Wisconsin Hoofers

Wisconsin Hoofers of the Wisconsin Union (Hoofer outdoor adventure clubs) is a group of clubs at the University of Wisconsin - Madison and the Wisconsin Union Directorate created with the purpose of organized outdoors recreation of various kinds. The emblem of the club in its current form is the capital "W" overlaid by the horseshoe (which looks like "U", thus alluding to the "U of W") [ [http://hoofers.org/xoops/ Wisconsin Hoofers website] ]

The first club of the kind, a skiing and outing club, was established in 1931, modelled after the Dartmouth Outing Club. 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. [http://archives.library.wisc.edu/exhibits/hoofers/1930s.html "Early Hoofers History"] , a University of Wisconsin archive webpage]

Clubs

Currently there are the following specialized clubs:
*Hoofer Riding Club (including Hoofer Equestrian Center) (since 1939)
*Hoofer Sailing Club (since 1939)
*Hoofer Outing Club (since 1945)
*Hoofer Mountaineering Club (since 1949)
*Hoofer SCUBA Club (since 1976)
*Hoofer Ski and Snowboard Club (Hoofers SnS)

Past clubs:
*Hoofer Skiing and Outing Club (1931, the first 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)

Notable members

*Brothers Paul Bietila and Walter Bietila, selected for the 1940 US Olympic ski jumping team. The Games were cancelled due to World War II. Walter became captain of the 1948 team, and later served on the US National Olympic Committee. Notable Hoofer Sailing Club members include Peter Barrett, an Olympic sailing gold (1968) and silver (1964) winner, [ [http://www.e-scow.org/Peter/ Peter Barrett Obituary] ] and Peter and Olaf Harken, founders of Harken, Inc., a sailing-hardware manufacturer. [ [http://www.biztimes.com/news/2006/6/23/harkens-innovation-created-international-market-for-sailing-gear Small Business Times, June 23, 2006] ] [ [http://www.cncmagazine.com/archive02/v4i14/v4i14g-sail.htm CNC Machining Magazine, Vol. 4, No. 14, Summer 2000] ] [ [http://www.sailnet.com/forums/learning-sail-articles/18819-how-other-sailors-learned.html SailNet "How Other Sailors Learned" August 31, 2001] ] [ [http://www.econ.wisc.edu/newsletter/Newsletter/newslinks.pdf University of Wisconsin-Madison Economics Alumni Newsletter, 2004, p. 8, Alumni News (PDF) ] ]

References