Blue Wahoos Owner Studer Impacts Communities from Pensacola to Whitewater

It is no secret that community means a great deal to Blue Wahoos principal owner Quint Studer.

One can see it all around the city of Pensacola and throughout the Blue Wahoos organization. From the YMCA, to the string of Bodacious Shops around downtown, to the many community appearances the Blue Wahoos make across the city, the Studers make sure to take care of the people around them.

But why is there such a big importance on giving back to his community?

“I just think it’s sorta in [wife] Rishy and my DNA,” Studer remarks. “Even research shows, the more you give, the more you get. That doesn’t always mean money. You know, I wake up every morning and I say a prayer that asks me to be useful to other people. I think when it’s part of your DNA, you can’t really put a ‘why’ on it, it’s just what you do.”

But Studer’s community of people does not start and stop within the Pensacola city limits. For just over 1,000 miles north and slightly to the west of Pensacola sits Whitewater, Wisconsin.

Where typically these two places would have no connection, Quint Studer bridges the gap. He used to call Whitewater home, back when he was an undergraduate student at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. And there was no question, it was a match from the start.

“They accepted me. I had a 2.2 [GPA], so not everybody was fighting for me to come to their school,” says Studer. “They accepted me on probation, but they accepted me. And they [are] also the school that deals with people with special needs, and that’s important to me.”

Studer grew up hard of hearing in one ear, as well as with a lisp, which made learning at a standard rate more difficult. It also made him feel alienated from his fellow classmates, so for UW-Whitewater to put so much emphasis on nurturing those who need a little extra help meant a lot to Studer.

“They’re the type of place that takes every type of human being as they are, and tries to help them become the best person they can be.”

The UW-Whitewater Warhawks, who boast one of the best D-III baseball programs in the country, have made the trip to Pensacola every spring for the past 7 years to play in the Blue Wahoos Challenge, which is a 10-day stretch where the Warhawks play 7 regular season games as a part of this 21-game event.

And though this is one of Studer’s ways of giving back to his Wisconsin community, this event is actually run by Blue Wahoos team president Jonathan Griffith.

“I’m always trying to do cool stuff just like all these other things that come here, but this is all to Jon’s credit,” Studer says of Griffith. “Jon gets the teams, Jon does the organization, Jon gets the umpires, so it’s entirely Jon that makes this happen.”

And with Griffith taking care of all the behind-the-scenes work, these kids get to come out to sunny Florida and play ball.

“Oh, it's great,” remarks Jeff Olson, a Kimberly, Wisconsin native and father of Warhawks sophomore Evan Olson. “We just enjoy it. We spend a little time with our boys playing, watch them play, and we have a lot of fun. Yeah. We enjoy Pensacola.

“We stay on the beach.” Olson continues. “We don't get a lot of beaches up where we are, not this time of year. So when we can get out and get on the beach and come watch some really good baseball, we enjoy it.”

And though this trip can act as a vacation of sorts, escaping the harsh midwest weathers for a much more pleasant climate, the program and games are still taken very seriously.

“They make you feel like you're playing for a Division I school.” Says Leslie Kirchner, the mother of lefthanded pitcher, Franklin Kirchner, who hails from Elk Grove, Illinois. “Excellent athletics. They won their World Series last year. We couldn't ask for a better school, better team, and [they have] some of the best coaching.”

“I think it's always a great opportunity to play in professional venues.” Adds Nelson Phillips III, a Milwaukee native and father to Nelson “Q” Phillips IV. “I think doing this only raises their level of play. They're very serious about what they do on the field and off the field and in the community. And I think they're very grateful for the opportunity to do it.”

The economic impact on the city of Pensacola makes this deal a clear cut win-win for the teams participating in the event, as well as the local community.

“These players come and they all get to play and we introduce the city of Pensacola to all these families,” says Studer. “[They] probably might now choose to come here, might choose to invest in here, minimally go back to their community and talk about Pensacola.”

But, any sort of revenue generated by the Blue Wahoos Challenge is merely a plus in Quint Studer’s book. So long as he and the Blue Wahoos organization can create memories and give these young athletes a chance to flourish, he’s accomplished all he needs to accomplish. Studer mentioned the Wahoos’ mission is to “To create memorable experiences.” In hosting this event, he’s doing just that.

“That’s what we’re doing right here, we’re creating memorable experiences, and I think it’s pretty cool. Creating memorable experiences for fans, for the coaches, for the players, that’s what we do. Everything we do is geared on that.”