MADISON, Wis. -- Ron Dayne never has been more content.

His daughter, Jada, is by his side each day and recently celebrated her second birthday. Alia Lester, the mother of his child and his partner for the last three years, is a constant source of support, friendship and reassurance.

	As a freshman, Ron Dayne led Wisconsin to a 38-10 Copper Bowl win over Utah.

His sister, Onya, has joined him at the University of Wisconsin for her freshman year. Onya has provided her brother with the type of love that can only come from a family member.

With their victory over Iowa Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium, the Badgers clinched a second consecutive Big Ten title. And Dayne broke the NCAA Division I-A all-time rushing record of 6,279 yards, set last season by Ricky Williams at Texas. His 216-yard day pushed his career total to 6,739.

Those milestones, while significant, are actually secondary. On his greatest day as a football player, the day he played his last regular-season game for Wisconsin, 21-year-old Ron Dayne was surrounded by his teammates, the mother of his child, his daughter, and his baby sister.

"As long I've got my team with me and my family," Dayne said, "I'm happy."

Life wasn't always this good, though.

Neither Ron nor Onya is comfortable talking publicly about their parents, Brenda Reid and Ron Dayne Sr., and their childhood. The path each followed in becoming young adults is as jagged as the journey Dayne took on his record-breaking 31-yard run.

Ron Dayne Sr and Brenda married in the late 1970s. The couple soon moved from Berlin, N.J., to Richmond, Va., where Ron Dayne Sr. grew up. Ron and Onya were born there.

However, the mother began using cocaine and the marriage soon began to fall apart. She moved back to Berlin with her children. She was able to get a job as a teacher for troubled youth in a correctional facility. But the drug use continued and she eventually found herself unemployed.

Ron was 12 and Onya 10 when members of the Reid family took over. Ron Dayne moved in with his uncle and aunt, Rob and Debbie Reid, because their son was close to Ron. Onya moved in with the family of Mark Reid, largely because she was close to her cousin, Joy.

"We are a family," said Rob Reid, who is Ron Dayne's legal guardian. "We never gave it a second thought."

Rob Reid, a social worker in the same correctional facility where Brenda had been a teacher, knew both children needed positive role models, guidance and structure. He had seen too many young people stray down the wrong path because they lacked proper guidance.

Ron Dayne acknowledges that his uncle, Rob, and former Washington Redskins running back John Riggins were his two most powerful role models.

"I liked the way he carried himself," Dayne said of Riggins.

Ron Reid never made it to the NFL, but he was an all-state player in high school and played at Rowan College.

"I liked the way he played," Ron Dayne said. "You never saw him spiking the ball or celebrating in people's faces. He just did what he had to do."

Just a teenager at the time, Ron Dayne did what he had to do. Although he and his sister lived in stable homes, they were nonetheless separate. Ron made sure he played the role of big brother to the hilt.

"He would come over and see me and make sure everything was all right or if I needed anything," Onya explained. "Or he would just spend time with me. Or he would come to my school."

Was he overly protective?

"He still is," Onya said. "But he's gotten a lot better."

Lester, who is a senior at UW majoring in broadcast journalism, added: "He lets her go on dates now."

Today, the roles are reversed. Onya helps provides a sanctuary and a sounding board during those times the constant interviews and hype proves to be too much for her big brother.

"I'm always there for him," she said. "Whatever decision he makes, I'm going to have his back. He knows that.

"It's always nice for someone who plays sports and is as big as he is, to have a place they can call home. He doesn't have to talk about sports, or what he did in the game or what he didn't do in the game."

Neither Ron nor Onya has much contact with their parents, who do not live together. The past remains painful. When asked where he might be today if the Reid family hadn't stepped in, Ron Dayne allows his sister take the floor.

"As far as us growing up and the problems that we've been through," she said, "I can't honestly say he would be behind bars or anything negative like that. Because who can tell the future?

"I don't think it would have been bad. But I don't think he would be here, as far as him being Ron Dayne, the Great Dayne. I don't think it would have worked out that well, but I'm sure he would have made it to college."

So, too, is Wisconsin offensive coordinator Brian White, who joined the staff as running backs coach in 1996, Dayne's freshman season. White will defend Dayne's skills as a football player until he can no longer speak. However, he is equally as proud of the manner in which Dayne has handled life off the field.

"Probably the thing that is going to stick with me the longest is his smile with his daughter," White said. "That's when I knew what I special young man I was coaching. The fact that, at 19 years old he didn't shirk the responsibility of fatherhood. He embraced it.

"I've seen an awful lot of quality people, from quality backgrounds, who at 19 years old and presented with the same situation, run from it because they don't want to face it.

"He has embraced it and attacked it and been a very loyal, loving and dedicated dad."

You only need to watch Jada bounce up and down on her father's right knee to see that. It is at this moment when Ron Dayne is at his happiest.

"Definitely," he said. "I just love playing with her and having fun."

Jeff Potrykus covers the University of Wisconsin for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.