When did Fifth Quarter begin?

Usually, Fifth Quarter starts right after the fourth quarter ends. If you look closely at the name, you’ll discover a sort of sequential logic. Or perhaps you mean “When did the tradition of having a Fifth Quarter start?” That would be 1978. The story starts, as so many UW Band traditions do, with Mike Leckrone, who served as director from 1969 until 2019. In the 1970s, the Badger football team was not great — its record for that decade was 46–58–5. But Leckrone’s bands were more exciting — they incorporated music from current pop culture. One such song was “Here Comes the King,” also known as “You’ve Said It All” or “The Bud Song.” Composer Steve Karmen (the King of Jingles) wrote the tune in 1971 to advertise Budweiser, and he used instruments from a traditional polka band — a style of music that appealed to Wisconsinites, combining German heritage with an emphasis on beer. In 1977, Leckrone added the tune to the Marching Band’s repertoire, changing the lyric from Budweiser to the metrically similar Wisconsin, “When you’ve said Wisconsin, you’ve said it all.” The band played that tune and “Varsity” after every game. Fans stuck around. In 1978, the band decided to make a regular show: they would wait 10 minutes after a game ended, then begin a new period — a fifth quarter — and 46 years later, the tradition is still going strong. Thanks to Flamingle reader and band alum Clayton Browne ’80 for helping us out by sharing his memories!