ANDY BAGGOT Insider Related Content • Varsity Magazine

The 2020 class of the UW Athletic Hall of Fame has been selected and new members will be announced from June 15 - 26. Visit UWBadgers.com each day to celebrate each new member of this distinguished and historic class of Badgers!

BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider

MADISON, Wis. — John Byce had a flair about him that was hard to put into words, but you knew it when you saw it.

Sometimes it happened in an instant. Sometimes it lived on for days. Sometimes it defied boundaries and elements while moving from one stage to another.

Regardless, you couldn't help but appreciate it as anything less than a gift.

Byce played baseball and men's hockey at Wisconsin from 1985 to '90, earning all-league honors in both. That's an astonishing achievement — he was a first-team all-Big Ten Conference designated hitter in 1987 and a second-team all-Western Collegiate Hockey Association center in 1990 — when you learn he was a walk-on in both sports.

Byce had a knack for doing provocative things on behalf of both programs, feats that put him in the headlines as well as the record books.

They also landed Byce in the University of Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame, where he'll be part of an 11-member class that will be recognized in September.
 

"It was a huge surprise," Byce said of the congratulatory phone call from Barry Alvarez, the UW director of athletics. "I was shocked."

Byce grew up on the West Side of Madison, excelled in three sports at Memorial High School and rejected all recruiting overtures to stay home and play for the Badgers even though he didn't land a scholarship until his third season of hockey.

"I was very thankful to have that opportunity," he said of competing for his local NCAA Division I college. "From a young age, following Badger hockey and Badger sports, that's all I wanted to do."

Byce proceeded to amass a large collection of rare performances.

His first hit in a Big Ten baseball game was a grand slam in 1986 and his first shot in a WCHA contest was a goal, also in '86.

He set the school standard with hits in nine consecutive at-bats in 1987 and shares the mark for the longest goal-scoring streak at nine games in 1990.

He holds the program mark for most runs batted in during an inning with seven in 1989 and owns two of the six UW hat tricks produced in the NCAA tournament. One came in the 1990 national championship game, a 7-3 victory over Colgate.

That unique level of skill and showmanship carried over to the pros. Byce was chosen by Boston with the 220th pick in the 1985 NHL draft. Sixteen days after his three-goal outing in the NCAA title game, he got his first goal for the Bruins in a Game 7 victory over Hartford in the Adams Division semifinal series.

He's also the only person in history to win an NCAA title, then play in the Stanley Cup Final in the same season.

How do you explain all that?

"Scary, scary, scary natural talent," said Mark Osiecki, a standout hockey defenseman for UW from 1987 to '90 who roomed with Byce for two years.

"Johnny was phenomenal," said Joe Armentrout, an all-Big Ten outfielder who played alongside Byce during the 1986 baseball season.

Byce has some honest theories.

"Part of it was I was a streaky player," he said. "When I was in a flow and feeling good about myself, things happened that way. The negative part was when it went the other way, you'd see me disappear for a while."

Not often, though. Byce's stats defined consistency. He led the Badgers in goals as a junior with 27 and in assists as a senior with 44. He hit .302 and generated 38 RBI on 42 hits in 1987.

"The bigger games I was more focused at times, so I think I was a little more successful in some of the bigger games," Byce said.

"Nothing rattled him," Osiecki said. "He was so calm and collected that it didn't faze him what the moment was. Other guys would be looking at the moment, understanding what it was and trying to deal with it. He never had to deal with it. He just went along with it. He knew what it was, but he was just so calm."

The 1990 national championship team had seven players who reached the NHL and four of the top 20 point-producers in UW history. Osiecki, now an associate head coach with the Badgers, said Byce stood out.

"In my opinion, I think he had the most talent," Osiecki said. "And there was a lot of talent on that team."

Byce stands 20th all-time on the UW hockey scoring list with 165 points (77 goals, 88 assists) in 169 career outings. He's also one of the last of 35 baseball players in Wisconsin history to earn all-Big Ten first-team honors going back to 1949. The school dropped the sport during a funding crisis in 1991.

Playing two Division I sports in college has its unique challenges, something Armentrout knows well. Now a Madison-area real estate broker, he was a starting running back for the football team, lettering all four seasons starting in 1983, as well as a two-time all-Big Ten outfielder in 1984 and '85.

"I'd say the hockey-baseball thing is a little more difficult because you're coming off a (hockey) season where you had to work so hard and, the next day, you're probably having to travel for the spring trip," Armentrout said.

"One of the hardest things to do athletically is to hit a round ball and John was seamless at it. He was super athletic, so you could move him around. He could play second, he could play third and anywhere in the outfield.

"Taking off the skates and going out and putting cleats on is a huge, difficult transition."

Byce, now a senior manager for corporate real estate for RBC Wealth Management in Madison, offered a verbal shrug to the topic.

"For me, it wasn't that difficult," he said. "With school there you have to be disciplined and keep up with your school work. But at the same time it was the one season, then you moved on to the next. It didn't take up that much more of my time."

Byce said it helped being able to drop by the Camp Randall Memorial Sports Center and take some batting practice during hockey season.

"As far as the demands to do both, it wasn't that difficult," he said.

Byce grew up playing as many sports as possible. He and his buddies in the Parkwood Hills neighborhood would do their own thing or tag along with their older brothers. That included games of basketball on a nine-foot rim in the Byce's driveway and floor hockey in their basement. The layout included all the proper markings with the timer on the clothes dryer serving as the game clock. Growing up, Byce said he spent hours alone on that imaginary ice sheet pretending he was Dean Talafous or just about any of the UW stars from the 1970s.

Byce and his best friend, Rob Andringa, loved tagging along with their older brothers, Brad Byce and Jeff Andringa. They shared a love for all things hockey, including annual summer trips to Colorado for the Bob Johnson Hockey School.

John Byce and Rob Andringa wound up playing baseball and hockey at Wisconsin. They were teammates in 1990 when the Badgers won their fifth NCAA crown.

Andringa, a loveable, gregarious cut-up who played a program-best 179 games as a defenseman, was fond of recounting all the records his best friend set while mocking his own.

"He'd say that about the only record he had was putting 41 pieces of bubblegum in his mouth at the same time," Armentrout said with a laugh.

Except that John Byce and Rob Andringa were both inducted into the Madison Sports Hall of Fame; Byce in 2007 and Andringa in '11.

Roughly three weeks before Andringa died of colon cancer last month, Byce called him with news of his UW Hall of Fame selection.

"He was so proud and happy for me," Byce said. "We were basically both in tears."

Andringa's name came up again when Byce was asked if he had any superstitions.

"My hockey stick would be set in the urinal before the game," he said matter-of-factly. "Kind of a strange one."

Apparently Byce was the supremely nervous type before any kind of outing.

"Guys knew that about me and they found ways to make me relaxed," he said, noting that Andringa and fellow free spirit Tom Sagissor were the project coordinators.

Byce said he nearly turned exclusively to baseball at one point. After redshirting for hockey in 1985-86, UW coach Jeff Sauer experimented with Byce as a defenseman, which didn't go as planned. Byce wound up moving back to forward and becoming one of seven players in program history to compile three consecutive seasons with 20-plus goals, joining Jason Zent, Tony Granato, Paul Houston, Mark Johnson, Les Grauer and Murray Heatley.

Byce said he was fortunate to play for Sauer and baseball coach Steve Land because they gave him opportunities to develop early and often.

Osiecki wondered aloud if playing in his hometown meant extra pressure for Byce.

"It was definitely an advantage for me," Byce said. "It was an amazing opportunity. I was truly very lucky to be able to do that."

Osiecki said Byce was an "unbelievably humble" teammate, a guy who kept his feats to himself. To wit, Byce said he was unaware that his nine-game goal streak was a program record.

"You'd have to try and squeeze anything out of him to explain his talent," Osiecki said.

"He was a true teammate. Didn't care who received any kind of credit. Didn't care who he played with. He just went out and played. He certainly made everyone around him better."

---

2020 UW Athletic Hall of Fame

• Aaron Gibson, Football
• Carla MacLeod, Women's Hockey
• Ted Kellner, Special Service
• Jackie Zoch, Women's Rowing
• Mike Wilkinson, Men's Basketball
• John Byce, Men's Hockey and Baseball
• Tom Burke, Football
• Jessie Stomski, Women's Basketball
• Dick Bartman, Boxing
• Jeff Braun, Men's Track and Field
• Bo Ryan, Men's Basketball