Wisconsin's road of sarcasm for Iowa fans now less traveled

DICKEYVILLE, Wis. - Some college football traditions form with spontaneity and a few stiff drinks in a Wisconsin tavern.

Until 2005, the University of Iowa football team - which plays Saturday at Wisconsin - traveled on winding, two-lane Highway 151 with multiple stops until reaching Madison. It didn't take long before Iowa fans, coaches and players were met with a rather sarcastic welcoming in southwest Wisconsin.

“As soon as you crossed the border into Wisconsin there would be people waiting on the corner flashing different signs with different sayings,” former Iowa football team captain and current Wisconsin Coach Bret Bielema said with a laugh. “I can't say (the slogans) out in public. But they were very creative.”

Days before Iowa supporters drove through Dickeyville, located about 12 miles northeast of Dubuque, Don Steffen and friends would plot against the Hawkeyes at the Squirrel's Nest tavern. There they'd come up with signs and slogans and then stand at Dickeyville's primary intersection, where old Highway 151 connected with Highway 61. Among the slogans: “Go Home Hawks,” “Herky Jerky” and “Chicken Hawks.”

“We'd go to the tavern, have a couple of toddies to get our courage up and go out there and heckle a few fans and we'd come back and giggle at the bar,” Steffen said. “Then we'd run out and do it some more.”

Those signs continue to garner reactions from Iowa fans, players and coaches. Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz was an assistant during Bielema's playing days and has taken the bus trip to Wisconsin 10 times. He remembers the hand gestures more than the signs.

“People would literally come out in the streets and be waiting for us,” Ferentz said, “just to let us know how they felt about us entering in Wisconsin.”

But Iowa fans aren't above getting even, either. Steffen said fans threw cans and underwear at him, and some mooned him as he held his signs, which he said were “not really risque.”

Matt Engelbert, Iowa football video coordinator, recalls the locals' celebration and derogatory signs after the Iowa's 1997 loss at Wisconsin. The town delivered a makeshift car parade along Highway 61 to force the Iowa buses and fans to sit at the intersection and view the signs. He vowed to get even.

After three straight Iowa defeats in Madison, Iowa won 27-21 in 2003. “When we got back to Dickeyville, we made sure we got to that stop sign and we laid on the horns,” he said. “We woke up as many people as we possibly could.”

Those stories make Steffen laugh. He still has his signs and gets in his shots at Iowa.

“I don't know if you can print that in Iowa,” he said. “It's probably against freedom of speech down there.”

The stories continue on the drive outside of Dickeyville. Former Iowa Sports Information Director George Wine recalled in 1979 the bus carrying the defense was pulled and the driver ticketed for speeding. Longtime booster Tommy Thompson pays to park his car in a Madison garage to avoid getting it soaped and egged like in the past.

But Dickeyville was where the fun heckling began - and with the four-lane road that bypasses the town where much of it ends.

“When we win there's a little bit of me that would like to stop and honk the horns again,” Engelbert said. “That's part of the Iowa-Wisconsin rivalry. You've got to have some fun with it.”