Michigan Business Beat | Phil Sklar - National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum

Originally uploaded April 8th, updated June 6th. Chris Holman welcomes Phil Sklar, Co-Founder and CEO, National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum, Milwaukee, WI. Welcome Phil, tell us about your Hall of Fame? So you release timely bobbleheads that celebrate the business of sports? Several of your released items have honored sports in Michigan,... this week for the Spartans and the NCAA tournament, and recently MSU Coach Izzo? Talk about the process, are you contacted by universities or does your team research stories deserving bobbleheads? How big a market is there for sports bobbleheads? For reference one of the recent bobbleheads released through the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum: In celebration of Coach Tom Izzo breaking the Big Ten Conference win record, Michigan State’s Big Ten Regular Season Title and March Madness, the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum unveiled an officially licensed, limited-edition Coach Izzo Win Counter Bobblehead. The interactive bobblehead that includes two win counters that fans can use to track Coach Izzo’s total wins and conference wins features Coach Izzo, who has led the Spartans for 30 years and recently became the all-time winningest coach in Big Ten Conference history. On Thursday night, Michigan State won the Big Ten regular season title by defeating the Iowa Hawkeyes. The Spartans are currently ranked #8 in the AP Top 25 and #7 in the Coaches Poll ahead of the regular season finale against Michigan on Sunday before the Big Ten Tournament and NCAA Tournament begin. The special edition bobblehead is being produced by the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum, an official licensee of Michigan State University. The bobbleheads, which are expected to ship in August, are now available at this link. Each bobblehead will be individually numbered to only 2,025. The bobbleheads are $40 each plus an $8 flat-rate shipping charge per order. Coach Izzo will be donating his portion of the proceeds to scholarships for his student managers. Standing on a block court-like base, the Tom Izzo Win Counter Bobblehead has his fist raised triumphantly in the air while holding a basketball adorned with the MSU logo. The front of the block base reads ‘COACH IZZO” and has a win counter that can be adjusted with each victory by the Spartans while the back of the base has a counter that tracks conference wins. On Saturday, February 15th, Izzo broke former Indiana coach Bob Knight’s record with the Spartans’ 79-65 victory over Illinois at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. The win was the 354th Big Ten Conference victory for Izzo, passing Knight for the most conference wins in league history. “I just want to be thankful for the 148 players I coached,” Izzo said after the game. “Each one of them got a win, and those wins helped me. The presidents, the Ads, my assistant coaches. And over six million fans that watched this over those 354 wins, so that’s who I want to thank.” With that victory, Izzo upped his career record to 727-300. He trails only seven other active coaches in the sport on the all-time wins list. A native of Iron Mountain, Michigan, the 70-year-old Izzo took over for Jud Heathcote in 1995 after 11 years as an assistant coach. He led the Spartans to their second national title in 2000 with an 89-76 victory over Florida. The Spartans also finished as the national runner-up in 2009. The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum, which is located at 170 S. 1st St. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,....