the string” in Green Bay, with visions of signing elsewhere next year. But, despite clear Hall of Fame stats, the lack of leadership, enthusiasm, and effort by AR in this one might well give other teams pause as to whether he can do a “Tom Brady” in a different uniform.  

So, since he decided to come back to the Pack for this season, I think AR would do well to play like he cares, even if it’s only to set up a deal for next year. And, the Pack might want to take a closer look at Love, who has yet to show that he can translate a sterling college career into “upper echelon” NFL QB performance.

Next week it’s the Detroit Lions in Green Bay. Normally, that’s good news for the Pack who have beaten the Lions the last four times at Lambeau. This is a “new-look” Lions team with Jarod Goff replacing Matthew Stafford at QB. While losing their opener at San Francisco, Detroit showed some energy and enthusiasm in closing a 28-point third quarter deficit to a 41-33 final. Although throwing a key interception, Goff looked much better than AR in the opener.

AR and the Pack need to shake off the sleep walk. Otherwise, it’s going to be a long, stormy season in Green Bay. The kind that will make you lose hair, rather than grow it!

PWS

09-13-21

🇺🇸🗽⚖️NDPA VIRTUAL OPPORTUNITY: Meet Rising Superstar 🌟  & Social Justice Advocate Denea Joseph, Current Ousley Social Justice Resident @ Beloit College — Friday, Sept. 17 @ 7:00 PM CDT — FREE Virtual Link Here!

Of interest? You can join virtually.

———- Forwarded message ———

From: Atiera Lauren Coleman <colemana@beloit.edu>

Date: Wed, Sep 8, 2021 at 3:10 PM

Subject: [EVENT] Ousley Residency: All Black Lives Matter: Black Immigrants and the Immigrants’ Rights Movement

To: <facstaff@lists.beloit.edu>

Ousley Residency Keynote Speaker

Denea Joseph

Friday, September 17, 7:00 PM – In-person & Virtual – (Add to Google Calendar)

BTYB – Student Success, Equity, and Community and the Weissberg Program in Human Rights & Social Justice

The Office of Student Success, Equity & Community Ousley Scholar In Residency honors the legacy of Grace Ousley, the first black woman to graduate from Beloit College. It is a junior scholar/activist/organizer/intellectual committed to the theory and practice of social justice. They should embody the “academic hustler” who fights for “social justice” in all aspects of their work. Support for the residency comes from the Weissberg Program in Human Rights and Social Justice and the Office of Student Success. Equity & Community.

pastedGraphic.png

Event Details

Date: Friday, September 17, 2021

Time: 7:00 PM -8:30 PM

How to attend

In-person – Weissberg Auditorium – Powerhouse

Virtual – Join Zoom Meeting  https://beloit.zoom.us/j/81172664933

 

************************

This promises to be a great program! And, the Ousley Residence Program is a fantastic contribution to educating and inspiring new generations of Americans about the many challenges still facing us in achieving social justice in our nation.

The abrogation of due process and dehumanization of people of color has, outrageously, become part of the dysfunctional U.S. Immigration Court System. The last Administration specifically encouraged and promoted this ugly, anti-democracy, phenomenon and then used it to spearhead an all-out assault on racial justice, gender equality, LGBTQ rights, religious tolerance, economic progress, voter rights, and humane progressive values throughout American society.

Unfortunately, many progressives have been slow to “connect the dots” and insist that meaningful social justice change start with fixing the racial and gender bias problems in our Immigration Courts, tribunals that are under the complete control of the Biden Administration!

For example, current Attorney General Merrick Garland rather incredibly claims to be standing up for women’s rights in Texas and defending voting rights for minorities while continuing to run misogynistic, regressive “Star Chambers” at EOIR, staffed with many judges hand-selected by Jeff Sessions and Billy Barr, and tossing vulnerable women refugees of color back across our Southern Border into harm’s way without any “process” at all, let alone “Due Process of Law.” Garland also continues to enable human rights abuses in the “New American Gulag” of DHS civil detention! We can see this process of dehumanization of the “other” before the law, called “Dred Scottification” by many of us, spreading throughout our legal system and being endorsed and “normalized” all the way up to the Supremes.

From the summary in the announcement above, it appears that Denea, based on her own inspiring life and achievements as a “Dreamer,” will help us to “connect the dots” between racial justice, immigrant justice, and equal justice for all. Immigrants’ Rights = Human Rights = Everyone’s Rights!

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

09-09-21

🤯🍺🐂🥩FORMER TRUMP ADVISOR LARRY “MEATHEAD” KUDLOW PUTS THE BLOOD & GUTS BACK IN BEER! — Who Needs Grains, Hops, Yeast, & Water?

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/26/trump-larry-kudlow-biden-plant-based-beer?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Black Angus
“Watch out! I hear that magamoron ‘Larry the K’ wants US for his new brewery. And I don’t think it’s to be ‘spokescattle’ for his new brew.”
Black Angus
PHOTO: Steph67
Creative Commons License

Martin Pengelly in The Guardian:

. . . .

“OK, got that? No burgers on 4 July. No steaks on the barbecue … So get ready. You can throw back a plant-based beer with your grilled Brussels sprouts and wave your American flag.”

Beer is typically made from grains, hops and yeast – not steak, sausages or chops.

Amid a blizzard of lacerating social media send-ups, the New York Times columnist Paul Krugman offered a sober analysis of what Kudlow was up to.

“So this seems to be the latest rightwing attempt to smear Bidenomics,” he wrote on Saturday. “There is, of course, nothing about eliminating meat in Biden’s plans; so this is like the imaginary mobs that burned our cities to the ground.

“If you read what Kudlow actually said, he’s cagey – doesn’t say that Biden proposed this, only that some people say this is what would happen. But Fox viewers won’t notice, which is the intention.

. . . .

****************

I’m about to quaff one of these, Larry!

Spotted Cow
“Perhaps this was the ‘cow’ Larry the K was talking about! Stop by on July 4 for a few plant-based brats and down some ‘meat-free brewskies,’ Larry! It will be a good ol’ Wisconsin time!
Spotted Cow
From New Glarus Brewing
New Glarus, WI
PHOTO: untapped.com

And despite the fact that no animals died during the brewing process, I’m looking forward to a clean crisp taste, rather than a mouthful of blood and gristle.

DPF, and bottoms up!

PWS

04-26-21

⚖️🗽🏆NDPA NEWS: Superstar 🌟 Clinical Prof. Erin Barbato Named Clinical Teacher Of The Year @ U.W. Law!

 

Professor Erin Barbato
Professor Erin Barbato
Director, Immigrant Justice Clinic
UW Law
Photo source: UW Law

 

ARD, BARBATO, AND COLLINS NAMED UW LAW SCHOOL TEACHERS OF THE YEAR

Each spring, UW Law School celebrates excellence in teaching through its Teacher of the Year awards. UW Law School’s annual teaching awards demonstrate the value placed on excellent teaching. Our faculty engage and inspire UW Law students through thoughtful pedagogy, and we are proud to honor them for this important work.

The honorees for outstanding classroom, clinical and adjunct instruction in 2020 include:

  • BJ Ard, Classroom Teacher of the Year. BJ Ard is an Assistant Professor of Law whose teaching and scholarship focusing on intellectual property, privacy, and technology. Ard earned his law degree and doctorate from Yale in 2017. He joined the UW Law School in 2018.
  • Erin M. Barbato, Clinical Teacher of the Year. Barbato is the director of UW Law School’s Immigrant Justice Clinic (IJC) and a Clinical Professor of Law. In 2013, she joined the Law School as an adjunct professor with a focus on immigration law before becoming the IJC director in 2018. Under her supervision, students learn how to represent individuals in removal proceedings and with humanitarian-based immigration relief. Barbato received her law degree from Marquette University Law School in 2006.
  • Susan Collins, Adjunct Teacher of the Year. Collins teaches an introduction for estate planning and drafting. Collins earned her law degree in 1995, graduating cum laude from UW Law. Collins worked for Associated Bank as a senior vice president and fiduciary law senior counsel until 2018.

Submitted by Law School News on April 15, 2021

This article appears in the categories: Articles, Faculty

Related employee profiles: BJ Ard, Erin Barbato, Susan Collins

********************

Congratulations, Erin, my friend and colleague So very proud of you and all you have achieved at my alma mater. “Badgers changing the world, for the better!”

Bucky Badger
Bucky Badger
UW Mascot

This is a “Big Deal!” As Erin tells me:

The award is based on votes and comments from students. It means a lot to me as I think it reflects that the students of UW Law recognize the importance of representing people in removal proceedings. They are future due process warriors.

Erin has been an inspirational role model for a new generation of law students, taking groups to the border to save lives, engaging in “retail level” litigation in Immigration Court that advances justice in the most meaningful way possible, and publicizing the seminal role that immigrant justice plays in social justice in America. She is also a thinker and scholar who sees due process, human rights, and racial justice issues with a clarity lacking in all too many of today’s out of touch politicians, policy makers, and judges.

Erin also was a guest lecturer in my Immigration Law & Policy course course at Georgetown Law. Her “stories and pictures from the border” brought home to my students the gross violations of human and constitutional rights going on in our dysfunctional Immigration Courts on a daily basis. 

Erin is one of the many “practical scholars” out there who should be “on the inside” at EOIR, DHS, and the Article III Courts!

Congrats again, Erin, and Due Process Forever!

PWS

04-25-21

🏀MARCH MADNESS: BADGERS COME OUT SNARLING, DEVOUR TAR HEELS IN DANCE OPENER, 85-62!

 

Ferocious Bucky Badger
Bucky Came Out Hungry & Ferocious With A Tar Heel Meal On The Menu, Creative Commons Licenses

🏀MARCH MADNESS: BADGERS COME OUT SNARLING, DEVOUR TAR HEELS IN DANCE OPENER, 85-62!

By Paul Wickham Schmidt

Courtside Exclusive
March 20,2021

After staggering into the NCAA Tournament, losers of five of their last six, the senior-laden Wisconsin Badgers (18-12) looked for at least one night like they belong in the Big Dance.

The 9-seed Badgers finally put together a full 40-minute game, eviscerating the 8-seed North Carolina Tar Heels (18-11) in every facet on their way to a very convincing 85-62 win in the first round of the of the NCAA South Regional before a COVID-protocol-limited crowd on Purdue’s home court in West Lafayette, Indiana. The were some Badger fans in the stands, and  they experienced a rare Badger blowout inflicted on a credible opponent.

Senior guards Brad Davison (29 points) and D’Mitrik Trice (21 points) led the #25 Badgers, who drilled 13 of 27 three-pointers. No other Badger was in double figures, although seniors Micah Potter and Aleem Ford chipped in nine apiece.

The Tar Heels’ front line was supposed to dominate. But, the Badgers controlled the boards 37-34, including 28 defensive rebounds to keep the Tar Heels reeling all night. For North Carolina’s Hall of Fame coach, the legendary Roy Williams, this was his initial first round failure after 29 consecutive W’s.

Of course, this year’s mediocre Tar Heel squad, from the middle of an underwhelming ACC pack, yet not without some young talent, bore little resemblance to Williams’s championship-caliber teams of yesterday year. Bucky came into the season with great promise, ranked in the top ten, primarily on the strength of the senior core coming off a Big-10 co-championship in the COVID-halted 2020 season. 

But, the Badgers struggled through the Big-10 season, finishing with a lackluster 10-10 record (17-12 overall), good for only a 6th place finish in conference. Mostly significantly, they were 0-8 against the conference’s premier teams: Illinois, Michigan, Ohio State, and Iowa. They clawed their way into the Big Dance largely by beating up on non-conference foes and Big-10 bottom feeders.

The Badgers led wire-to-wire on Friday night, coming out strong and energetic and keeping up the pressure, leading 40-24 at the half. Nevertheless, Badger fans couldn’t relax because, unlike past Wisconsin squads, this team throughout the season blew some sizable leads with long dry spells that let their opponents seize control.    

Last night was, however, totally different. Although the Tar Heels came out with a much improved offensive showing in the second half, particularly from their “bigs,” the Badgers basically matched or exceeded them basket for basket to maintain, and even expand their halftime lead. The Tar Heels never got closer than 12 points, and the Badgers settled at a comfortable 14-18 lead for most of the stanza.

Most pundits had given Coach Greg Gard’s Badgers a chance against Williams’s slightly favored, yet highly inconsistent, Carolina squad. But, few, if any, saw this complete and convincing blowout coming.

So, at least for one night, the Badgers looked like a team that belongs in March Madness, rather than an imposter whose invitation suggested a past reputation for consistent excellence rather than the current less-than-inspiring group who limped into the NCAAs, after losing to Iowa for the third straight time in the conference tournament.

It’s probably a good thing for the Big-10. Although generally considered the “premier conference” in America during this COVID-infected season, two of the conference’s highly seeded teams, Ohio State (#2) and Purdue (#5), suffered shocking upsets on the first day. Another perennial power, Michigan State, blew a big lead and lost to a lightly regarded UCLA squad in the tournament “play-in” game. 

The Badgers should savor this moment of redemption. Because, their dance is going to get much more challenging tomorrow afternoon when they face the #1 seed Baylor Bears (23-2) at 2:40 PM from West Lafayette. The game will be on CBS and the Bears are an early six point favorite.

Go Bucky!

Bucky Badger
Bucky Badger
UW Mascot

RACIST MAGAMORON RON JOHNSON SHOULD HAVE HEEDED MARK TWAIN: “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to talk and remove all doubt.”🤮🤡☠️

Ron Johnson Fool
Fool
15th Century
Public Domain

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ron-johnson-capitol-riot-black-lives-matter_n_604c0313c5b636ed337a71ce

Mary Papenfuss reports for HuffPost:

In an absolutely stunning statement, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) admitted in a radio interview that he wasn’t frightened by white insurrectionists’ attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 — but said he would have been “concerned” had they been Black.

Johnson accurately predicted that his racist statement to conservative radio host Joe Pags on Thursday would get him “into trouble.”

The senator noted that he has been criticized for previous remarks that he “never felt threatened” by the attack.

He added: “Now, had the tables been turned, Joe, and this’ll get me in trouble — had the tables been turned, and President Trump won the election, and those were tens of thousands of Black Lives Matter and antifa protesters, I might have been a little concerned.”

. . . .

**************
Read the full article at the link.

Oh Wisconsin, how far you have fallen to inflict this racist idiot on our nation!

PWS

03-14-21

⚾️IDOL OF MY CHILDHOOD, “HAMMERIN’ HANK” AARON, #44, PROLIFIC HOME RUN HITTER, HALL OF FAMER, PIONEER OF FIGHT FOR RACIAL JUSTICE DIES @ 86!

Hank Aaron
Henry “Hammerin Hank” Aaron
Hall of Famer
1934-2021
Creative Commons License

BY HOWARD BRYANT

Senior Writer

ESPN

Henry Aaron, who rose up from the depths of Southern poverty to become one of the towering figures in baseball history as well as a bittersweet symbol of both American racial intolerance and triumph, has died. He was 86.

When he retired in 1976 after a 23-year major league career with the National League Braves (spending 1954 to 1965 in Milwaukee, 1966-74 in Atlanta) before playing his final two seasons with the American League Milwaukee Brewers, Aaron had amassed staggering offensive numbers, holding the career records for most home runs (755), RBIs (2,297), total bases (6,856), games played (3,298), at-bats (12,364) and plate appearances (13,941). He was second behind Ty Cobb in hits (3,771), though he held the NL record.

 

He is still the career leader in total bases and RBIs and is third in hits behind Pete Rose and Cobb. He was the first player in baseball history to amass 500 career home runs and 3,000 hits and the last player in history to be promoted from the Negro Leagues to the major leagues. Aaron appeared in a record 24 All-Star Games, won batting titles in 1956 and 1959, led the league in home runs four times, was named National League MVP in 1957, and twice appeared in the World Series, winning the title in 1957 when the Braves beat the New York Yankees in seven games.

Aaron was a magnificent player whose career paralleled more charismatic, spectacular players such as Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle, whose brilliance often overshadowed his prolific but workmanlike style, but it was his three-year pursuit of Babe Ruth’s career record of 714 home runs that elevated him into an enduring national figure. The record-breaking home run, which came in the fourth inning off Los Angeles Dodgersleft-hander Al Downing on April 8, 1974, at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, provided one of the most lasting images in the sport and also one of its most poignant moments.

 

For years, Aaron had received thousands of letters, many of them racist, and many of which contained death threats against him and his family. The image of him rounding second base escorted by two jubilant white fans who had leaped onto the field became one of the most iconic in sports. Less known was that, as Aaron rounded the bases, his bodyguard, Calvin Wardlaw, sat in the stands, his hand secretly on his revolver, deciding in an instant whether the two young fans were hostile in their intent and whether he would shoot them.

Over the years, Aaron would be praised for his quiet resolve and dignity in the face of the threats. He would dine with international heads of state and every sitting president from Gerald Ford to Barack Obama, but the negative response from so many of his countrymen was a scar he would carry for the rest of his life.

“It was supposed to be the greatest triumph of my life, but I was never allowed to enjoy it. I couldn’t wait for it to be over,” he once said. “The only reason that some people didn’t want me to succeed was because I was a Black man.”

Aaron held the record for 33 years until Barry Bonds passed him on Aug. 7, 2007, and although he is currently second on the career home runs list, behind Bonds’ 762, the taint of the steroid era leaves Aaron in many people’s minds as baseball’s last legitimate home run champion

. . . .

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Read the rest of Howard’s tribute at the link.

I can remember listening at night to the Milwaukee Braves broadcasts on my very own AM radio, tubes glowing brightly through the plastic cover, to Blaine Walsh and Earl Gillespie with the play-by-play on WTMJ (“Miller, Kent, and Clark take you out to the park”). Every time “Hammerin’ Hank” came to bat, particularly with runners on base, I held my breath for something great to happen. And, often, it did! I even saw Hank play in person with the Braves a number of times at the old Milwaukee County Stadium!

Went out into the back yard, donned my prized Braves’ jacket, and red and blue “M” hat, and slammed a few whiffle balls into the neighbor’s yard, imagining I was #44 hitting a game winner and rounding the basis in triumph. A far cry from my lack of real-life skills at the game! Never could hit a fastball, or any other kind of pitch for that matter. And, I was very slow.

During the 1957 World Series vs. the mighty Yankees (Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, et al) we were even allowed to listen over the school loud speaker system. I never forgave the Braves for pulling up stakes and leaving for Atlanta in 1966 (after a prolonged court battle). Didn’t follow baseball much for many years after that!

Of course, at that time the “whitewashed, sanitized history and reporting” in Milwaukee didn’t give a hint about the vile racism going on behind the scenes, even disgracefully on the club that Hank was propelling toward its sole World Series Championship. Joe Adcock — what a total racist jerk — I take back every time I cheered for you!

Thanks for all the great moments, Hank! Sorry for what you had to endure.

R.I.P.

PWS

01-22-20

🇺🇸🏈👍🏼 FORMER PACKER SUPERBOWL-WINNING 🏆 HEAD COACH MIKE HOLMGREN WITH SOME GREAT ADVICE: GET TRUMP OFF THE FIELD BEFORE HE CAN DO ANY MORE DAMAGE!

Mike Holmgren
Coach Mike Holmgren
Lambeau Field 1998
Photo: David Wilson – Flickr: 19981213 24 Mike Holmgren, Lambeau Field,
Creative Commons License

https://madison.com/wsj/opinion/column/mike-holmgren-vote-to-take-president-trump-off-the-field/article_5857f1a8-6d58-56d2-acd5-19b8c1b1cac2.html

From the Wisconsin State Journal:

In more than three decades of coaching, I’ve come to learn one thing: You cannot be afraid to take a player off the field if it will help the team.

Donald Trump said he alone could fix the challenges facing our country. But as we’ve seen during these past four years, he’s in over his head — and we’re all paying the price for that. It’s time to take President Trump off the field.

Months into this pandemic, coronavirus cases are continuing to skyrocket in Wisconsin. More than 1,500 Wisconsinites have lost their lives to the pandemic. Green Bay, a city I love dearly, is seeing some of the highest infection rates in the country. Hospitals are overflowing, people are hurting, and families are needlessly suffering. More than 4,000 fewer people in Green Bay are employed now, compared to when President Trump took office. Far too many small businesses have had to close their doors for good. And the heart and soul of Green Bay — our game days with thousands of fans at Lambeau Field — are no more.

President Trump’s failure to mount a forceful response to the coronavirus pandemic will go down as one of the most consequential failures of government in American history. In Green Bay alone, the indefinite hold on fans at Lambeau Field — yet another consequence of President Trump’s failed leadership — is proving devastating to Green Bay’s small businesses. Each Packers home game provides $15 million in economic impacts to the city of Green Bay — but not this year.

. . . .

*****************

Read the rest of Mike’s op-ed at the link.

Trump is the biggest loser in US presidential history! Even now, he has no coherent plan for anything — just inane and largely fabricated personal grievances, insults, and childish, moronic chants and slogans! What kind of nation puts someone like this “on the field” with survival in the balance?

By contrast, Biden and Harris care about America and have intelligent plans for solving problems like health care, getting America back to work, addressing the pandemic in a scientifically credible way, protecting our environment, treating all persons equally before the law, ending racism and misogyny, and re-establishing our world leadership.

Vote like your life and the world’s future depend on it! Because they do! Get the maliciously incompetent loser off the field and put proven winners and decent human beings in charge!

PWS

10-18-20

SPORTS:  AR, DEVONTE SHARP AS PACKERS REPEL VIKES IN OPENER — Robust Offense Dominates In 43-34 Win!

Aaron Rodgers
Aaron Rodgers
Photo by: original: Mike Morbeck
derivative: Diddykong1130
Public realm

SPORTS:  AR, DEVONTE SHARP AS PACKERS REPEL VIKES IN OPENER — Robust Offense Dominates In 43-34 Win!

By Paul Wickham Schmidt

September 14, 2020

Exclusive for Courtside

Pundits picked the Green Bay Packers as the team most likely to regress from last year’s surprising 14-4 season that took them within a game of the Super Bowl. Drafting QB Jordan Love rather than another wide receiver to pair with veteran Devonte Adams was widely viewed as one of the dumbest moves of the offseason. Many speculated that it would hasten the end of the “Aaron Rodgers Era” in Green Bay. Most picked the Minnesota Vikings as the upswing team to capture the NFL North title from the defending champ Pack. 

At least on opening day, Rodgers, Adams, Coach Matt LaFleur, and the entire Packer team, particularly the offense, made the pundits look stupid. Rodgers had one of the better days of his stellar career, throwing for 32-44-364 and four TDs with no picks. Adams caught two TD passes on the way to a 14-156-2 day that tied Don Hutson’s 78-yer-old franchise record for receptions (amazing, when you think about all the great QBs and receivers on the Pack since 1942). 

Wide receivers Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Allen Lazard also caught TDs from AR. Six rushers chipped in a highly effective 158 yards on 32 carries, with Aaron Jones leading the way with 66 yards on 16 carries and one TD. The Pack amassed an impressive 522 yards of total offense, allowing them to dominate time of possession with more than 41 minutes.

On defense, cornerback Jaire Alexander stood out. His second quarter sack of Kirk Cousins in the end zone was a safety, leading to a field goal on the ensuing drive. Then, his interception of Cousins later in that quarter led to a Packer TD. Thus, Alexander helped set up 12 Packer points. Despite having to rely on some backups, the Packer offensive line kept Rodgers sack free and opened up some large holes for the runners.

What I liked most about this performance was the Pack’s aggressive, yet balanced downfield offense. Even in the Rodgers Era, past Packer teams have had a tendency to go into “offensive stalls” after getting a lead. Sunday the Pack punted only once. More important, they scored TDs on each of their three second-half possessions (not counting the “victory formation kneel down” at the end), putting together three drives of over 60 yards that wore down the Vikes defense and kept their offense on the bench.

As he often does, Kirk Cousins put up some big passing numbers while vainly trying to bring his team back from three-score deficits that he had helped cause by giving up a safety and an interception. That tendency to run up big stats without producing big wins is what probably has given Cousins some of the flashiest QB stats in the league without ever breaking into the “elite QB club.”

The game wasn’t actually as close as the score might indicate. Down 22-10 at the half, the Vikes punted on their first second half drive. Thereafter, thanks to the Pack’s aggressive offense, the Vikes never possessed the ball down fewer than three scores. Most of their scoring offense was generated against a fairly soft Packer “prevent defense.” I’m not a fan of the “prevent.” But, with the offense moving the ball and not trading TDs for field goals or empty possessions, it worked out this time. And, the margin should have been greater, because in the first half both Valdes-Scantling and Adams dropped sure TD passes from Rodgers.

Who knows whether this will be the start of something good for the Pack or just a high point in the disappointing season predicted by most pundits. But, so far, so good. 

This coming Sunday, the Pack takes on Matt Stafford and the Detroit Lions, who blew a fourth quarter lead against the Chicago Bears. It will be an unusual  “home opener” in a Lambeau devoid of fans.    

THANK UW LAW: Unemployment Insurance Was The Brainchild of Two Amazing UW Law Students Who Were Also In Love — It All Began In L-1 Torts! — PLUS: The “Wisconsin Idea” Continues Today Through The Work of Professor Erin Barbato!

Michael S.Rosenwald
Michael S. Rosenwald
Enterprise Reporter
Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/04/18/unemployment-checks-great-depression-coronavirus/h

Michael S. Rosenwald writes in the WashPost:


A line to apply for unemployment benefits in San Francisco in 1938. (Library of Congress)

A line to apply for unemployment benefits in San Francisco in 1938. (Library of Congress)

They first laid eyes on each other in torts class.

It was 1923, a period of prosperity before the Great Depression.

He was the son of Walter Rauschenbusch, a prominent theologian and key figure in the Social Gospel movement. She was the daughter of Louis Brandeis, the progressive Supreme Court justice and the most famous Jew in America. Each inherited their parents’ zeal for social justice.

At the University of Wisconsin Law School, these two idealists — Elizabeth Brandeis and Paul Raushenbush — noticed each other immediately. She was brainy and shy, her hair long and dark. He was handsome and outgoing. On hikes and canoe outings, they fell in love romantically and intellectually — a partnership instrumental in passing the nation’s first unemployment compensation law.

The story of how they did it is largely forgotten, but the 22 million people who have applied for unemployment during the coronavirus pandemic — and, of course, the millions before them — have this unlikely couple to thank. The law they conceived of and helped pass in Wisconsin laid the foundation for unemployment insurance throughout the country.

“Their story is absolutely staggering to think about right now,” said their grandson Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, a Baptist minister and senior adviser for public affairs and innovation at Interfaith Youth Core, a nonprofit organization. “It was their life’s work to make laws like this available to everyone.”

Raushenbush, who lives in New York, has spent the last few years writing a history of his family, including interviewing his father, Walter, who is 92 and lives in McLean, Va. Raushenbush was working on the unemployment insurance section as the coronavirus pandemic arrived in America.

Elizabeth Brandeis Raushenbush and Paul Raushenbush. (Courtesy of Paul Brandeis Raushenbush)
Elizabeth Brandeis Raushenbush and Paul Raushenbush. (Courtesy of Paul Brandeis Raushenbush)

As part of his research, Raushenbush has been reading a privately published book his grandparents wrote based on interviews they gave to a Columbia University oral history project. The book is the story of the legislation — where the idea came from, the characters involved, how the law was ultimately passed.

“It really reads like a novel,” Raushenbush said.

The main characters, of course, are his grandparents.

And Wisconsin.

His grandmother moved there to attend law school. She had lost her job as a researcher for the D.C. Minimum Wage Board following the Supreme Court’s ruling that the minimum wage for women was unconstitutional. Justice Brandeis, who as a lawyer and jurist was renowned for his progressive stance on social issues, did not cast a vote because of his daughter’s job.

E.B., as she was known to family and friends, wanted a career at the intersection of economics, labor and the law. She hoped to attend an elite East Coast law school, but those programs, including Harvard, where her father studied, didn’t accept women. With her father’s approval, she chose the University of Wisconsin, where the “Wisconsin Idea” — fusing academic research to solving social problems — was flourishing.

“I have no doubt that the Wisconsin Law School is good enough for your purposes,” E.B.’s father wrote to her, “and should think it probable that you would find economics instruction, and doubtless, other considerations more sympathetic there than at Yale.”

Her future husband chose Wisconsin for the same reason. There, the couple studied under professor John R. Commons, an influential social economist who crafted Wisconsin’s workers’ compensation law. Commons tried and failed several times to pass legislation protecting unemployed workers, whose numbers were soaring, especially after the stock market crash in 1929.

Paul Raushenbush signing the paperwork for the first unemployment compensation check in 1936. (Courtesy of Paul Brandeis Raushenbush)
Paul Raushenbush signing the paperwork for the first unemployment compensation check in 1936. (Courtesy of Paul Brandeis Raushenbush)

Commons took a particular interest in his graduate students, inviting them for regular dinners on Friday nights to discuss societal problems.

“I suppose the characteristic thing about Commons was that he was trying to use his brains and enlist the brains of his students in attempting solutions of economic problems,” Raushenbush said during the Columbia University oral history interviews. “This was no ivory tower guy. Sure, he did research and wrote books, but perhaps the main interest that attracted his students was that they were being invited to participate in an attempt to deal with difficult problems on an intelligent basis.”

By 1930, E.B. and her husband both were teaching economics at the University of Wisconsin. They had become friends with Philip La Follette, the local district attorney, whose parents were friends with Justice Brandeis. One day in June, La Follette invited the couple, along with another Wisconsin economist, Harold Groves, to his house in Madison.

La Follette told them he planned to run for governor, that he planned to win, and that he wanted to pass legislation instituting unemployment compensation. He asked the trio to come up with a plan.

And did they ever.

They spent the weekend hiking along the Wisconsin River batting around ideas. Their key idea — one that survives today — was that the benefits should be funded entirely by employers, thus giving them the incentive to maintain steady levels of employment or bear the cost of not doing so. The economists also decided that Groves, who grew up on a Wisconsin farm, should run for the State Assembly and introduce the legislation.

Everything clicked.


In 1932, Wisconsin Gov. Philip La Follette signs the nation’s first unemployment measure into law. Elizabeth Brandeis Raushenbush and Paul Raushenbush are second and third from the left. (Courtesy of Paul Brandeis Raushenbush)
In 1932, Wisconsin Gov. Philip La Follette signs the nation’s first unemployment measure into law. Elizabeth Brandeis Raushenbush and Paul Raushenbush are second and third from the left. (Courtesy of Paul Brandeis Raushenbush)
The first unemployment check issued in Wisconsin. (Wisconsin Historical Society)
The first unemployment check issued in Wisconsin. (Wisconsin Historical Society)

. . . .

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Read the rest of the article in the WashPost at the link.

Scholarship, teamwork, creativity, hard work, and a healthy dose of romance produces results that are still “making a difference” today. Nice story! Beyond that, it’s an inspiring story for today’s world.

What if we had more folks like the Raushenbusches in government today? Folks looking for ways in which government could work to make the lives or ordinary working people better. Compare that with the “Trump Kakistocracy,” a bunch of self-centered incompetents mostly out to disable government, screw working folks, line their own pockets, glorify and suck up to their “Supreme Leader-Clown,” and shift blame for their mess, all while attempting to advance a destructive far-right political agenda that cares not for the public good! Then we had folks like Phil La Follette; now we have Stephen Miller!

Professor Walter Brandeis Raushenbusch, the son of Elizabeth & Paul, was on the faculty of U.W. Law when I was there from 1970-73. However, I never had him for a class. We did study the “LaFollette Era” and its contributions to President Roosevelt’s “New Deal” in several of my classes.

I believe that U.W. Law gave me a strong grounding in teamwork with my colleagues (now retired Wisconsin State Judge Thomas S. Lister was one), how to apply scholarship to achieve practical results, and solving complex problems.

Speaking with Judge Lister earlier this year during a “pre-lockdown” visit with his wife Sally to D.C., I could see how our time together at U.W. Law had a continuing profound influence on both of our careers, particularly the “judicial phases.” In our different ways, we were always striving to establish “best practices,” promote “good government,” and make the “system work better” for the public it served. Just like some of the “progressive ideas” that were interwoven with our legal education in Madison. “Teaching from the bench” was how I always thought of it. Sometimes we succeeded, other times not so much; but we were always “in there pitching,” even up to today. See, e.g., the “Lister-Schmidt Proposal” for an Auxiliary Judiciary for the U.S. Immigration Courts here: https://immigrationcourtside.com/2019/08/19/an-open-letter-proposal-from-two-uw-law-73-retired-judges-weve-spent-90-collective-years-working-to-improve-the-quality-delivery-of-justice-in-america/.   We haven’t given up on this one!

Thomas Lister
Hon. Thomas Lister
Retired Jackson County (WI) Circuit Judge

And, the “Wisconsin Idea” is still alive and thriving at U.W. Law, thanks to dedicated professors like my good friend and fellow warrior for the “New Due Process Army,” Professor Erin Barbato, Director of the U.W. Immigrant Justice Clinic. Erin uses creative scholarship, teaches practical, usable, courtroom and counseling skills, promotes teamwork, and saves “real lives” in her work with asylum seekers and other migrants. She is also a role model who is inspiring a new generation of American lawyers committed to advancing social justice and guaranteeing Due Process and fundamental fairness for all. Indeed, Erin was a guest lecturer at my Georgetown Law class and inspired my students with her courage, energy, and real life examples of “applying law to save lives!” It really made the “textbook come alive” for my students! Thanks for all you do, Erin!

Professor Erin Barbato
Professor Erin Barbato
Director, Immigrant Justice Clinic
UW Law

On Wisconsin!

On Wisconsin!
On Wisconsin!

Due Process Forever!

PWS

04-19-20

PACKERS: R.I.P. WILLIE DAVIS (1934-2020) — Hall of Fame Defender From Lombardi Era Went On To Successful Business Career!

Willie Davis
Willie Davis (1934-2020)
Hall of Fame Defensive End
Green Bay Packers

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/willie-davis-hall-of-fame-defensive-end-for-green-bay-packers-of-the-1960s-dies-at-85/2020/04/15/0ab063d0-7f41-11ea-8013-1b6da0e4a2b7_story.html

From the WashPost:

By Matt Schudel

April 15 at 10:43 PM ET

Willie Davis, a Hall of Fame defensive end and a team captain for Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers in the 1960s, when he helped lead his team to the first two Super Bowl championships, died April 15 at a hospital in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 85.

The Packers announced his death, noting that his wife said he had been treated for kidney failure.

Mr. Davis played 10 years for the Packers, joining the team in 1960 and becoming a stalwart defensive performer at left end. He was one of the leading disciples of Lombardi, an intense taskmaster and perfectionist who is considered one of football’s greatest coaches.

“Perfection is not attainable,” Lombardi said, in one of many maxims attributed to him. “But if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.”

Throughout most of the 1960s, the Packers reached a level of excellence that few teams in any sport have equaled, winning five National Football League championships in seven years. In January 1967, the Packers met the Kansas City Chiefs of the rival American Football League in the inaugural Super Bowl, winning 35-10. The next year, in Super Bowl II, the Packers beat the Oakland Raiders, 33-14. The Super Bowl trophy is named for Lombardi.

The 6-foot-3, 245-pound Mr. Davis led Green Bay’s pass rush in both games, and as the team’s defensive captain he was, in effect, Lombardi’s alter ego on the field.

“He told us this was a way of life, a game of survival, a test of manhood,” Mr. Davis told author David Maraniss for his 1999 biography of Lombardi, “When Pride Still Mattered.”

Steady, smart and seemingly indestructible, Mr. Davis did not miss a game during his 12-year NFL career. He never gave up on a play and often chased down runners on the opposite side of the field.

Before his Super Bowl heroics, Mr. Davis forced what Green Bay fans call the “million-dollar fumble” during a game against the Baltimore Colts late in the 1966 season. With the Colts driving for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, Hall of Fame quarterback Johnny Unitas dropped back to pass, then tucked the ball under his arm and ran toward the goal line.

Mr. Davis caught him from behind on a muddy field and jarred the ball loose. Linebacker Dave Robinson recovered the fumble, and the Packers held on for a 14-10 victory. They then beat the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL championship game before going on to the first Super Bowl.

“As a pass rusher, he was so quick off the ball,” Robinson said of Mr. Davis in an interview with Packers.com. “He was a good run player, too. He was so strong in the chest, he could hit the tackle and control them. Throw them or drive them.”

Mr. Davis played his first two NFL seasons with the Cleveland Browns, doubling as an offensive tackle and defensive end. Admiring his ability, Lombardi acquired him in a trade before the 1960 season, making him a full-time defensive player.

“In Willie Davis we got a great one,” Lombardi said in 1962.

During the team’s grueling preseason drills, Lombardi was known for loudly criticizing some players and quietly encouraging others, depending on what he thought was the best motivational tool in the moment. One year, after ripping another player, he unexpectedly turned on Mr. Davis, who was never unprepared for practice or a game.

The next morning, Mr. Davis asked Lombardi for an explanation.

“He said, ‘I’ve got to prove nobody’s beyond chewing out,’ ” Mr. Davis recalled to sportswriter W.C. Heinz for the book “Once They Heard the Cheers.” “I said, ‘Yeah, coach, but give me some warning.’”

Mr. Davis was a five-time all-pro and still holds the Packers record for recovered fumbles, with 21. Sacks of opposing quarterbacks were not an official statistic when he played, but historians have credited him with more than 100 during his career. He brought a tenacity to the game that made him, according to NFL Films, one of 100 greatest players in pro football history.

He was the leader of a defensive unit filled with Hall of Fame players, including defensive tackle Henry Jordan, linebackers Robinson and Ray Nitschke and defensive backs Herb Adderley and Willie Wood, who died in February.

Former Packers center Bill Curry called Mr. Davis, in an NFL Films documentary, “the finest combination of leader and player that I ever saw.”

[[Willie Wood, Hall of Fame defensive back for Vince Lombardi’s Packers, dies at 83]]

Beyond the field, Mr. Davis served as a leader for other African American players in the NFL and, as Lombardi instilled, a force for team unity on the Packers. As a white player from Georgia, Curry had not been on an integrated team until he joined the Packers in 1965.

Mr. Davis “didn’t just help me to play in the NFL for 10 years,” Curry said, “he changed my life because I was never able to look at another human being in the same way I had.”

William Delford Davis was born July 24, 1934, in Lisbon, La. He was 8 when his parents separated, and he moved with his mother and two younger siblings to Texarkana, Ark. His mother was a cook at a country club.

Mr. Davis earned a scholarship to the historically black Grambling State University in Louisiana, where his coach was Eddie Robinson, who prepared dozens of players for pro careers and was the first college football coach to win 400 games.

After graduating in 1956, Mr. Davis served two years in the Army before joining the Browns in 1958. While playing in the NFL, he also received a master of business administration degree in 1968 from the University of Chicago. He retired from the Packers at the end of the 1969 season and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1981.

Mr. Davis was a football broadcaster for NBC in the 1970s and turned down several coaching offers. He operated a prosperous beer distributorship in Los Angeles before selling the business in 1989.

He was a key figure in planning the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and was reportedly recruited to run for mayor of the city. He later owned several radio stations and was on the boards of the Packers and several companies and founded a charitable foundation in Lombardi’s name.

His marriages to Ann McCullom and Andrea Erickson ended in divorce; survivors include his wife, the former Carol Dyrek; and two children from his first marriage.

In his business office, Mr. Davis kept pictures of his Packers championship teams and a framed portrait of Lombardi.

“There are days when I wake up and I don’t feel like getting up and crawling into the office,” he told Heinz in the 1970s. “I say to myself that I own the Willie Davis Distributing Company, and today I’m going to exercise my prerogative and not go in. Then I think, ‘What would Lombardi do?’ I get up and out of bed.”

********************

Willie’s spectacular defense was a treat to watch during the years of Packers’ dominance of the NFL. Seemed like he was always there with the clutch tackle or big fumble recovery when it was most needed. And, like many on Lombardi’s Packers, he went on to success in other fields after retiring from football.

PWS

04-17-20