Packers fan finalist Dan Bogenschuetz has taken Sheboygan fans to games for 36 years
SHEBOYGAN — When Dan Bogenschuetz first rented a bus in 1987 to take a few work friends to a Green Bay Packers game at Lambeau Field, he unknowingly began an adventure spanning 36 years, thousands of people and dozens of football games.
Over the years, Bogenschuetz, known by many as “Bogie,” has changed lives by creating an opportunity for people to go on trips and see places they may have never visited without him, all with the theme of sharing a Packers game together.
Friendships have been formed, a couple got married in Las Vegas, proposals have occurred, and this year three generations of a family all experienced a trip together.
“I hear people say, 'Oh, my mom and dad used to go with you years ago, and they're not around anymore. And oh, they would come back home and they would tell us how much fun, I can't believe now I'm going,’” Bogenschuetz said. “And so that's the coolest thing. That is — it really, really does mean a lot to me.”
Now, the lifelong Packers fan and Sheboyganite is a finalist to become a member of the Packers FAN Hall of Fame, an honor only one fan a year receives. The public can vote one time a day, every day through the month of January on who they want to win.
The public can vote for the winner on the Green Bay Packers website. The results will be announced in late February.
While people can vote for the top 10 fans, more than 100 fans are nominated each yeear, said Drew Lecheler, sales and business development activation intern for the Packers.
Bogenschuetz said he would love to win and get his name in the Hall of Fame, but he’s also honored to make it in the top 10 out of all the fans nominated around the world.
“To have my name in the Packer Hall of Fame all the rest of my life and the rest of the time the Packers are around, that means a lot to me,” he said. “A lot to me.”
To be considered for the honor, a fan must be nominated through a letter to the Packers. Bogenschuetz was not only nominated once, but twice.
When the Packers first emailed him that he had been nominated, he thought it was a scam until he told his wife. While Bogenschuetz didn’t know people were nominating him, his wife knew all about it.
The first letter was written by Jami Yurk and Dean Klein and talks about Bogenschuetz’s love of everything Packers and his trips that have taken people around the country to almost every stadium, even taking a trip to a game in London last year.
“I have to admit, I cried,” Bogenschuetz said. “I was very emotional over the letter.”
A few weeks later, Amy Buehler submitted another letter without knowing the first letter was also sent, Bogenschuetz said.
Suzanne Baumann, a friend of Bogenschuetz who’s gone on multiple trips with him, said she believes he should win because he is the type of person everyone likes and always manages to organize trips in a kind and professional manner.
While Bogenschuetz seems to be something of a local celebrity among Packers fans, Baumann said even on trips, word gets out about the Bogenschuetz-Packers crew.
Baumann recalled on trip to Jacksonville, Florida, about 18 years ago when Bogenschuetz took a group of people to see a Jaguars game, a team she said at the time wasn’t doing very well and had lost a lot of the fan support, with many games having a low fan turnout.
“By the time we got down there, we found out that the stadium was either — if it wasn't sold out, it was almost entirely sold out,” Baumann said. “Because the radio station had gotten word that the Packer fans were coming down.”
She said despite the fact the game was swelteringly hot, fans from both sides stayed, selling the concession stands out of some drinks and ice.
“It was such a popular game,” Baumann said. “And in my mind, a lot of it had to do with what Bogie did, just to get fans down there to support the Packers.”
Karen Ruppel, another friend and trip-goer, said it’s “nice to call him 'friend'” when talking about Bogenschuetz, saying his trips are incredibly fun and he creates an atmosphere of family.
“It's always just perfect,” she said. “I mean, he puts his heart and soul into it.”
How being a Packers fan led to changing lives
Bogenschuetz said the trips he takes people on is a hobby, not a business. While he organizes and books every aspect of the trip, he doesn’t do it for profit. His answer for why he does this, beyond how many people’s lives he touches every year, was simple.
“I love the Green Bay Packers,” he said.
Born into a Packers family, he has been attending games since the early 1970s. His parents, aunt and uncle were season ticket-holders, his mom even got frostbitten toes at the famed Ice Bowl game. Although he doesn’t hold season tickets, Bogenschuetz is a shareholder.
Through his trips, Bogenschuetz is able to spread his love for the Packers and bring people along on journeys many say they wouldn’t have gone on without him. Every U.S. trip of his has at least 56 people, sometimes even 320.
A previous Sheboygan nominee: Sheboygan's Rick Burgard, a Packers FAN Hall of Fame finalist and longtime Lambeau gameday usher, says fans are like a 'second family.'
He said he’s been close to filling up an entire plane of just Packers fans. A bucket list item for him is to book an entire flight with people going to see a Packers game with him.
Beyond going to games, Bogenschuetz also arranges the whole trip around seeing the area they’re in and making the most out of the trips, whether that’s seeing the Rockettes in New York City over Christmas, staying at Bourbon Street or even spending 13 days exploring Europe.
Bogenschuetz said his trips usually sell out within the hour and as soon as the schedule drops, he is on the phone to get hotels, plane tickets, game tickets, tailgate parties and more. If the Badgers are playing, he’ll even try to find a place to bring the party so they can eat and watch the game.
On these trips, Bogenschuetz said he meets all sorts of incredible people, including pilots who have fun over the intercoms talking about all the Packers fans on board. Some people who typically aren’t so thrilled to see them are those Bogenschuetz’s buses pass in Illinois.
The group covers the buses in Packers stickers, and back when people had to stop and get tickets for the toll roads, they’d always have fun seeing the reactions of people in Illinois.
“Those were the good old days,” he said. “And I'm very excited that I'm still doing it. Again, a hobby. I get to meet a lot of really cool people.”
People come up to him and tell him going on a trip is on their bucket list. He said hurry, while he’ll do this as long as he can, he doesn’t know how many more years they’ll be able to go on trips together.
“It's so easy for me to say 36 years,” he said. “But now the scary part is, I keep thinking, boy, 36 years from now, I won't even probably be here. I'll be 67 in February. So, there's a very good chance I won't be here 36 years from now.”
No matter how many years he continues the trips, Bogenschuetz has already touched the lives of so many, taking the local Packers family far and wide. Now, he’s honored as one of the top 10 Packers fans nominated for the FAN Hall of Fame and will find out if his name will make this list in less than two months.
“I am very honored,” he said. “I don't know how to say thank you more to the three people that wrote the letters and I don't know how to say thank you to all the people that have been voting.”
Have a story tip or public interest concern? Contact Sam Bailey at sgbailey@gannett.com or 573-256-9937. To stay up to date on her stories and other news, follow her on X (Twitter) @SamarahBailey.
This article originally appeared on Sheboygan Press: A Packers Fan Hall of Fame finalist, Sheboygan man takes fans to games
