Ron Dayne (born March 14, 1978 in Berlin Township, New Jersey) was a star running back at Overbrook High School in Pine Hill, New Jersey, and he was heavily recruited by many colleges. He also excelled at track and field. In 1995 he won the NJ Meet of Champions, setting a new meet record in the Discus. In 1996 he won state titles in both the Shot Put and Discus, breaking both meet records (although both of those have since been broken again). He also won the NJ Meet of Champions in both events breaking his own meet record in the discus. He has the #5 distance ever thrown in the Discus by a US High Schooler at 216' 11" (66.12m).
His football role was expected to change when he reached college — at 270 pounds out of high school, many felt that he was simply too big to be a tailback and believed he would be best suited as a fullback. Eventually, Barry Alvarez promised Dayne a tailback position and persuaded him to come to the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Known as "The Great Dayne", "The Dayne Effect", and "The Dayne Train" throughout college, Dayne was the starting running back all four years at Wisconsin. Not a flashy or boisterous player, Dayne was a workman-like back, expected to carry the ball as much as necessary. He had 1,220 carries during his career.
Over his four seasons, Dayne set the NCAA Division I-A rushing record for total yards in a career. He gained 1,863 yards as a freshman, 1,421 as a sophomore, 1,325 as a junior, and 1,834 as a senior. He finally broke the record in the final game of the 1999 season against Iowa. Dayne ended his career with 6,397 rushing yards (which does not include yardage from the four bowl games he played in), eclipsing the record set the previous year by Ricky Williams of Texas. As of 2011, Dayne's 6,397 career yards still stand as the Division I-A career rushing record.
Dayne saved some of his best performances for the four bowl games to which he led Wisconsin. He rushed for 246 to lead the Badgers to a 38–10 victory in the 1996 Copper Bowl against Utah, garnering MVP honors. Dayne only gained 36 yards in the 1998 Outback Bowl loss against Georgia the next season, but bounced back the next two seasons with 246 yards and 200 yards, respectively, in the Badgers' 1999 and 2000 Rose Bowl wins. Dayne won MVP honors in both games, becoming only the third player in the history of the Rose Bowl to repeat as MVP — and the first and still only Big Ten player to do so. Bob Schloredt (Washington/Pac-10), Charles White (USC/Pac-10) were the first two, and Vince Young (Texas/Big 12) has subsequently accomplished this feat.
Dayne won the Heisman Trophy in 1999 as well as other awards throughout college, including Big Ten Conference player of the year in 2000 and All-American placement in 1996, 1998 and 1999. His name and number is one of six displayed on the Camp Randall Stadium façade. Dayne's #33 was officially retired during the November 10, 2007 game against Michigan.
Dayne's career rushing total remains an NCAA record. When yardage from bowl games is included, (under the current NCAA rules, a running back attempting to break Dayne's record would play twelve games each season and be allowed to count yards gained in any conference championship games or any bowl game in the official totals) he amassed 7,125 yards. He shares the record for most 200-yard rushing games with Ricky Williams and Marcus Allen, with twelve. He also holds the Big Ten Conference rushing and total touchdowns record, with 71, and is one of five players in NCAA history to rush for over a thousand yards in each of his four seasons.
Taken from Wikipedia