In the 1970s racquetball was the fastest growing sport in America. Courts and facilities started popping up left and right across the country.
In 1976, an English teacher, an executive and two chiropractors came together to co-found, build and operate an eight-court racquetball and social club — appropriately deemed “The Racquetball Club” — in West Allis, a suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
“It was very serendipitous in the sense we had four people who had no background, and very few people did it at that point, in that business,” said Keith Nygren, a former English teacher and now president of Wisconsin Athletic Club (WAC). “The primary thing was we all enjoyed it and thought it was a lot of fun and were a pretty adept group of people. Within the next two years, we built two more clubs, and that was the beginning of the process.”
Over the span of the past 48 years, The Racquetball Club — now known as WAC — has gone through many eras. From court expansions and adding pools, bars and fitness equipment to new club locations and two name changes, the company has continuously developed, expanded and progressed in order to serve its community.
“It’s now an entirely different business,” explained Nygren. “It might be fair to say this whole process was an evolution — not a crusade — in the sense we didn’t say, ‘Wow, we’re going to make this big athletic complex,’ but it evolved into that. The more we got into it, the more we did it, the more we realized it was what we wanted to be.”
Nygren and the entire WAC leadership team agreed this evolution wouldn’t be possible without their people.
For nearly 50 years, WAC has been able to hire and retain an amazing group of leaders and front-line team members. And they continue to develop their team from within through programs like WAC University, a comprehensive, ongoing training and development program for all WAC teammates created in 2001.
“If we take care of our team members, our team members will take care of our members and our members take care of our business,” explained Chez Misko, the COO of WAC. “We started WAC University in 2001 and we offered 100 courses throughout the year. We still probably offer 100 to 200 courses today. Through WAC University, we’re able to develop our employees from within and ensure our people are at the level we want them to be at.”
The leadership team puts out a quarterly schedule of virtual and in-person courses team members can choose from. Additionally, teammates can access modules on their phone and watch a whole series, or managers can assign specific trainings to people who may need additional education on a topic.
Alongside WAC’s people, they’ve had a very clear and compelling culture from the beginning with a simple mission: to make a difference in lives. That culture also incorporates terms like aggressive hospitality, catching people doing things right, creating a home away from home environment, and using common sense and good judgement. These items, along with empowering staff, allows WAC to create a welcoming and fun environment for members.
One key component of WAC’s culture is its annual WACY Awards that take place in March.
The event serves as a way for all the teams to gather — typically 350 to 400 people — at the Milwaukee Brewers’ stadium. Employees dress to the nines and prepare for a night of fun and reflection on the company’s impact in their community.
“The awards allow us to recognize our top performers, those reaching length of service milestones, but more importantly we recognize our team members for living our mission,” said Ray O’Conner, the CEO of WAC. “Our team members vote on seven peer awards that are mission-centered, such as ‘most likely to invite and connect with members and guests,’ ‘most likely to have fun and create a home away from home.’”
The top award given at the WACYs is the Keith Nygren Making a Difference Award. Every year members submit stories of employees who have made a difference in their life. After an in-depth process, one person is selected. The member testimonials are shared with the entire group before they award the winner. Last year WAC had over 400 employees who were nominated, many multiple times.
Another way WAC lives out its culture is through WAC Moments.
Every meeting is started with team members sharing WAC Moments they witnessed or created. WAC Moments are any example of someone going above and beyond for a member or coworker. If someone witnesses another employee creating a WAC Moment, they can reward them with a WAC Buck. A WAC Buck is worth a dollar and can be used to purchase anything at the clubs. The great part of this program is any team member can give another team member one. They don’t need a manager’s approval.
“We try to take everything we do and ask ourselves, ‘How do we ‘WAC-ify’ it with our culture?’” said Misko. “How do we make it fun? How do we make it memorable? How do we create social interactions? Because sometimes that happens organically when you have events. But we don’t let that come by chance. We force that to happen by how we manage the process. We make sure those core values and all those philosophy points we share and talk to people about are not just things we put on the wall. We want people to feel them when they experience something or see we’re demonstrating them.”
However, it’s not hard to see WAC living out its core value of fun.
The company can take something mundane like a leadership meeting of 100 people and turn it into a thrilling experience. For example, at the end of 2023 various levels of leaders from different locations gathered, were divided into teams and competed to win in “Football Bowling” — they had to throw footballs at bowling pins.
“Our culture is such an important point for us; it’s very fun and vibrant,” said Nygren. “One of my favorite things is that nobody’s ever asked is what the term WAC means. Everybody knows in our town because we live it everyday.”
For nearly five decades WAC has been a staple in Milwaukee. Despite undergoing many changes to cater to member needs, it’s never wavered from its vibrant culture or mission to make a difference in people’s lives.
“Our fundamental concepts are really the same today as they were in ‘76,” said Misko. “We’re taking those concepts, and then we’re figuring out how to apply them today. Because the people are what’s changing. So, how do we connect with them today versus how we connected five years ago, 10 years ago or 20 years ago? We’ve had to evolve within our concepts more than change who or what we are. We’ve realized we constantly have to be asking those questions on how we can continue to do it better. I think that’s what’s allowed us to be in business for as many years as we have.”
As the leadership team sets its eyes on the future, it’s standing strong on the foundation laid many years ago and staying true to who they are.
“We want to continue to grow the business,” said Nygren. “Right now, our focus is getting our clubs to be the best they can be. We have a few locations we will be remodeling and expanding over the next year. We’re always looking for expansion, but we want to make sure we grow in a way that allows us to be in business for another 48 years.”
