Ed, Wisconsin, 1969. No. 150: Clara Critter's Quota

I was living on Regent Street in Madison, WI as an undergrad at the UW on December 1, 1969, huddling around a radio with my five roommates listening to the drawing. I was the first one out, at number 150. Everyone else was well into the 200s, with a couple in the...

Fred, Wisconsin, 1969. No. 333: Combinations of Three

A good friend and I were at a Wisconsin basketball game the night of the lottery.  As I recall the Badgers won the game, and it wasn’t until we got back to our dorm room in Ogg Hall that we learned the results of the lottery.  I entered my dorm...

Mike, Wisconsin, 1969. No. 36: A Growing Experience

I was a junior at the University of Wisconsin when the first draft was held.  I was living with four roommates at the time.  My number was 36, the rest of my roommates had numbers in the 200 and 300’s.  I was allowed to graduate in January of...

Tom, Wisconsin, 1971. No. 17: Six Months of Suspense

I was in my senior year at the UW, and wound up with lottery number 17.   Then, around early December, as I recall it, Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird commented that there probably would not be a draft for the first six months of 1972.  This...

John, Wisconsin, 1969. No. 303: A Card From The Neighborhood

I was a freshman college student at the time.  Several of us sat in a dorm room watching the lottery on an officially banned TV.  As the numbers rolled across the screen, we felt very sorry for those selected early and cheered for those selected late. ...

John, Virginia, 1969. No. 304: The Divide Remains

I was a sophmore, having transfered to Madison from what was then Oshkosh State University.  An "upstate" Wisconsin native, everything about UW-Madison was strange and wondrous.  The draft lottery was one of a...