I grew up in Waterford, graduated in 1982, went to UW Stevens Point to play baseball, and study Communications, hoping to someday join Bob Uecker in the booth. My major changed to Psychology by the end of my sophomore year as I started turning my direction towards high school teaching, coaching, and counseling. I started coaching basketball while still in college, and when my college eligibility was up, also started coaching baseball. To help pay my college bills I ran the officials for the Intramural Department and began officiating for the WIAA in Central Wisconsin. I also golfed for a couple seasons at UWSP, and off an on over the years I have played golf competitively, now playing in some the Wisconsin PGA sponsored amateur senior events, and am a member at Morningstar. I married my college sweetheart, Bridget Kenney, and we have resided in Mukwonago since the summer of 1989. My mother was raised in Mukwonago so I have always had a connection to this wonderful community, and only living 8 miles from where I grew up, have lots of ties all around the area. The bulk of my career was for the Mukwonago Schools, and I have been very active in our local youth sports organizations, hoping to pass on my thoughts on proper sportsmanship in today’s kids, coaches, and parents.
Q: Please tell us a little bit about your family.
My wife Bridget and I just celebrated our 33rd wedding anniversary. We have three adult children: Katlyn, who lives with her fiancé Dan in Wauwatosa and works as a Speech Pathologist in the Cudahy School District, Alex, who also lives in Wauwatosa and works in Financial Wealth Management, and Andy, who lives here in Mukwonago and is a student studying Cyber Security. Bridget is a fantastic 4th grade teacher at Clarendon Elementary, and all three of our kids are proud MHS graduates.
Q: Please tell us about your current, past, or future career. What do you love most about what you do?
I started teaching and coaching in Mukwonago in 1989 after spending the first two years of my career at Big Foot High School in Walworth. I taught 7th grade Social Studies at Park View for 4 years, taught Psychology and American Government at MHS for 3 years, and I spent the last 25 years at MHS as a School Counselor. I retired from MASD in June of 2021. In my 32 years here in Mukwonago I coached over 80 different seasons at various levels, including being the head boys basketball coach, the head girls golf coach, the head boys golf coach, the head baseball coach, and some early years as part of the football staff. Since retiring from MHS I have taken on the role of Head Men’s Golf Coach and Asst. Women’s Golf Coach at Carthage College in Kenosha. Although I no longer coach basketball, I found a way to stay involved by becoming a basketball referee, something I initially did as I worked my way through college. In a couple connected roles, I am currently the President of the Golf Coaches Association of Wisconsin, and I continue to volunteer my time to the Board of The Tribe, our local youth baseball organization. Growing up the son of very successful teachers and a hall of fame coach, and having my own background as a high school and college athlete, I inherited a passion for education and sports. I saw first-hand how important my parents were to their community and generations of kids, and I decided I wanted to try my best to carry on their legacy, both in education and in athletics. My focus was to get my students and players to understand how I truly cared about them, and if they would trust that I had their best interests in mind, they would grow, they would enjoy the journey, they could handle adversity knowing we were all in it together, and they would ultimately succeed. Defining success can come from so many different directions, but if we care about each other, respect each other, and put each other first, we win.
Q: What are a couple of your favorite restaurants in our community?
We have some fantastic restaurant options in Mukwonago, and as busy as I am, I have gotten to know them well. The classic menu of Fork in the Road is tough to beat, but I would think my history of chicken wing orders at Boneyard has to put me in favored customer status. Bridget and I also have become big fans of David Alan Alan’s (who would have guessed 10 years ago that something called “burnt ends” would be so popular on any menu?) and I believe Antigua Real is a bit of a hidden Mukwonago gem.
Q: How long have you lived or worked in our community?
We moved here in 1989, shortly after getting married, and I started my MASD career that fall. The MHS Athletic Director at the time, the infamous Mr. Gerry Asmann, and our head basketball coach at the time, Mr. Keith Brandstetter, were instrumental in recruiting me, mentoring me, and helping create a passion for the Mukwonago community. I had family background in Mukwonago, but Gerry and Keith were able to show me how special our school district was, and also assist me in establishing my personal and professional roots.
Q: Who is the most interesting person you’ve met here in our community?
I have met so many interesting and impactful people in my thirty-some years in this community, but one that stands out from my earlier days is Keith Hensler, our longtime and very successful MHS football coach. His small town Iowa background came with so many stories, and as a young educator and coach, to me they had a parable quality. Now some of them were just damn funny, and I am sure over time the stories might have become embellished, but it sure seemed like each had a moral that he wanted to share. His commitment to his football program, to bettering every kid that wore an MHS Indian helmet, and his true loyalty to his family, friends, and community sticks with me to this day.
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would it be and why?
I have not had the opportunity to do all that much traveling, but it is something I would love to do when Bridget retires. I think the list would start with Europe – see as much of it as I could, with a special few days in Scotland to see the home of golf.
Q: What is one of your favorite movies? TV shows?
My favorite TV show of all time is Friends, with other fun comedies over time like Happy Days, Seinfeld, Leave It To Beaver, The Andy Griffith Show, and the Big Bang Theory being my favorites that stand the test of time. I also am a night time drama ensemble show nerd – I love shows like Blue Bloods, CSI, Law & Order, NYPD Blue, E.R., LA Law, Boston Legal, Chicago PD, and NCIS. During COVID we did join the streaming binge with The Ozarks, Bosch, and now Yellowstone. I haven’t gotten to the theater all that often in the last 30 years, but I do love it when I make the time. I thought the new Top Gun was a ton of fun. I am a bit of a fiction nerd as well, really enjoying mainstream stuff like James Patterson, Stephen King, and John Grisham.
Q: What advice would you give to people?
Smile, laugh, don’t sweat the small stuff, and be there for others. Be the person who is always in a good mood, is always willing to listen, is looking to brighten the day. Every day is a chance to help someone besides yourself, and ultimately you will see you are helping yourself with each of these interactions. There is so much selfishness in our society, and some people actually feel they need to teach you to be selfish. That is such an ugly way to go through life. Be the bubbler, not the drain.
Q: What is something on your bucket list?
I have lots of things on my bucket list, but playing a round at Augusta National might be hard to top. Watching my own horse race at the Kentucky Derby would be a close second (but no, I don’t yet own any thoroughbreds).
Q: What is your go to band when you can’t decide what to listen to?
My go to band is probably a tie between Boston and REO Speedwagon.
Q: What current or former local business makes you the most nostalgic about our community?
The easy answer would be Fork in the Road / Inn the Olden Days / Vista Gardens because it has always been a popular restaurant in the heart of the village yet has taken on different names and personalities over time, but I would focus on the small liquor store on Main Street, just south of Mt Olive church, that used to be called Anich’s Liquors. My grandparents lived near there, on Meachem Street, and when I was a little guy visiting Grandma Winnie, the occasional treat was to walk over to Anich’s and buy an ice cold glass bottle of Coca Cola. I don’t believe the front of the store, the doors, the steps, the overall look, has changed at all since I was that boy fifty years ago.(The best storied place in Mukwonago should be Rainbow Springs, but since it got taken away from us, it is just a sad story with a sad ending)
Q: If you could choose anyone that is alive today and not a relative; with whom would you love to have lunch? Why? And where locally would y’all meet for this lunch?
I think you are looking for celebrity of some type here so I will go in that direction, but will resist the urge to say Jennifer Anniston and go with a guy – she would be way too intimidating, and I would want to call her Rachel. I think someone like John Daly would be fascinating, or Charles Barkley, or another athlete I am convinced is a great person, but I will go with Adam Sandler, an actor who I think seems extremely down to earth and is just a guy. I think we could talk about anything and we would both enjoy the conversation, he would have a list of interests that match mine, and I would be laughing non-stop. My choice of venues? I think an outdoor table at The Dockside on an 80 degree summer Saturday, overlooking Lake Beulah and their little marina.
Q: What is your favorite thing or something unique about our community?
There are so many things that we should all appreciate about our home town, so a list of favorite things would be very long. If we went with unique, I would choose the swimming hole on the Mukwonago River, just east of Phantom Lake. When you drive by there on a warm summer day, and the place is packed with families, it is just so small town 1955. I love it.
Q: Where do you see yourself in 5 to 10 years?
In 5-10 years I will be creeping in to my mid/upper 60’s, but I hope I am still the same person, trying to break par, doing some coaching, reffing basketball, watching the ponies, and chasing my gorgeous wife around to as many restaurants and fun establishments as the budget allows, both around here and also in Door County. By then I hope we are doing some real travel, maybe have a regular two month winter hangout in the south, and also making some time to spoil grand kids?
Q: (Even for friends or family), what is something interesting that most people don’t know about you?
I had to turn down a role in the movie Major League. I was just 23 at the time, graduating from college, and they had local tryouts for the movie. I tried out to be a baseball player in the movie, and I got a call back later in the summer to be an infielder on one of the opponent teams, to do be in a bar scene, and to do another tryout for a possible small speaking part. Unfortunately the filming of this part of the movie, which was 6 weeks later than some of the early filming at old County Stadium, was in later August, and exactly the time I had to report to work for my first teaching job at Big Foot High School.
Q: What is the most beautiful place you have ever been?
Bridget and I honeymooned in Hawaii, and I think it is hard to find a place with more natural beauty.
Q: Favorite month? favorite holiday? and best single day on the calendar?
I think Thanksgiving is my favorite – we host my entire family of nearly 50 people during the day, and then later that evening, at the beginning of the final NFL game of the day, many of our friends will come over for Turkey Day 2. June 21 – the day each year where we have the most sunlight. Summer, and sunlight. I don’t mind winter, but I hate the short days.
Q: What would you rate a 10 out of 10?
A deviled egg. A chocolate malt. A bing cherry. Aunt Elsie’s Spam broilers. A summer night drive in a convertible down the Vegas strip. The Brewers win the World Series. Friends.
Q: Who inspires you to be better?
I truly believe everyone inspires me to be better. Special people inspire me to be special, but even the selfish jackasses of the world inspire me to never be like them. Those closest to me may have the most daily impact and I truly do appreciate them for that, but I think we all need each other to be better, and I am determined to never forget that.
Q: What is one or two of your favorite smells?
The smell of bacon, the smell of popcorn in the movie theater, and the smell of cut grass on a cool morning on the golf course.
Q: Finally, what 3 words or phrases come to mind when you think of the word HOME?
My family, my dog, and all the people that make my home special. It isn’t about things, it is all about those that touch my heart.
