Replaced by new and improved models, the old glossy wooden bleacher sections at University of Wisconsin Oshkosh’s Kolf Sports Center easily could have been destined for a landfill.
But a unique plan for the planks avoided that reality. Bleachers that had provided seating for fans at countless UW Oshkosh sporting events, graduations and concerts, have a new use as design elements at a newly constructed Wisconsin Athletic Club location in Menomonee Falls, north of Milwaukee.
“When we were working on the Menomonee Falls Wisconsin Athletic Club, we asked our wood floor vendor, ProStar, if they had any reclaimed wood for a wall in our bar area and they brought up the Kolf Center bleachers as a possible option,” said Heidi Fendos, public relations counsel for Wisconsin Athletic Clubs (WAC). “After we saw how cool the wood was from the bleachers, we decided to use this wood in almost every room in the club.”
There has been extensive re-use of the bleachers removed from Kolf Sports Center in a renovation project in 2012.
Bleachers were used in the Menomonee Falls WAC as flooring for the Mind Body Studio and Cycle Studio stage; ceiling “clouds” by the front desk, Club Pub and hallway; art work on walls in Club Pub, the lobby, Fitness Center, poolside locker room and manager’s office; and used as shelves and sign bases throughout the club.
Chez Misko, chief operating officer of the Wisconsin Athletic Club with seven full-service athletic clubs in the Milwaukee area, said the reclaimed wood provides a great story for employees and visitors. He said there are some employees at Menomonee Falls that are UW Oshkosh alumni.
“I think they are always excited to see it,” he said.
He noted that thousands–maybe hundreds of thousands of people–had sat on the Kolf bleachers. The story behind the design elements at WAC “brings them back to a game or special event.”
Misko thinks the use of reclaimed wood improves the feel inside the club.
“There’s a warmth to having wood to any other material,” Misko said. “It feels warmer to the eye.”
He said the extensive use of the Kolf wood provides a unique flair that ties the club together.
Dan Nordstrom, vice president of flooring contractor ProStar Surfaces, Mequon, said the Kolf bleachers were crafted with Douglas fir and typically were in large, 12-16-foot lengths.
In addition to the Wisconsin Athletic Club, some of the Kolf wood was used for other projects including a sliding barn-style door and wall covering for Bray Architects in Milwaukee and for partitions in the ProStar offices.
Nordstrom said ProStar stored the wooden Kolf bleacher sections, noting the firm has “always been about repurposing and reusing as much as possible.”
UW Oshkosh Athletic Director Darryl Sims said the former bleachers were in need of replacement and funding became available for an upgrade to the fieldhouse at Kolf.
He said bleacher replacement hardware was not available as wheels and steel parts wore out and large gaps between the wood created significant space for items to fall through to the floor below.
“We got to the point we couldn’t hold onto the bleachers,” he said, noting that they were pleased to hear a number of the wood sections have been used at Wisconsin Athletic Club. “We prefer the idea of being able to repurpose like that,” Sims said, noting that wood from a former bowling alley at UW Oshkosh was used to craft a bar at Becket’s Restaurant in Oshkosh.
Kolf Sports Center, constructed in 1971, was named for Robert Kolf, a long-time coach, instructor and athletic director at UW Oshkosh.
The Kolf venue has hosted hundreds of University and area high school commencements and graduation ceremonies and numerous intramural, conference, NCAA, high school and Special Olympics Wisconsin athletic events. The facility has been a home for military science students’ training, a stage for performances by influential artists and entertainers including Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan, and a backdrop for visits by political candidates including then-Sen. Barack Obama in 2008.
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