Resilience, determination and a strong Wisconsin work ethic: Former Badger basketballer Rod Ripley rallies and rebuilds after massive fire

It was a brisk Sunday in October 2021 as Rod Ripley watched his motel burn to the ground. Three guests left their grill too close to the building after they finished grilling their steaks, went inside to eat their meal, and by the time they saw the flames, the fire was already raging over the decades-old cedar siding.

“The fire ran up the building and spread. It was engulfed in flames in probably half an hour. Thank goodness it happened on a Sunday and there were only six people and a dog in the motel. No one was hurt, including the dog,” Ripley said. The Lodi Fire Department, with help from 11 fire departments from around the area, needed 225,000 gallons of water from Lake Wisconsin to extinguish the flames. They had to pull the building down in order to prevent it from sparking again.

Ripley is no stranger to starting over. The Pulaski native, who played basketball for Wisconsin in the mid-80s when Steve Yoder’s Badgers were building their program, nearly lost his life 10 years earlier when a freak accident with a mirror he was hanging at his Regent Street bar shattered and severed his arm at the elbow.

“The mirror came crashing on my arm; I look and there is a tennis-ball size hole in my arm at the elbow. I got outside to the street and I was screaming at a car going by to help me. It was 8 am on a Saturday in summer, so there were not a lot of people around.”

A woman pulled over. Another car pulled over and a couple came to help. The young man applied a couple tourniquets with clean rags from the bar until the fire department arrived.

Ripley needed 10 units of blood over the next two days. “The blood was a life-saver to me. That and those three people who pulled over to help. We get together every year around that same time for a ‘second-life’ anniversary dinner.”

The former athlete had a long road to recovery. He had to relearn how to do just about everything with his left hand, as the nerves in his right hand were permanently damaged. “Having one-and-a-half arms definitely got in my way for a while, but then I figured out that there is usually some sort of trick or way around it, and, with a little ingenuity, I can do most things.”

Ripley credits his work ethic to his parents, Emil and LaVerne. His dad was a math teacher for the Pulaski School District, which meant that he pushed his kids extra hard in math. His mom was a jack of all trades.

“Mom did a million things but mainly she was a stay-at-home mom with nine kids and lots of side jobs. At one time we had 30 fish tanks and she sold tropical fish. She worked at Pulaski State Bank. She sold world book encyclopedias. She even had a radio talk show,” Ripley said, laughing. “She interviewed Chester Marcol one time. That was crazy.”

His dad’s math emphasis and his mom’s never-sit-still attitude have propelled Ripley through his career. After graduating from UW-Madison, he pursued a Master’s Degree in Taxation, funded in part by an NCAA post-graduate scholarship, one of only 10 awarded nationally. That led him to Milwaukee where he worked for Price Waterhouse. He had also gotten married and was raising his family. After a few years, he and his former wife decided they wanted to head back to the Madison area.

“Professionally I wanted to ease off the hectic schedule that comes with public accounting. I was able to get back into city-league basketball, spend more time with the kids, move to a smaller community.”

It was the city basketball league where he met his business partners for his first business venture, Lucky’s on Regent, in 2004. He ultimately left that location and struck out with a new investor group that also owned the real estate, opening Lucky’s 1313 (down the street from the original Lucky’s), another Lucky’s in Waunakee (which closed after a few years), and finally Lucky’s Bar & Grille on Lake Wisconsin and the adjacent motel, in 2014.

It took nearly two years to rebuild after the fire. The new hotel, re-named Lucky’s Lodge on Lake Wisconsin, features a 5-bedroom penthouse suite, multiple 4-bedroom suites, king room suites with full kitchens, and standard 2 queen rooms, all with spectacular views of Okee Bay and Lake Wisconsin. And of particular interest – it has a sprinkler system that is fed by two 5,000-gallon water tanks under the parking lot.

Ripley himself poured a lot of personal sweat and ingenuity into the rebuild.

“My great-great-grandfather came to America in 1856, his name was August Ripley. He settled in Slovan, where he had 40 acres on a corner. He donated an acre of land for a church and a school, and he opened a store and saloon next to it, the Ripley Brothers Saloon. So, I guess maybe it’s in my blood a little.”

Wisconsin is also in his blood. He’s lived here his whole life, which he credits to his love of the seasons, but also the hard-working, friendly people you don’t find everywhere. As a result, he thought it was important to pay homage to the state’s heritage in the new lodge.

“I fell in love with an old barn I always drove by in Sun Prairie that was on a piece of property set to be developed into apartments. There is nothing more iconic than the barn. So, I talked to the owner and was able to purchase the old barn wood, which I made into headboards – 53 of them – as a tribute to our farming roots, to our heritage.”

It’s a heritage we are all “lucky” to call our own.

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