The two kids painting a Camp Randall Stadium concession stand couldn’t have been more different. One was a non-athlete who, according to his supervisor, was “the son of one of the mucky mucks at the university.” The other was J.J. Watt.



It was 2008. Watt had transferred to Wisconsin as a walk-on earlier that year, after playing tight end for one season at Central Michigan, and he found a summer job as a maintenance worker at the stadium. His bosses, including Darrell Farrar, a semi-retired man in his late 60s, quickly learned all Watt cared about was doing his job well. And he refused to do it alone. So when Watt noticed “the son of one of the mucky mucks” reading a book instead of painting, he swatted the book away and told him to get to work.



“I laughed my ass off,” Farrar said. “Like I said, J.J. was great.”



Farrar, Dan Pertzborn and Jim Hackbart — all former teamster truckers who stayed busy with...