We caught up with Mr. Brian Reilly to learn more about his hometown before he steps “Inside the Ring” at the 2025 EYO. Get to know Brian below!
Hometown?
Technically Evansville, WI but I’d consider Shullsburg, WI home now. It’s where we’ve lived for almost 30 years. Our kids started school and graduated from Shullsburg
Where did you grow up?
Evansville, WI
How many kids were in your graduating class?
90 – 100 kids in my graduating class. My kids had about 12 in theirs.
If we go back to your senior year of high school, what song was “your song”?
Oh man I’m old, something from the soundtracks of Vision Quest or Rocky movies.
Were you involved in any extracurricular activities? If so, what?
Wrestling, Football, FFA and showing livestock. Grew up with good Limousin cattle, spot hogs and not very good commercial sheep.
If you could describe your hometown in one word, what would it be?
Shullsburg is a great community.
Were there any local traditions or festivals you loved?
We have an awesome community group that does and incredible job planning events. Our town’s population is around 1,100. We have a very neat, historic, well-kept one-way main street thru town. They will close it down multiple times of the year, for Christmas parade, July 4th, Memorial Day events, Labor Day food truck event, cheese days (cheese heads understand) and different music events.
If someone were visiting your hometown for the first time, what’s the one thing they must do?
Stop and get fresh cheese curds at Shullsburg creamery or Pie from Water Street market. It’s a toss-up. My wife Jayci would say an Acai bowl from the coffee shop.
Are there any people in your hometown who shaped who you are today?
That’d be my parents. Both taught me to work hard, and Dad would always harp do it right the first time (he had more colorful language when he said it).
