Bo Ryan Court Halftime Dedication Speech

Bo Ryan Court

Photo Gallery of Dedication (Jan. 27, 2007)

One-Minute Video from the Dedication

“Thank you, I realize there are two wagers that were put out here today. Number one how long- under five minutes or over five minutes, and I told Coach Gibbons (Terry) and Coach Combs (Paul) we’d be okay. The second one is people know me as pretty emotional, except for the officials. I won’t try and take up this game. What I will try do is be extremely fair to everyone, I only apologize to some people and I’m not going to use names yet, but after I mention the first name with George Chryst, he is the gentleman that is really behind convincing me that this is something in my career, and my life time, and something that I needed to do. He thought it would be a good fit because as Patty and the whole crew are always reminding me, if George says ‘The Bears and Bo’ one more time… I think we’ll have some fun. First things first, the administration here, as well as the coaches and players, the students and everyone involved at the University to take this time period to do this, thank you, it is quite an honor, and I know it wasn’t something that you took lightly because by combining the fund raising efforts with it, it has been a very, very good cause and it’s going to help a lot of other people. That is really exciting. Kelly and I in 1984, were deciding where we were going, with our lives. People think, ‘oh well, it’s just another coach, he’s going down to coach another team,’ but I have to tell you, we came to the city of Platteville, where the University and the southwest Wisconsin with a lot of things in mind other than just to develop a professional career for a coach. We came here to raise a family. And at this time, they were young- would Megan, Will, and Matt please step forward? We came with three and we liked it so much we had two more. Look at what has happened- more fun. But the whole idea of coming to Platteville was to raise a family and contribute to a community. From the things that Kelly got involved in and some of the things we were involved in with the Pioneers, we were not just Platteville we were Southwest of Wisconsin, our students, our University what we did here the people in this area were so supportive that we felt like we represented a whole heck of a lot more than just the University, and the University is something that we are extremely proud on this evening, but just seeing that this family down here just continues to grow and we are happy to come back to be a part of this. I’d like for the guys who played when we were here- would you just kind of wave from where you are- let’s here it for the guys. And now I would like for those who were responsible for the 76 losses… And I’d also like to thank the current team- the Badgers. I can’t tell you enough about them, but this is about the Platteville experience, and I will always be here. And there is something I’d like to finish this with, and again trying not to name individuals because there are so many people that are responsible for this success this school had long before we came here, and while we were here, and long now after we are here. But we do have people here like Dick Wadewitz, who was the coach here before we came here-He said, Coach ‘What do you need? I’ve got some films, I’ve got some notes. What do you want?’ What a tremendous welcoming committee to have the former coach here, sit down and want to talk to somebody that is wet behind the ears and wasn’t quite sure which way to turn.  I want to thank you tremendously for that. And all the way through everyday is about helping other people. There are a lot of W’s and L’s that were repeated here and columns with numbers all on one side or one on the other and we’re extremely proud of that, but do you know what? 15 years is a whisper on the University of Wisconsin-Platteville lifespan. What speaks louder to people is how you conduct your personal lives, what you give back to your communities, and what you want to be a part of in the long run. And to me, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville people are the best!"