MILWAUKEE — To commemorate the “Basketball Capital of the World”, the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum unveiled an officially licensed UConn Huskies bobblehead on Thursday morning.
The new release is the latest celebrating UConn. Last year, the museum created a bobblehead honoring the 2023 UConn men’s national championship team, joining those made in the likeness of Huskies mascots Jonathan XIV and XV.
“It’s really cool to be able to produce bobbleheads that UConn fans will be able to cherish and pass down from generation to generation, which is what we’ve seen people doing with bobbleheads since the first sports bobbleheads appeared in the 1960s,” Phil Sklar, CEO and co-founder of the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum, said on Thursday.
Located in Milwaukee, the museum is the only one in the world dedicated to bobbleheads, Sklar said. With over 10,000 unique bobbleheads on display, the museum has operated for about a decade and features bobbleheads depicting figures from sports, pop culture, politics, movies, music and more.
The museum also produces and markets bobbleheads, using pictures of a person or animal to create a design. From there, the bobbleheads are hand sculpted from clay. Once approved, they are painted and produced.
The operation partnered with Butler University around 2015 to create its first original bobblehead, depicting the school’s live mascot, a bulldog named Blue III. Now, the museum is partnered with over 150 colleges and universities, and the list continues to grow.
“We love college mascots and the whole college experience,” Sklar said. “Bobbleheads are the perfect way for people to show off their school pride, whether they’re just a fan or an alumni or current student or faculty/staff, whatever the case may be. It’s something we love doing, and it’s a lot of fun to do.”
Sklar said the museum continues adding new schools based on their unique mascots or March Madness success. UConn was added to the list prior to last year’s NCAA Tournament, and the Huskies’ championship only increased the momentum.
Sklar described UConn as a school with a huge tradition in athletics that has had significant success in both men’s and women’s basketball.
“The women have close to a dozen championship trophies, and the men got their fifth championship last year, when they steamrolled through the competition, and they’re looking for number six this year,” he said.
Thursday’s release is the fifth UConn bobblehead produced by the museum. Almost all the bobbleheads made are individually numbered, transforming them into neat collectables. For instance, there were 2,023 made to commemorate last year’s national championship team.
March might be Sklar’s favorite month of the year. As the play on the court sparks new, creative ideas, those who run the museum are glued to their televisions watching the madness unfold.
“March is always a crazy time,” he said. “We’ve seen 16 seeds upset one seeds a couple times over the past six years, so you never know what’s going to happen. It makes each year unique. Having them individually numbered to the year is a fun thing for fans and collectors out there.”
The new UConn bobbleheads are $35 each plus a flat-rate shipping charge of $8 per order. The championship bobbleheads are available for $40 each or $75 for a set of two and feature Jonathan the Husky in two poses, with the first standing on a ladder and holding the net after cutting it down, while the second depicts the mascot holding a newspaper proclaiming, “Huskies Win 5th Title”.
Tomorrow, the UConn men begin tournament play as the number one overall seed. The team will play 16 seed Stetson in the Round of 64 at 2:45 p.m. at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
The No. 3 seeded UConn women open tournament play on Saturday at Gampel Pavilion on campus in Storrs, Conn. at 1 p.m. against the No. 14 seed Jackson State in the Round of 64.
Sklar gave UConn fans extra incentive to purchase a bobblehead this month.
“They’re cool to have around but are also great collectables. A lot of times they increase in value over the years because once they’re gone, they’re gone,” Sklar said, noting that he’s seen bobbleheads triple or quadruple in value.
Dalton Zbierski is a digital content producer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dzbierski@FOX61.com.
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