By Tim “Shoe” Sullivan

It’s official. Stevens Point, Wisconsin and the surrounding areas are big on nicknames. “Point” might even be the nickname capital of the world.

About a month ago, we did a segment on people with Point nicknames and came up with about 75 names. That’s a lot of names.

Didn’t know it was only the tip of the iceberg.

Recently, we followed up with another nicknames column. Added about 75 names in that one, too. You would think those two would mention ALL the nicknames in the area, right?

Well, not really. There’s more. Lots more. Hey, don’t blame me: I was mowing the lawn — a guy drove by and yelled out of the window, “You forgot ___!”

Then I walked into the Final Score. First person I met reminded me of someone else’s nickname. Then a trip to the grocery store, and a gal in the noodle aisle brought up … yes, another Point nickname!

There’s no getting around it. Almost EVERYONE around here seems to have a moniker or nickname.

Like Sean Houlihan. Every Houlihan is called “Hoolie”. And most Whelihan’s answer to “Wheels”. And I haven’t met a Bartkowiak yet who isn’t called “Barky”. Al Bartkowiak. Dave Bartkowiak. Doesn’t matter. They’re all “Barky”.

Just like Gene Szymkowiak and Ken Szymkowiak are called “Shimmer”.

At the Top Hat, Darwin always called Stephanie Schlegel “Ralphie”. The late owner of Pete’s Silver Coach, Charles Redfield, was “Pete” to most people. “Mickey” Lodzinski’s first name was actually Melvin. And we can’t forget Dennis “White Rabbit” Lorbiecki and “Jennie Bennie” Mason.

And I’m sure there’s a story behind Kenny “Never Miss” Opiola.

Wil Nichol the Pointer hockey player was called “One L” because he only had one “l” in Wil. Eric “Zim” Zimmerman pointed out that we left out Ernie “Bubba” King, Kurt “Lick” Miller, and Brian “Omar” Gosh. (This column almost writes itself). And they refer to Andy Williams as “Dubs”.

“Sarge” was at the Hotel Whiting, “Jet” Jackson hung around Buffy’s (and Buffy is another nickname), Jeff “Loopy” Vandeloop bartended at the Elbow Room, and Alicia “Lish” Dodge likes the Boston Celtics.

Way back in the day, Point had softball players named “Spider”, “Cookie”, and “Bobo”. They are not to be confused with “Shorty” Flees, “Jano” Janiszewski, “Pepper” Wnuk, Matt “Taco” Barden, Graham “Cracker” Barden, Matt “Claw” Klawitter, and Eric “Super Mex” Erosa.

Some of the nicknames make sense, like Rob “Kinger” King, Rick “Koko” Kolinski, Ryan “Pozo” Pozarski, Jim “Wuzzy” Warzinik, and former Iwanski Construction “We Hammer” basketball forward Mike “Luke” Lukas.

And some of them don’t, like Steven “Sweet Pea” Potter and Don “Beef” Tuszka. Let’s put Leroy “Lefty” Zurawski in there, too.

Can someone explain Bruce “Bodang” Dehlinger or Doug “Cheeseburger” Krueger?

Good Lord! In one softball game, you could watch “Bullhead” pitch to “Bones”, “Chubby”, “Skinner”, “Nitro”, “Stinky Mike”, “Boda”, “Tuna”, “Prune”, and “Mumbler”.

Also ran into my neighbor Woody Keene today. He’s lived a block away from me for 50 years. And guess what? I’ve known him forever and never heard ANYONE call him anything except Woody. So now it turns out his real name is William.

William Keene? No way. He’s staying “Woody”!

Gotta go now. Time for a “Blue Bullet”.