AVCA 1st Serve: Wisc. @ Louisville, Tue 8/27, 9p ET (ESPN2)
Aug 26, 2024 5:52:28 GMT -5
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Post by rainbowbadger on Aug 26, 2024 5:52:28 GMT -5
AVCA First Serve Showcase Wisconsin vs. Louisville |
Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024 9:00 PM Eastern |
KFC Yum! Center Madison, Wisconsin |
Follow Along
Players to Watch
Wisconsin
#13 - OH Sarah Franklin 6-4 GR | #52 - MB Carter Booth 6-7 JR | #10 - MB/RS Devyn Robinson 6-2 GR | #14 - MB/RS Anna Smrek 6-9 SR | #24 - S Charlie Fuerbringer 5-11 FR |
Louisville
#14 - OH Anna DeBeer 6-0 GR | #4 - OH Charitie Luper 5-9 SR | #13 - MB Cara Cresse 6-6 R-JR | #5 - S Elle Glock 6-0 R-JR | #19 - L Elena Scott 5-9 SR |
History
Wisconsin leads 8-1.
In Madison: Wisconsin leads 2-0.
In Louisville: Wisconsin leads 1-0.
Neutral: Wisconsin leads 5-1.
The Streak: Wisconsin has won the last six.
Last meeting: Columbus, Ohio - 12/16/2021 - Wisconsin won the Final Four match in five.
Did you know…?
Muhammad Ali was born as Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. in Louisville on January 17, 1942. His amateur boxing career began in 1954, when the then-12-year-old won his first fight by split decision. Over the next six years he would win multiple state and national Golden Gloves titles and a national AAU title. He attended Central High School in Louisville, but struggled academically due to dyslexia. He won the light heavyweight gold medal in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome before turning pro later that year. Overall, Clay's amateur record was 100 wins and only 5 losses. The last of those losses occurred at the UW Field House in Madison, Wisconsin, the current home of the Badgers Volleyball Team.
12-year-old Cassius Clay, shortly after his amateur debut in 1954. Photo credit: Bettmann/Getty Images
On April 30, 1959, the 17-year-old rode a 36-bout winning streak into the final round of the trials for the Pan-Am Games. His opponent, a 25-year-old leftie Marine named Amos Johnson, confused the junior boxer with repeated lefts to the face and eventually won in a split decision. Recapping the day, Wisconsin State Journal sports columnist Roundy Coughlin wrote that the young fighter "is a good hard puncher especially with his right hand [but] he needs a lot of defense coaching yet.... When Clay gets better on defense, brother, he will be hard to beat.” Coughlin's assessment proved prescient, as the youth would not lose another bout until he faced Joe Frazier in Madison Square Garden in 1971.
Muhammad Ali, left, deflects a punch from Amos Johnson at the UW Field House. Photo credit: Arthur M. Vinje
In the years following the Johnson fight, Ali claimed the world heavyweight championship, converted to Islam, and formally changed his name. In 1966 he was drafted but refused to be inducted into the Army, leading to his arrest. He was systematically denied a boxing license in every state, had his passport revoked, and was stripped of his titles. His conviction for draft evasion wound its way through the appeals process before eventually being overturned by the Supreme Court in 1971, with the justices unanimously ruling that the draft board had erred when denying Ali's conscientious objector status. Unable to fight in sanctioned competition while the appeal progressed, Ali instead visited universities around the country to speak about the Vietnam War, Black pride, and racial justice. It was under these auspices that he returned to Madison in 1968 to headline the International Students against War, Racism and the Draft at the Stock Pavilion.
Found in the UW Archives: A flyer advertising Muhammad Ali's campus talk, "The Black Muslim's Solution to Racism."
Ali returned to boxing in 1970 and regained his world heavyweight champion title in 1974. Diagnosed with Parkinson's in 1984, he remained active until the early 2000s. He died in 2016 in Scottsdale, Arizona, but his body was returned to his hometown of Louisville, where he was buried in a private ceremony at Cave Hill Cemetary. After his interment, a public memorial service was held in the KFC Yum! Center, where tonight's volleyball matches will be played.