WAUKESHA – For the past 30 years, former Waukesha County Deputy Sheriff Mike Chapman has been patrolling the parking lots at the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha. On Friday, May 16, Chapman, 75, retired from his university position, although he intends stay self-employed in advertising and real estate.
He served in the US Navy’s Blue Jacket Choir during World War II and was selected from 114 voices to solo. Among his duties, he performed on radio and chorally supported church services in the area around Great Lakes Base, IL. On discharge, the Waukesha High School graduate headed for college, earning a bachelor’s degree in speech from UW-Madison in 1953.
Since he couldn’t find any jobs in radio after graduation, he resorted to newspaper advertising. Then that entailed sales, copywriting and ad preparation. He worked for the Waukesha Freeman, the Milwaukee Journal, and became advertising manager for Grede Publishing, which produced community papers for Elm Grove, Brookfield, New Berlin, and Wauwatosa.
Based on his experience, he founded Chapman Advertising. The agency does work for a variety of clients but has developed a specialty in political campaigns. “We’ve done 106 campaigns and have recorded 97 wins,” he can brag, “and covered the spectrum, including judges, DA’s, sheriffs, state senators, and one US Congressman.” That Congressman, Glen Davis, hired Chapman as a speechwriter in his Washington, D.C., office.
Another outgrowth of his agency, the Wonago Rodeo took him beyond its starting point in Mukwonago to Madison and Green Bay, to the Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota state fairs, and finally to an ill-fated production in Johannesburg, South Africa. One of the local promoters in that foreign land murdered another one, and the US Consul advised Chapman, then a partner in the business, and company to get out of the country as quickly as possible lest they be detained indefinitely in a lengthy legal investigation. “We left town at night, stopping in the Congo, where an army of security guards protected us. I didn’t sleep a wink until we were over Nice, France.”
He introduced music to the rodeo, and now it has become a part of most rodeos. Chapman proudly sports a buckle proclaiming him the 1965 best rodeo producer in America.
In another innovation, he brought bloodless bullfighting to Wisconsin. Bulls and matadors imported from Mexico staged the traditional entertainment, but in the end a herd of steers entered the ring and ushered out the bull. It was popular in all the cities it toured. Despite the fights’ bloodless format, the Humane Society lodged a legal complaint that bullfighters were “worrying” the animals.
For Chapman, the rodeo years “were a lot of fun, but there wasn’t much money in it.” So in 1970 he joined the law, doing special assignments for the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department. In 1973, his boss, Eddie O’Connor, mentioned that a position was opening up at the university campus and suggested he apply for it. For 25 years, Chapman worked part time, patrolling parking lots and doing night watch at UW-Waukesha. In 1998, his LTE position became full time.
In his long tenure, he recalls, “I had to break up a few fights and was threatened a couple of times,” yet “It was a pleasant job.” In past years, he would jump students’ cars in the winter when the batteries were reluctant to provide the spark, and he helped them unlock cars when their keys were missing. More recently, university rules require that those services be turned over to professionals, however.
Retiring because “It’s time,” Chapman protests, “I’m not the kind of guy to sit around and watch TV soap operas.” He will continue to run his advertising business and stay active as a real estate agent, concentrating chiefly on land sales throughout the state.
A widower and the father of two grown children, Chapman lives in Pewaukee. |
