'A U.P. kid and a U.P. pizza place': New NIL deal a match made in heaven for UWGB's Wonders, Riverside Pizzeria
GREEN BAY – It’s a match made in heaven, especially for those who love basketball and pizza.
University of Wisconsin-Green Bay sophomore guard Foster Wonders recently became one of the first student-athletes at the school to partner with a commercial business on an NIL deal after he joined forces with Riverside Pizzeria, which opened a location at 2822 Ramada Way in Ashwaubenon in July.
The agreement between the two Yoopers makes perfect sense.
The 6-foot-5 Wonders was a prep legend during his days at Iron Mountain High School in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
He graduated as the U.P.’s all-time leading scorer with more than 2,200 points, led his team to an 83-5 record in four seasons and to a runner-up finish in the Division 3 state tournament during his senior year in 2021.
Wonders put on a show every night. He averaged 34.5 points as a senior and had 13 scholarship offers that included almost half the Horizon League before he picked Southern Illinois.
He did it all while living 44 miles from the popular Riverside Pizzeria in Iron River, an establishment that opened its doors in 1946 and has been the go-to place for many in the U.P. for almost 80 years.
It expanded for the first time after owners Tom and Susan Fritz approached family friend Ryan Ruzziconi about opening a pizzeria in the Green Bay area since Ruzziconi was moving here with his family from Michigan.
“I talked with my brother, and here we are,” said Ruzziconi, who is president of the De Pere-based Ruzziconi Restaurant Group LLC.
Ruzziconi is a 1999 UWGB graduate and an Iron River native. He never had spoken with Wonders, but like many from his area, he knew who he was after his noteworthy basketball career.
It was an exciting moment for those back home when Wonders announced in April he was transferring to UWGB after two years at Southern Illinois.
Ruzziconi reached out to Jay Finnerty, UWGB’s senior associate AD for resource enhancement, and inquired about Wonders.
“I said you have a U.P. kid and a U.P. pizza place that is now in Green Bay,” Ruzziconi said. “This U.P. kid is now playing basketball at UWGB and playing really well, and I said this just has an easy NIL thing written all over it.”
Finnerty put Ruzziconi in touch with Jess Miller, who serves as director of the Fly with the Phoenix Collective, before Ruzziconi and Wonders spoke and agreed to a partnership.
Fly with the Phoenix Collective is a nonprofit NIL organization created by a group of fans, alumni and business leaders in 2022 to help provide a platform to student-athletes at UWGB as a way “to give back” to the region.
Ruzziconi also is a health care and corporate attorney who has been part of some big negotiations around the world, but the one with Wonders wasn’t near as intense.
He anticipates future deals with other athletes at UWGB, including this spring.
“We let him know, and the Collective know, what we were thinking,” Ruzziconi said. “Foster kind of lets us know what he’s thinking and you just kind of reach an agreement like anything else.
“Obviously, it’s very friendly. A pizzeria and a basketball player go together pretty well. Everybody has to agree on everything, so we definitely talked it through.”
Wonders can’t retire on his one-year NIL deal with Riverside, but he received some nice perks for a college player who up until a few years ago couldn’t make a dime off his name, image or likeness.
He preferred to keep the terms of the agreement private out of respect to his new business partners.
Wonders has filmed a social media commercial that has been a big hit with fans and will conduct a meet-and-greet at the restaurant Feb. 2. He also sends out social media posts each month.
“My parents and I always went to the pizzeria,” said Wonders, who scored a season-high 17 points in a win at Wright State on Thursday and entered the weekend averaging 7.9 points. “Then we found out they had a place here. … There was a connection. It worked out really well.
“It feels really good to have that opportunity to do that and kind of try to help raise notoriety for them. They helped me, obviously. It’s a mutual thing. It’s been really cool.”
UWGB coach Sundance Wicks embraces NIL era
NIL money has changed the landscape of college athletics in recent years, with some of the best players in the nation making millions.
Not everybody likes this new era, but UWGB coach Sundance Wicks isn’t one of them.
He loves it. To him, the entire process goes well beyond money.
“It’s about the ability to learn how to conduct business deals for these guys, learn how to work with a partnership,” Wicks said. “You are going to have to go out to businesses and walk the line. Professionalism. Learn about taxes. All these different things they don’t teach you.
“There is a class in school that I think I should teach. It’s called, ‘The (stuff) they don’t teach you.’ That’s going to be the title of my class. We are going to tell you about all the things they don’t teach you in college. Which is probably the best class you could actually go to.”
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Wonders indeed has learned a lot already, including the art of making a commercial. He’d be the first to admit his acting skills aren’t quite as good as the ones he displays on the court.
Both he and the Riverside employee who appeared with him were reminded to talk a little bit louder during the shoot.
“It wasn’t one take,” Wonders said. “But it was a lot of fun.”
One take or 100, at least he’s already an excellent pitchman.
When asked if Riverside makes a good pizza, he cracked a smile and didn’t hesitate with an answer.
“Oh, it’s great,” Wonders said. “It’s my favorite. It’s my favorite.”
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: UWGB's Foster Wonders partners on NIL deal with Riverside Pizzeria
