The Wisconsin Hoofers of the Wisconsin Union is a group of outdoor recreational clubs at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

, operated by the Wisconsin Union Directorate. The emblem of the club in its current form is the capital "W" overlaid by the

horseshoe A horseshoe is a product designed to protect a horse hoof from wear. Shoes are attached on the palmar surface (ground side) of the hooves, usually nailed through the insensitive hoof wall that is anatomically akin to the human toenail, altho ...

(which looks like "U", thus alluding to the "U of W").

History

The Wisconsin Hoofers was begun in 1920 by a group of Norwegian exchange students who built a ski jump on the UW-Madison campus by

Lake Mendota Lake Mendota is a freshwater eutrophic lake that is the northernmost and largest of the four lakes in Madison, Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin. The lake borders Madison on the north, east, and south, Middleton, Wisconsin, Middleton on the west, Sho ...

. The club was originally called the Badger Ski Club. Porter Butts, the first director of the Memorial Union, was instrumental in establishing the Wisconsin Hoofers. The first Hoofers club, a skiing and outing club, was established in 1931, modeled after the

Dartmouth Outing Club The Dartmouth Outing Club (DOC) is a collegiate outing club in the United States. Proposed in 1909 by Dartmouth College student Fred Harris to "stimulate interest in out-of-door winter sports", the club soon grew to encompass the college's year- ...

. The name "hoofers" is similar to the term "heelers" used for the new members of the Dartmouth club and reportedly was designed to imply "getting there under your own power." In 1976 Hoofers listed over 5,600 members. From 2012 to 2017, Memorial Union underwent extensive renovations. Wisconsin Hoofers was renovated during the first phase of the project, which lasted from 2012 to 2013.

Hoofer Sailing Club

The Hoofer Sailing Club operates at Memorial Union in the basement of the Theater wing, on the south shoreline of

on the

campus. It has a fleet of more than 120 boats,

sailboards Windsurfing is a wind-propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the Californian aerospace and surf culture. Windsurfing gain ...

and kites. At its peak in the mid-1970's the club had 2000 members all paying $30 to be a member for the summer. Nearly 50 lessons were run daily with over 50 identical Tech Dinghies racing Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings. The club currently has around 600 members. It is believed to be the second-largest inland sailing club in the country. The club has a highly-active instruction program, with thousands of lessons each season taught by paid and volunteer staff. Members have free access to use equipment after they have completed their instruction and earned a certification. In the winter months, the club has on-land classes and a snow-kiting program. The club also hosts the University of Wisconsin undergraduate sailing team, nicknamed Wisco, which competes in the

Intercollegiate Sailing Association The Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association of North America (ICSA) is a volunteer organization that serves as the governing authority for all sailing competition at colleges and universities throughout the United States and in some parts of Canada. ...

. The

sailing club A yacht club is a boat club specifically related to yachting. Description Yacht clubs are mostly located by the sea, although there some that have been established at a lake or riverside locations. Yacht or sailing clubs have either a mari ...

originated in 1939 as an all-volunteer club whose members maintained boats and taught each other how to

sail A sail is a tensile structure, which is made from fabric or other membrane materials, that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails may b ...

on wooden dinghies. Peter Barrett brought the first wooden Tech dinghy from

M.I.T. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sci ...

in the 1950s, and it became the club's signature boat. Peter and Olaf Harken modified M.I.T.'s fiberglass Tech design with air tanks under the

gunwales The gunwale () is the top edge of the hull of a ship or boat. Originally the structure was the "gun wale" on a sailing warship, a horizontal reinforcing band added at and above the level of a gun deck to offset the stresses created by firing ar ...

, so that a capsized boat could be righted and come up mostly dry, to create the Badger Tech dinghy. The two brothers founded their first company, Vanguard Sailboats, as well a
Harken
to construct a fleet of these boats. The club has expanded to sail fifteen types of craft today. In 2003, the sailing club added a cruising sailing curriculum with the donation of ''Spray'', a 30-foot cruising yacht, by a retired electrical engineering professor. The cruising program was very popular, and so in 2010, the club became an American Sailing Association-certified school. (There are charges in addition to the dues for ASA certifications and classes.)

Hoofer Ski and Snowboard Club

Originally started as the Badger Ski Club with three pairs of skis in 1931, the Ski and Snowboard club has grown to one of the largest clubs of its kind. The club plans a variety of ski and snowboard trips for University of Wisconsin students and union members, ranging from out west, Midwest, and local trips. It had been long-standing tradition that the club organize a 200+ person trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, during the university's spring break. The club also includes an Alpine Racing Team, Nordic Team, and Freestyle Team. Several annual campus events are organized by the club such as the Rail Jam freestyle competition at Union South and ski and snowboard movie premieres. Since 1963 the club has hosted a ski and snowboard resale every December, which has grown to be the largest in the Midwest. At the resale the local community can buy and sell new or used ski and snowboard equipment. Hoofer Ski and Snowboard Club also offers lessons to those who would like to learn to ski or ride or would like to improve their skills.

Hoofer Outing Club

Founded in 1945, the Outing Club combines a number of outdoor pursuits under a single umbrella club. The Outing club is an all-volunteer, student-run organization, though members need not be affiliated with the UW. The Outing Club is active year-round, with Interest Groups in Caving, Road Cycling, Mountain Biking, Rock Climbing, Telemark Skiing, XC Skiing, Whitewater Paddling, Flatwater Paddling, and Hiking/Backpacking. The club owns a piece of undeveloped property referred to as "Hooferland" in the town of Silver Cliff, which is near Lakewood, WI, which it uses to stage various weekend trips throughout the year. The Outing Club was instrumental in developing the sport of whitewater paddling in Wisconsin in the 1960s, as it owned molds to build boats in its shop facilities in the basement of the Memorial Union. In the late 1970s, club member Gordy Sussman started a small outfit in his rental house near campus to make group purchases of paddles, and other equipment, to get discounts and save on shipping costs. He developed this operation into the Rutabaga Paddlesports shop, a successful local business that presents Canoecopia, claimed to be the world's largest paddlesports exposition.

Other clubs

Currently there are the following other specialized clubs: * Hoofer Riding Club (including Hoofer Equestrian Center) (since 1939) * Hoofer Mountaineering Club (since 1949) * Hoofer SCUBA Club (since 1976)

Former clubs

Past clubs: * Badger Ski Club (1920, the first club, renamed Hoofer Skiing and Outing Club in 1931) * Hoofer Skiing and Outing Club (1931, eventually becoming the Hoofer Ski and Snowboard Club) * Hoofer Archery Club (1934, suffered from lack of permanent shooting range and in 1965 was made into Hunting Club, which was about shooting prey rather than targets; survived until 1967, folding into Hoofer Outing) * Hoofer Canoe Club (1952–1957, folded into Hoofer Outing) * Ecology Club (1970s, short-lived) * Hoofer Environment Club (1980s, short-lived) * Hoofer Gliding Club

Notable members

* Brothers Paul Bietila and Walter Bietila, selected for the 1940 US Olympic

ski jumping Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the final ...

team. The Games were canceled due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Walter became captain of the 1948 team, and later served on the US National Olympic Committee. Famous Hoofer Sailing Club members include Peter Barrett, an Olympic sailing

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

(1968) and

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

(1964) winner, and Peter and Olaf Harken, founders of Harken, Inc., a sailing-hardware manufacturer
Russell Robinson
two-time back to back winner of US Sailing Champion of Champions Regatta. Paul Exner five-time winner of the Tech Intergalactics.