And we continue with our American stories. In nineteen ninety two, Michael Brynn was a freshman at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He earned a spot as a walk on to the University of Wisconsin football team. Midway through the nineteen ninety three season, as the Badgers were starting to demonstrate just how good a program they'd become, an epic game was played at Camp Randall the Wisconsin Holmes Stadium. Here is doctor Michael Brynn himself to tell us the story of what is known in Wisconsin as the Camp Randall Stampede.

And we continue with our American stories. In nineteen ninety two, Michael Brynn was a freshman at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He earned a spot as a walk on to the University of Wisconsin football team. Midway through the nineteen ninety three season, as the Badgers were starting to demonstrate just how good a program they'd become, an epic game was played at Camp Randall the Wisconsin Holmes Stadium. Here is doctor Michael Brynn himself to tell us the story of what is known in Wisconsin as the Camp Randall Stampede.

It's nineteen ninety three. I was a pre med student who was given a chance to walk on to play for the University of Wisconsin Badger's football team. We had come off the disappointing year in nineteen ninety two, but that nineteen ninety three team was different. We started hot. We knew that we had the chance to reach all the goals that we had set before us in the beginning of the year, and that was to win the Big Ten and get to the Rose Bowl. We've always had some of the craziest, rowdiest, most loyal fans anywhere in the country, let alone the Big Ten our test. The next obstacle that we had in our way to prove that we were the real deal was the University of Michigan Wolverines. Michigan was the perennial powerhouse in the Big Ten, getting to the Rose Bowl the year before winning the Big Ten. They were in our way. The game comes and we're ready for it, and this is the place they called the camp. Everybody on that team, offense, defense, special teams, we were clicking. It was probably one of the most exciting games I've ever been a part of. I still remember Terrell Fletcher making a little cut in the backfield and scoring a long touchdown really put us ahead for the end of the game. You talk took to the backfield, he break the back of a good ten What drigs quick At the end, Michigan now has the ball. The game's coming down to the last minute. They have a chance to come back and do something, but now it's our defense is turned to make the stand. The clock is ticking and then finally a.

It's nineteen ninety three. I was a pre med student who was given a chance to walk on to play for the University of Wisconsin Badger's football team. We had come off the disappointing year in nineteen ninety two, but that nineteen ninety three team was different. We started hot. We knew that we had the chance to reach all the goals that we had set before us in the beginning of the year, and that was to win the Big Ten and get to the Rose Bowl. We've always had some of the craziest, rowdiest, most loyal fans anywhere in the country, let alone the Big Ten our test. The next obstacle that we had in our way to prove that we were the real deal was the University of Michigan Wolverines. Michigan was the perennial powerhouse in the Big Ten, getting to the Rose Bowl the year before winning the Big Ten. They were in our way. The game comes and we're ready for it, and this is the place they called the camp. Everybody on that team, offense, defense, special teams, we were clicking. It was probably one of the most exciting games I've ever been a part of. I still remember Terrell Fletcher making a little cut in the backfield and scoring a long touchdown really put us ahead for the end of the game. You talk took to the backfield, he break the back of a good ten What drigs quick At the end, Michigan now has the ball. The game's coming down to the last minute. They have a chance to come back and do something, but now it's our defense is turned to make the stand. The clock is ticking and then finally a.

Sat managers take over.

Sat managers take over.

Clock ticks down and at the end you look up and you see Wisconsin victorious and the Inmates are set to take over campers Day. We have now slain the giant. Everybody celebrated, so now the students want to charge the field and they want to jump onto the field with us to celebrate the end of the game. We go through a tunnel that's right through our student section. As we're walking up to our tunnel, something is wrong. We realized some lives might be in danger. The police were initially told don't let the students in. Don't let the students in. So now the people at the top of the student section don't know that. They can't hear that, so they're pushing down. They want to get down onto the field to celebrate as quickly as possible. Thick metal railings were the only thing that really stood between the student section and getting onto the field, and now it becomes a wave of humanity. Now the the sheer weight of all these students trying to come down. Unfortunately, when that happens, the people at the bottom, they don't have time to get out. Wave after wave of people. They're piling onto each other because the people at the top don't know what's going on at the bottom, and the people at the bottom can't move and they are stuck under five ten, twenty one hundred a thousand people. All of a sudden, right in front of me, I see two of my teammates, John Hall and Brent Moss picking one of our students. They're picking her over a fence because she was pinned against the fence and she couldn't get out. And she looked at them and said, I can't bring So I grabbed her leg and helped her over, and Brent and John go and they start helping somebody else, and she looks up at me and she says thank you, thank you. When I look at her and I say, get out of here, get to the tunnel, get safe, get somewhere safe. I was great friends with two girls, Jen and Marcy. I knew where they sat. All of a sudden, I realized that they could be in trouble. I climb up the tunnel wall to the other side of the stands where I knew that Jenn and Marci were sitting. As I climb over the wall, it was just bodies. There were people everywhere. We need help. This is a life and death situation. I looked down and I could see a young girl. Her face was blue purple, and it didn't look like she was breathing. What was laying in front of me was someone who I thought was dead. I jumped right next to her. I wait to see if she's breathing. I wait to see if there's blinking, if there's anything there wasn't. I knew the basics of CPR, and the first one was airway, so I started the mouth's mouth. I brought my head down towards her, and we got a couple of breaths, and it looked like it started stimulating some breathing. At that point, we started seeing some movement in her chest wall, a little flicker of a light that was starting. There were a couple other people that were there, saying what can we do? What ca we do? They were trying to help. They were holding her hand, they were talking to her. There's nothing more for.

Clock ticks down and at the end you look up and you see Wisconsin victorious and the Inmates are set to take over campers Day. We have now slain the giant. Everybody celebrated, so now the students want to charge the field and they want to jump onto the field with us to celebrate the end of the game. We go through a tunnel that's right through our student section. As we're walking up to our tunnel, something is wrong. We realized some lives might be in danger. The police were initially told don't let the students in. Don't let the students in. So now the people at the top of the student section don't know that. They can't hear that, so they're pushing down. They want to get down onto the field to celebrate as quickly as possible. Thick metal railings were the only thing that really stood between the student section and getting onto the field, and now it becomes a wave of humanity. Now the the sheer weight of all these students trying to come down. Unfortunately, when that happens, the people at the bottom, they don't have time to get out. Wave after wave of people. They're piling onto each other because the people at the top don't know what's going on at the bottom, and the people at the bottom can't move and they are stuck under five ten, twenty one hundred a thousand people. All of a sudden, right in front of me, I see two of my teammates, John Hall and Brent Moss picking one of our students. They're picking her over a fence because she was pinned against the fence and she couldn't get out. And she looked at them and said, I can't bring So I grabbed her leg and helped her over, and Brent and John go and they start helping somebody else, and she looks up at me and she says thank you, thank you. When I look at her and I say, get out of here, get to the tunnel, get safe, get somewhere safe. I was great friends with two girls, Jen and Marcy. I knew where they sat. All of a sudden, I realized that they could be in trouble. I climb up the tunnel wall to the other side of the stands where I knew that Jenn and Marci were sitting. As I climb over the wall, it was just bodies. There were people everywhere. We need help. This is a life and death situation. I looked down and I could see a young girl. Her face was blue purple, and it didn't look like she was breathing. What was laying in front of me was someone who I thought was dead. I jumped right next to her. I wait to see if she's breathing. I wait to see if there's blinking, if there's anything there wasn't. I knew the basics of CPR, and the first one was airway, so I started the mouth's mouth. I brought my head down towards her, and we got a couple of breaths, and it looked like it started stimulating some breathing. At that point, we started seeing some movement in her chest wall, a little flicker of a light that was starting. There were a couple other people that were there, saying what can we do? What ca we do? They were trying to help. They were holding her hand, they were talking to her. There's nothing more for.

Me to do.

Me to do.

They're helping her. And I look down towards the field and I'm probably about fifteen twenty rows up. As I look down, I see some of my teammates still in their pads, still in their uniform are offensive lineman Joe Panels, Brian Patterson, Tyler Adams, Joe Rudolph, and our team dentist George Warren. They're dragging them out of those bottom rows where they were just laying and strewn on the ground. All of a sudden, I hear one of our equipment managers, yell Over, said, hey, Brand, we got to get back in the locker room. Get into the locker room. Grabs my helmet and we start going in that there are and what says here to people are heading your way. And as I walk into the locker room, can't really comprehend the fact that I think I just saw someone die in front of me. Now the only thing is what happened to them? Did I do enough? The focus was now on the students. It was now on what just happened and what else can we do? I see Joe Rudolph, you know, one of our starting offensive linement, had buried in his lap in tears, and nobody knew what to do with this. We just beat Michigan, and yet in a moment, it didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was our friends, was our fellow students, was a University of Wisconsin, was that community that meant so much to us. After the game, I made sure that my friends Jenn and Marcy were okay. You know, I call them up, and you know, I find out they're fine. They got out quickly. They were actually on the field. Thankfully, my friends weren't involved. Who else was involved? What else was going on? Our Sunday is typically a day to work out, loosen our legs after the game, and I get called emergently back into our offices, so they bring me out. The word got out that first girl, Amey, who was pulled over the fence. She reached out and said, hey, number three helped me. My story then now takes off. How does a football player know how to do CPO? Than fully? I became a focus, and I say thankfully because we still had football to play. We had Ohio State that next week. I become the focus because I'm not going to get on the field against Ohio State. I was a scout team player, so I can take some of that focus away from my team and let them get back to what they need to focus on. But it wasn't going to happen until we knew what happened with these students, what happened with our friends. Coach Elverrez brought a whole bunch of people in to give us an update on everybody and they had told us that eleven people went to the hospital and critical condition, but nobody had died. And when they said that, and when we all heard that, sitting together, a weight lifted from our shoulders, A weightlifted saying all right, I didn't have to do anything more. I did what I could. My friends, our community, They're going to be okay. I was informed of where a couple of these critical patients went. I went out and I got a single flock, I got a rose, and I went to the hospital around the corner where I knew some of these patients were. And I went to the front desk and I introduced myself and I said, hey, I'm on the team. I know that some of these victims came here. You don't have to give me any info, but I just want to give someone this flower, just to let them know that we're still thinking about them. I'll never forget the person looked at me and said, they're gone, They're all home, nobody's left. I've never felt happier. The last person had been discharged the day before. Everybody was home. The understanding that everybody who was so amazing for us, that gave us that spirit, that gave us that will to push forward when nobody else believed in us they were going to be okay, the team pressed on, we won the Big Ten. We knew what we needed to do when we got to that Rose Bowl, but our job wasn't done. So now we had that next step and we get to the Rose Bowl and at the end of the year we came out on top. That ninety three season will be remembered for so many reasons. It'll be remembered for who we were, accomplishing more than anybody thought we could by coming together as a group, and by loving each other and playing for each other and trusting each other as much as we did. And it'll be remembered for heroism. It'll be known for a group of people that came together to try to help each other at a moment of need, and nobody backed off, nobody flinched. My little role on the University Wisconsin football team, as small as it may have been, I think I'm one of the luckiest people in the world to have gone through something like this, not alone, but together as a group, and to look back with pride, pride in that we showed our love, we showed our caring, We showed our will, and we showed that we won't flinch, and we showed the will of a group of people that truly believed in each other and part of a community that is thriving now.

They're helping her. And I look down towards the field and I'm probably about fifteen twenty rows up. As I look down, I see some of my teammates still in their pads, still in their uniform are offensive lineman Joe Panels, Brian Patterson, Tyler Adams, Joe Rudolph, and our team dentist George Warren. They're dragging them out of those bottom rows where they were just laying and strewn on the ground. All of a sudden, I hear one of our equipment managers, yell Over, said, hey, Brand, we got to get back in the locker room. Get into the locker room. Grabs my helmet and we start going in that there are and what says here to people are heading your way. And as I walk into the locker room, can't really comprehend the fact that I think I just saw someone die in front of me. Now the only thing is what happened to them? Did I do enough? The focus was now on the students. It was now on what just happened and what else can we do? I see Joe Rudolph, you know, one of our starting offensive linement, had buried in his lap in tears, and nobody knew what to do with this. We just beat Michigan, and yet in a moment, it didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was our friends, was our fellow students, was a University of Wisconsin, was that community that meant so much to us. After the game, I made sure that my friends Jenn and Marcy were okay. You know, I call them up, and you know, I find out they're fine. They got out quickly. They were actually on the field. Thankfully, my friends weren't involved. Who else was involved? What else was going on? Our Sunday is typically a day to work out, loosen our legs after the game, and I get called emergently back into our offices, so they bring me out. The word got out that first girl, Amey, who was pulled over the fence. She reached out and said, hey, number three helped me. My story then now takes off. How does a football player know how to do CPO? Than fully? I became a focus, and I say thankfully because we still had football to play. We had Ohio State that next week. I become the focus because I'm not going to get on the field against Ohio State. I was a scout team player, so I can take some of that focus away from my team and let them get back to what they need to focus on. But it wasn't going to happen until we knew what happened with these students, what happened with our friends. Coach Elverrez brought a whole bunch of people in to give us an update on everybody and they had told us that eleven people went to the hospital and critical condition, but nobody had died. And when they said that, and when we all heard that, sitting together, a weight lifted from our shoulders, A weightlifted saying all right, I didn't have to do anything more. I did what I could. My friends, our community, They're going to be okay. I was informed of where a couple of these critical patients went. I went out and I got a single flock, I got a rose, and I went to the hospital around the corner where I knew some of these patients were. And I went to the front desk and I introduced myself and I said, hey, I'm on the team. I know that some of these victims came here. You don't have to give me any info, but I just want to give someone this flower, just to let them know that we're still thinking about them. I'll never forget the person looked at me and said, they're gone, They're all home, nobody's left. I've never felt happier. The last person had been discharged the day before. Everybody was home. The understanding that everybody who was so amazing for us, that gave us that spirit, that gave us that will to push forward when nobody else believed in us they were going to be okay, the team pressed on, we won the Big Ten. We knew what we needed to do when we got to that Rose Bowl, but our job wasn't done. So now we had that next step and we get to the Rose Bowl and at the end of the year we came out on top. That ninety three season will be remembered for so many reasons. It'll be remembered for who we were, accomplishing more than anybody thought we could by coming together as a group, and by loving each other and playing for each other and trusting each other as much as we did. And it'll be remembered for heroism. It'll be known for a group of people that came together to try to help each other at a moment of need, and nobody backed off, nobody flinched. My little role on the University Wisconsin football team, as small as it may have been, I think I'm one of the luckiest people in the world to have gone through something like this, not alone, but together as a group, and to look back with pride, pride in that we showed our love, we showed our caring, We showed our will, and we showed that we won't flinch, and we showed the will of a group of people that truly believed in each other and part of a community that is thriving now.

And a terrific job by the production editing and storytelling by one of our regular contributors, John Elfner, who's a high school history teacher in Illinois. By the way, if you teach history, even if you don't, We love our listener contributions. We have all kinds of folks out there who know their towns, know their family's story, and know America's story. Send them to our American stories dot com. The story of the Camp Randall's stampede here on our American Stories

And a terrific job by the production editing and storytelling by one of our regular contributors, John Elfner, who's a high school history teacher in Illinois. By the way, if you teach history, even if you don't, We love our listener contributions. We have all kinds of folks out there who know their towns, know their family's story, and know America's story. Send them to our American stories dot com. The story of the Camp Randall's stampede here on our American Stories