Badgers of Influence

J. J. Watt x’12 AP/Aaron M. Sprecher

“Every few years, a professional athlete touches the heart and soul of a city in a way that has nothing to do with athleticism,” Houston mayor Sylvester Turner wrote in a TIME magazine tribute to NFL star J. J. Watt x’12 (above), who raised more than $37 million following Hurricane Harvey. Watt was one of three Badgers named to the magazine’s list of the 100 Most Influential People of 2018. The others include Ann McKee ’75, an expert on chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, who has studied more athletes’ brains than any other neuropathologist, and Virgil Abloh ’03, artistic director of menswear for fashion house Louis Vuitton.

Published in the Summer 2018 issue