LeRoy Butler buys Ford dealership in Waupaca
Former Green Bay Packers all-pro safety LeRoy Butler and a partner have purchased a Ford dealership in Waupaca.
The former Racette Ford dealership, which opened Wednesday as LeRoy Butler Ford of Waupaca, was purchased from Ralph Racette, who continues to operate a Ford dealership in Oshkosh.
The dealership in Waupaca had been scheduled to close until Butler and his friend and partner Scott Wilson decided to buy it. The pair met while Butler was playing for the Packers and Wilson was working with Bergstrom Automotive, the largest car dealership company in the state.
"He's looking for something where he can make money and give back to the community at the same time," Wilson said.
The dealership was down to two employees in recent weeks and will soon employ 25 people, and might expand, Wilson said.
The dealership will capitalize on Butler's status as one of the most popular former Packers from the team that won a Super Bowl and advanced to another in the mid-1990s.
"We'll be bringing in business from outside the community," said Wilson, who lives in Hortonville.
Butler also has put his house in Jacksonville, Fla., for sale in anticipation of a move to the area, said David Thiel, who runs the economic development corporation in Waupaca County.
"It's really going to be a tremendous thing," Thiel said. "I anticipate him being an active person in the community, and that can only help, recognition-wise, for a small rural county like Waupaca."
Butler and Wilson had initially sought to obtain a loan financed from the federal economic stimulus package to help with their purchase of the dealership. But the loan program they were investigating was more appropriate for larger companies floating bonds on the bond market than for this type of deal, Thiel said.
The sale was financed mostly through equity investments from Wilson and Butler but also included bank loans and a $100,000 loan through the county's revolving loan fund, Thiel said.
