TOWN OF WAYNE, Wis. — A Town of Wayne community member is drawing up plans to build a sign honoring Olympic gold medalist speed skater Jordan Stolz, hoping to ensure the small town gets recognized as the true home of the local hero.
Chucker Dreher is designing the new sign for the town to install himself at the corner intersection of Highway H and Highway W in the middle of town. He previously built a similar sign in the nearby Village of Kewaskum.
"I just want that kid's name everywhere," Dreher said. "To have an Olympic champion two miles from here, it’s super and he’s just the greatest kid."
Watch: Town of Wayne to put up a Jordan Stolz sign in the hopes more people know where the Olympian came from
Town of Wayne Chairman Tony Balistreri said Stolz and his family live in Wayne, but the town of about 2,000 people often gets overlooked when people talk about the record-breaking athlete.
"It’s always like Jordan from Kewaskum, or Jordan from West Bend and it’s like ugh, he’s from Wayne, you know! It never comes out that way in the news," Balistreri said. "You never see that!"
He explained that the town's small size limits how they can celebrate their hometown athlete.
"We can’t do anything like a parade," he said. "We don’t have the resources for something big or a big celebration."
Meanwhile, the Village of Kewaskum is honoring Stolz by hosting a parade and temporarily renaming Fond du Lac Avenue after him.
Dreher said he wants to add Wayne to the list of places celebrating the Washington County athlete.
"When you come to Wayne, that’s going to stand out!" he said.
He also plans to fund the project himself and with the help of friends and local businesses—not tax payer dollars.
The Town of Wayne will discuss finalizing the resources needed to complete the sign project in April before they start digging.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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