Trophy maker to end Sports Show tradition
70 years of displays will end Sunday
Even on a floor filled with trucks, tackle, travel companies and a trout pond, you can still spot Andrea and Richard Wagner at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Sports Show.
They’re working the booth for Trophy Athletic Supply Co., in a prime corner spot on the exhibition floor at State Fair Park.
The firm was started by Andrea’s dad, Hy Popuch, back in 1939 and has put on a display at the sports show for more than 70 years.
But on Sunday, after the last visitors leave the pavilion, the Wagners will break down the booth for the final time.
“We’re just getting older and we’re going to retire,” Andrea Wagner said Saturday morning, as she greeted longtime customers.
The firm, located at 1021 N. Old World 3rd St., is still going strong and is in good hands with the third generation of the family — Robert Wagner and Debra Nielsen.
But the Wagners, who are in their 70s, decided it was time to retire the booth.
They have a lot of good memories at the sports show.
Andrea Wagner said her father was among the exhibitors at the 1939 show, which was held in Kilbourn and Juneau Halls at the Auditorium.
The firm grew along with the show as it hop-scotched around town, from the Auditorium to the Milwaukee Arena to other buildings of the MECCA, the Convention Center and finally State Fair Park. The 1943 show was canceled because of restrictions on gasoline during World War II.
Andrea Wagner recalled that as a young girl she would often come down to her dad’s store on Old World 3rd St. and sell candy bars. In 1948, when she was 4 years old, she helped out at the sports show.
For years, Andrea Wagner and her husband worked the sports show at night while her dad handled the booth during the day. Popuch died in 1984.
“The sports show is fun,” she said. “We meet new people.”
But they also cross paths with old friends, especially among other exhibitors who have been stopping by for years.
For the Wagners, their breadand-butter at the sports show is making metal name badges. They also sell plenty of athletic trophies.
“All the fishing, hunting and golf clubs use trophies,” Richard Wagner said.
At one time, they did a lot of the trophies that were awarded at the sports show for events in billiards and archery.
They’ve changed with the times. Internet sales picked up. So did corporate work, with firms handing out awards to employees.
“Bowling is not as popular as it used to be,” Richard Wagner said. “But with soccer, baseball, basketball and youth sports, a lot of things are still being made.”
There are even trophies for fantasy sports.
The Wagners spend part of the year in Arizona. But they still hang on to their Wisconsin roots. So don’t be surprised if they attend next year’s show as customers.
“We’ll come and visit if we’re in town,” Andrea Wagner said. “We’ve made a lot of friends. We’re going to miss it.”