Phil BansalIf the PGA Tour were less demanding, one of the best things to ever happen to Belmont might never have happened.
It was the late 1980s, and Gerry Dickhaut was trying to make it as a professional golfer. He decided to give up that dream and take on a new challenge: running a sporting goods store.
“I needed a real job, because I was going around playing golf all the time, trying to be a PGA Tour pro, and I wasn’t good enough,” Dickhaut said.
Dickhaut opened Champions Sporting Goods on Leonard Street on Oct. 8, 1988, giving residents a place to buy sports gear and equipment.
After 35 years, Dickhaut will retire Jan. 1, and pass it on to two other Belmontonians: Andy Pollock and Dan Smith.
“I’m 67. It’s time to go on and do some other things,” Dickhaut said. “Golf is on the agenda. It’s just time to pass it on to Andy and Dan, good guys, in their early 40s, and I’ll be back to help them out whenever they need me.”
What Dickhaut has done for Belmont over the years is legendary. First, he ran a successful store on Leonard Street.
“I made it through two recessions and a pandemic, so that’s pretty good,” said Dickhaut.
Over those decades, Belmont Center has lost stores that attract people to the center during the day, like Filene’s, but Champions still draws people, serving as an anchor.
Dickhaut has also stimulated civic pride; created institutions for Belmont merchants to thrive; boosted youth sports; and graced the lives of many Belmontonians, young and otherwise.
He started the Belmont Center Business Association (BCBA), the closest thing Belmont has to a Chamber of Commerce, as well as Town Day, and the annual tree lighting.
And there isn’t a parent of a child athlete in town who isn’t familiar with his good-natured laugh. Generations of children have bought their gear at Champions, and Dickhaut has made the process seamless and pleasant.
“It’s very easy for [the leagues], they leave it here; the customers, the players, come in, pick it up. It’s very easy, it’s convenient,” he said.
‘I Think I’m Going to Buy Champions’
At one Town Day, Pollock wandered into Champions to say hello to Dickhaut. He had left his job at Amazon, where he had been “doing software” for 10 years, and was generally “looking for the next thing,” and Dickhaut said to him, “Are you looking for anything in particular?” “I said, nah, I’m just killing time. And he says, ‘How about a sporting goods store?’ And I looked at him, like, are you serious? And he says, ‘Yeah, I’m serious. This is my last year.’ And I said, ‘I think I’m interested.’ And I walked out of the store and told my friends, ‘I think I’m going to buy Champions.’”
Pollock and Smith bought the lease this past fall, and are already working at Champions to learn the ropes from Dickhaut. They’ll officially take over the business Jan. 1, and they know not to mess up a good thing.
“The specialness that Gerry built over the thirty years, the center-of-community feel, all the sports teams come in here to get uniforms, we have to keep,” Smith said. “That’s the beautiful part.
“If we model ourselves after Gerry,” Pollock said. “be kind to people, pay attention to who our customers are and try to do right by them, things will work out here.”
‘Two Guys to Fill His Shoes’
“He’s a trusted figure. He knows how to get things done,” said Heidi Sawyer, former secretary of the BCBA and Dickhaut’s long-time friend. Civic activism is “in his heart,” she said.
“Any issue the Center needs, Gerry contributes. He puts so much time into the town. He’s just a fixture,” Mary Thomajan, owner of Westcott Mercantile, said.
Deran Muckjian, owner of The Toy Shop of Belmont and the current BCBA vice president, said Dickhaut achieved so much for the town because “he listens to everybody. He keeps open lines of communication.”
Becca Pizzi, local marathon record-holder and a running coach in Belmont schools, loves Dickhaut for the support he gave her and her runners.
“It takes two guys to fill Gerry’s shoes,” said Pollock. “One guy in each sneaker.”
A Focus on Civic Service
Not long after starting Champions, during the phase Dickhaut describes as a “a little bit of a struggle,” Dickhaut started Town Day.
“Myself and some others, we said we should have sort of a town day, you know,” Dickhaut says, “and get the people down here for a day just to celebrate living in Belmont, and do something for the community.”
A bunch of grills were set up, and burgers and dogs were served to those who came. It was popular from the start, and Dickhaut kept it growing, bringing in rides for children, pony rides, and famous mascots, like Elsa and Batman.
“It’s a great day for the town,” says Dickhaut. “The center association gives back to the town for supporting us through the year.”
For Town Day to happen, Dickhaut had to coordinate with the town, because either end of Leonard Street needed closing off. (That’s one reason Town Day happens at the center, Dickhaut said, because closing off Cushing or Waverley square would interrupt traffic.)
He also had to find money, so he went to the old Belmont Savings Bank, which agreed to donate $5,000. When M&T bought the bank, Dickhaut asked if the new bankers would continue supporting Town Day, which they did, upping the donation to $10,000. Both Dickhaut and Muckjian, who will take over Town Day next year, expect the bank to continue sponsoring the event.
Money raised at Town Day goes to the BCBA so the group can support shopping and dining at the center, and a good chunk of that money goes right back to the community at the tree lighting festival.
“We give away everything at Tree Lighting, free hot chocolate, free fried dough, cupcakes, popcorn. And we take that money from the money we raised at Town Day and spend it on that. So, it’s a nice night,” Dickhaut said.
Dickhaut has always seen his success at Champions as a gift from Belmont.
“I’ve been very fortunate to stay in business all these years and support the community. It goes both ways,” Dickhaut says, “people ask me for a donation or a raffle prize, and I do that, because they support me.”
As Heidi Sawyer says, Dickhaut served Belmont in smaller ways, too. “If there’s a school play,” she says, “he’ll sell tickets from the store. Or tickets to an event at the garden club, he’ll sell from his shop.”
The BCBA, which Dickhaut started when he began Town Day, has striven for decades to make the center a welcoming place for shoppers and businesses. Money from Town Day helps the BCBA hang flowers and lights in the center, to “make downtown more attractive,” Dickhaut says.
Through the BCBA, Dickhaut arranged with the town for outdoor dining, so restaurants could keep serving food during the pandemic. Currently, the BCBA is trying to ameliorate the unwelcome sight of empty storefronts on Leonard and is working with the town to help businesses grappling with high rents.
Dickhaut’s civic activism isn’t limited to Belmont Center. When Mary Thomajan ran Westcott Mercantile at Cushing Square, Dickhaut helped her with her public events. Mary started a festival called Fall Fest, to mimic Town Day, she says, and Dickhaut contributed his time and expertise to make it successful.
High School Help
Dickaut has inspired many high-schoolers to succeed with the responsibility of working a real job while attending school and playing sports.
Nick Coppolo started working at Champions when he was a sophomore, in 2015, and worked through his senior year, and even during the summer after his first year of college, but he fell in love with Dickhaut’s shop back in fourth grade, when he’d cut through the store and end up chatting with the people there about school and life. Coppolo remembers the bucket of baseballs kids would use as a stool during these chats, so many kids over so much time that the bucket developed a divot. At Champions, Coppolo “learned to sell” and how to do customer service.
“I felt really good about myself. It was my first time doing work. I felt like the man,” he said. Coppolo works in sales today, at the Hollister Group in downtown Boston.
Melis Demirtaz is a senior in Belmont and works at Champions now, having worked there since her sophomore year. Dickhaut, she said “made my first work experience really pleasurable.” He’s “very funny” and “so nice and easygoing,” “always giving advice but not being harsh about it.” As Coppolo did, Demirtaz is learning a lot about customer service and “the field of retail,” and she hopes to work there when she comes home from her first year of college.
“It’s known as a place where high school kids can come work and learn stuff, and it’s a great experience for them. We’re not going to change that, for sure,” Smith said.
Some Changes on the Horizon
Both new owners worked with computer technology before, Pollock at Amazon and Smith in digital marketing, and both see opportunities to improve customers’ experiences by modernizing the store a little. Both agree it would be good if customers could see the inventory online, then come in and pick up what they need, rather than call to see if something’s available. They’re also considering selling new items not sold there before, maybe sunglasses, or different brands of items.
Although Dickhaut, ever the coach, puts in a lot of time to help Pollock and Smith learn the ins and outs of Champions, he also uses his newfound leisure to return to his first love, golf. He has already gone on a golfing trip to Florida this winter, and he’ll do more trips while it’s cold in Belmont.
