Jack Cichy began his career as a walk-on at the University of Wisconsin. On Sunday, he reached the pinnacle for a professional football athlete.

By virtue of Tampa Bay’s 31-9 victory over Kansas City in Super Bowl 55, Cichy became the 19th former Badgers student-athlete to be crowned a Super Bowl champion.

Cichy was inactive for Sunday’s triumph in Tampa after sustaining a broken arm in the NFC divisional round against New Orleans but overcoming adversity has been nothing new to the Somerset, Wis., native.

He played in 24 games with 11 starts at Wisconsin from 2013-17, logging 120 tackles, 15.0 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and six pass breakups. Cichy showed his skill set when he registered a sack on three consecutive plays en route to Defensive MVP honors of the 2015 Holiday Bowl, but he was plagued by a torn pectoral muscle that ended his 2016 season and a torn ACL that wiped out his 2017 season.

Drafted by the Buccaneers in the sixth round of the 2018 NFL Draft, Cichy tore his ACL in his rookie 2018 season, went on injured reserve in 2019 with an elbow injury and was placed on IR this season with a hamstring injury. He was cut by Tampa Bay in early December and signed by the New England Patriots to its practice squad. In a twist of irony, injuries prompted the Buccaneers to sign Cichy in early January for the playoff push.

In 16 games with the Buccaneers over the last three seasons, mostly on special teams, Cichy has seven tackles.

At least one former UW player has appeared in 35 of the 55 Super Bowls, and seven of the last eight Super Bowls have included one former Badger hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.