By Tim “Shoe” Sullivan

We did a really fun story on nicknames in Stevens Point a few weeks ago.

The article prompted several comments, and at least fifty names were mentioned. Many of the people with the nicknames are still kicking today, although some of the folks are no longer with us except in spirit.

One of the comments was from Barbie Nitka. After reading all of the names, she wrote: “I think you got ‘em all!”
I agree. Everyone whoever had a nickname in “Point” got their day in the sun. We didn’t leave out anybody.

Well, except…

Doug “Doogie” Berry, owner of Doug’s Sports Pub. And his late dad Ed “Buddy” Berry, a softball legend from days gone by. By the way, Amber “Chipmunk” Hintz bartends at Doug’s.

We also forgot to include Buddy Berry’s Moore Barn teammates Dick “Slippery” White, the late Don “Krotch” Kottke, and Pat “O.D.” O’Donnell.

And we missed the late Bernard “Bunsie” Mozuch and his pal Lenny “Yogi” Yulga from the old Unique Bar. And speaking of bars, we neglected Troy “Hino” Hojnacki of Graffiti’s, Bob “Spud” Larson, and “Ziggy” Zagrzebski of Ziggy’s.

By the way, “Spud” also commented on an earlier article about marbles and said we forgot to include “bumblebees”. And Bill Kolinski pointed out that it would’ve been nice to include “shooters” in the marbles piece.

Then there was former County Board Exec Mark “Moose” Maslowski, not to be confused with Terry “Moose” Sutton who played softball with Mark “Mongo” Milkowski, “Rainy Ray” Przybelski, and Dennis “Snapper” Napiwacki.

Also failing to make the cut were Jim “Uncle Jimmy” Bourn and Dustin “Cheese” Scheid of Joe’s Bar fame. And speaking of Joe’s, can’t forget Donny “Bach” Bacher, a true legend.

You could throw Pat “Bird Dog” Mallek in there too, as well as Tom “Boda” Laboda who once roomed with the Pointer hockey player “Sarge”. “Fast Eddie” Flisakowski found Sarge’s ring.

And can’t forget the gals! Like Amanda “Cha Cha” Braaten and Chris “Dish” Chiapuzio. The “Dish” bartended with Dana “Lefty” Jurgella Tuszke.

Gotta get in the Ohlert brothers. Mark is “Oatie” and Dan is “Turtle”.

There were several more softball players. Larry “Seep” Scipior (who also went by “Hippie”); Rick “Digby” Fix; Wilfred “Jake” Hafner; Brian “Melido” Buckles; Don “Zot” Pawlik; Mark “Pirahna” Barella; Jeff “Sads” Sadlemyer; Mike “Mad Dog” Koback; “Farmer” Bembenek; Kevin “Skinner” Janowski; Jeff “Bones” Firkus; Ray “Tony” Disher; Brady “Griswold” Spees; Gary “Dewey” Perron; John “Swede” Johnson; Nick “Sween” Wyhuske; Ron “Coach” Glodowski; Dave “Beast” Peterson; Mark “KoKo” Richter; Scott “Scooter” Richter (like in Gennett); Don “Butch” Lind; and Brian “Buddha” Williams. Oh, and Bob “Bimbo” Tomczak had his own softball card!

Bill “The Fox” Nelson and “Tata” Shulfer were legends. The Fox was named after White Sox star Nellie Fox.
Two Point characters were Ed Smiley of the Unique and Andrew Smoker of Top Hat. But those were their REAL names.

Then you had Tony “Tuna” Rybarczyk and Charlie “Tuna” Kadonsky.

Not to mention Andrew “Big A” Maciejewski of the former MugShots; Don “Big D” Gilbert; and Ken “Big E” Eberhard.

We also forgot Terry “T-bone” McKnight, Dave “Pea Pod” Kaminski, Dave “Shifty” Shafton, “Blinky” Haesley, “Fuzzy” Wilkinson, Mike “Wippy” Witcraft, the Siasefi “Bean”, “Chief” Ingles, and my brother Kevin “Casey” Sullivan. And John “Red Man” Koehl.

One of the strangest nicknames I ever heard was the brainchild of the late Don Paque, my pal from years ago. He didn’t just have a nickname. He changed his whole name! Don would walk up to a stranger, shake his hand, and say: “Hi. Ralph Lemke from Rudolph.”

Also like to give a shout out to Mike “Oshie” Osiedacz!

Well, maybe I didn’t “get ‘em all” the last time, but nicknames are really fun, and they add so much to the rich history of our fine city of Stevens Point.