STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Bo Ryan is the son of a Chester pipefitter named Butch. So it’s no surprise that a fire, one as red as his team’s road uniforms, burns in the belly of the University of Wisconsin’s basketball coach.
“My dad’s a tough guy,” Ryan said earlier this week as his fourth-ranked Badgers prepared for last night’s game at Penn State. “He never finished high school. They kicked him out of St. James [High] because when a priest asked him if he knew the Apostles’ Creed, he said, ‘Can you hum a few bars?’ ”
Butch Ryan, now 83, passed that blue-collar, riverfront atty-tood down to his son.