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Alice Williams of T-Mobile.
The USPS Celebrates 250 Years of Service
Rich Mueller, Sports Collectors Daily on the National Sports Collectors Convention
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Rick is joined by Rich Mueller, editor and founder of Sports Collectors Daily for his annual visit before The National.
It’s the 45th National.
Sports Collectors Daily offers a heaping helping of sports collecting news daily. We publish completely original sports collecting news stories you won’t see anywhere else.
At least 20 fresh pieces of content are added over the course of one week alone thanks in part to some talented writers, contacts inside and outside the industry and a good old fashioned nose for news. We measure our annual page views in the millions.
No other site can match the professional experience and journalistic quality of Sports Collectors Daily. We set the standard. As one reader put it, SC Daily is “the Wall Street Journal for our industry.”
The National Sports Collectors Convention
The National Sports Collectors Convention, often simply called “The National,” is the largest and most prestigious gathering of sports collectors and memorabilia enthusiasts in the world. Held annually, it has become the cornerstone event for the sports collectibles industry, attracting dealers, collectors, celebrities, and media from across the globe.
Rick and Rich talk The National and more.
Tom Lehman, PGA TOUR Champions Player, Cragun’s Resort Course Architect
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The multi-year golf course renovation at Cragun’s Resort, Golf and Conference is finished. PGA TOUR Champions player and course architect Tom Lehman led today’s ceremonial unveiling of the final nine holes, now known as Dutch Red. Once again, all 45 holes are open to resort guest and public play.
Rick talks to Tom Lehman from Cragun’s Resort in Brainard, Minn.
The renovation of Dutch Red—thoughtfully designed to improve playability and enjoyment for golfers of all skill levels—includes striking new bunkering, four redesigned greens, and fresh green surrounds. The routing remains the same, but significant reshaping and clearing have enhanced scenic views across the course.
Among the most noticeable changes is the improvement in playability on holes #3 and #4. Hole #3 now boasts a dramatic change in the landing area off the tee, nearly doubling the size of the fairway. The new green was moved 50 yards back with a soft chipping area surrounding the entire green, making the hole much more enjoyable for all skill levels.
Hole #4 is now a drivable par 4, previously guarded by a series of bunkers and a cart path along the left side. The renovation relocated the bunkers to new strategic areas, moved the cart path to the right side, and it is now more playable and enjoyable. The new green on #4 is much more subtle but still allows for some terrific pin placements.
Today’s grand opening was attended by representatives of Cragun’s Resort owners, Leisure Hotels & Resorts, PGA TOUR Americas, regional and national media, marking the start of an exciting new chapter for golf in the Upper Midwest.
Looking ahead, Cragun’s Resort, Golf & Conference will host the prestigious CRMC Championship, presented by the Northern Pacific Center, for the fourth year, August 28 to 31, offering fans and players an exciting glimpse of the renovated Red and White layouts.
Past champions include two-time PGA TOUR winner Jake Knapp (2022), Yi Cao (2023), and Frederik Kjettrup (2024).
For more information, visit the website at www.craguns.com.
Michael Brown, COO of World Table Tennis
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Rick is joined by Michael Brown, COO of World Table Tennis at the US Smash in Las Vegas.
Brown is a qualified and experienced strategic leader with proven success in growing sports organizations.
Now his attention is on table tennis.
He leads Business Services and driving growth as the Chief Operating Officer at World Table Tennis (WTT). The role involves spearheading the development and execution of operational strategies across Finance, Legal, IT, Translation, and General Operations.
Focused on key initiatives such as:
– Driving commercial revenue growth
– Ensuring effective management of commercial rights and intellectual property
– Developing strategies for data collection and monetization
– Managing the due-diligence process for potential third-party investment
Great to talk with Michael
Matthew Hetherington, Marketing Specialist – Table Tennis, at Joola Global
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Rick sits down with Matt Hetherington at the US Smash table tennis in Las Vegas.
He is a Marketing Specialist for Joola.
From Hetherington:
My involvement in Table Tennis after completing 3 years of an economics and financial analysis degree has led me into more online fields and digital methods of marketing and promotion, going from small contracts working in building online sales platforms to lead roles in table tennis marketing for USA Table Tennis and now JOOLA both in the USA and Global.
Established in Germany in 1952, JOOLA has dominated the professional table tennis scene in the United States for over 15 years. Partnering with North American Table Tennis (NATT) early on, JOOLA established a strong presence through the North American Tour and NATT‘s flagship event, the North American Teams Championships. Each event in the Tour generally drew in 200 to 300 participants and showcased about 30 JOOLA tables, while the Teams event exposed the brand to nearly 1000 players, who competed on about 150 JOOLA tables. With each successful event, JOOLA grew its fan base and eventually became the most visible table tennis brand in US table tennis.
JOOLA later served as the Official Table Sponsor of USA Table Tennis’ (USATT), the national governing body for table tennis, major tournaments from 2012 until 2019. This included the US Open and US National Championships.
In 2019, Sport Squad, Inc., the US-based distributor and licensee of JOOLA for the North American and Brazilian market., announced its acquisition of JOOLA Tischtennis GmbH. Established in 2006 and based in Rockville, MD, Sport Squad, Inc. was founded by Richard Lee out of a love for table tennis. Sport Squad eventually expanded to include 4 different brands dedicated to offering interactive and immersive games and gaming equipment. It is the parent company to JOOLA, iPong, Sport Squad, and Hit Mit. In 2022, JOOLA launched JOOLA Pickleball and immediately took the sport by storm as the sponsor of pickleball world #1 Ben Johns and a partner of USPPA.
