Keeper Goals History

Keeper Goals is a division of Demand and Precision Parts, (D&P), a metal-cutting company founded by Jim Moynihan and John Grellinger on May 4, 1974. The company had its start in Jim's garage in Wauwatosa, WI.

Jim and John quickly realized they needed more room and, within a week or two, rented space in a building owned by Ernie Gher on River Parkway. in Wauwatosa, WI. Said Jim, "I wanted to rent one of his garage bays. That's all the space we needed. But Ernie wouldn't let us. They weren't heated, and he said I'd freeze to death. So, he rented part of the first floor to us with the caveat that if another party came along who wanted to rent the entire floor, well, we'd have to move out. We were ok with that."

John and Jim soon parted ways in terms of business, and John started his own business, Tool Steel Products. John and Jim remained good friends until John passed away on November 1, 2023.

D & P stayed in Ernie Gher's building for about 2 years until Jim and Laura Moynihan bought the building right across the street at 6619 River Parkway in Wauwatosa. They worked together to grow the metal-cutting company there. Jim ran the shop, and Laura managed the office.

In 1977, with the assistance of his friend, engineer Dick Bielefeld, Jim built a pair of safe, durable soccer goals for his children’s grade school, St. Jude the Apostle in Wauwatosa, WI.

In 1978 Keeper Goals was officially created as a division of Demand & Precision Parts. This was the year Jim went to his first trade show to try to sell soccer goals. it was a large national park and recreational conference at McCormick Place in Chicago. He went with another company, FNT/Victory Netting who allowed him to set up a goal in exchange for working their booth. He recalls, "The attendees at the show were mainly there with catalog companies or stores. Their first question was usually, 'How much?' and the second question was 'What's the discount?' I left that show thinking, this is going to be a really tough sell."

Soon after Jim met someone from the Palatine Park District who told me about the Illinois Park and Rec Show. So, he went to it and had a completely different experience than at the national show. "The people at this show were people who worked in the parks, the people responsible for maintaining the equipment. They came to the booth and looked at the goal very carefully, and then they asked questions. What's the gauge of the material? How are they welded? They wanted to know how durable they'd be. Would they hold up? They didn't want to have to worry about them breaking and having to fix them. The last thing they'd bring up if they even brought it up at all, was the price. It was clear these were the kind of customers we wanted we were interested in dealing with. They cared about quality. So, for several years after that, I only went to park and rec shows. And that was how we built our business.”

Soon after Jim started making goals went to Washington DC to be part of safety talks with the Consumer Product and Safety Commission along with owners of other soccer goal manufacturing companies. Jim was concerned from the very beginning with making goals that were not only durable but safe. Keeper Goals were always designed to be counterbalanced.

One day in 1979, a young man named Tim Winn was hired to work in the shop at D & P. It would prove to be a momentous occasion as he soon became an integral part of the company. He quickly became shop manager and has been responsible for overseeing the company's day-to-day operations until this day.

Both D & P and Keeper Goals grew over the years. In the early years, the company got most of its work doing metal cutting for the big steel houses and manufacturing companies. In the early 80s, when a recession hit the country, there was little work in the manufacturing industry. "We had to look at other ways to bring in income," said Moynihan.

"Selling more soccer goals was a natural solution to this problem for us, and we began selling more and more of them." Initially, organizations would come to us and say we need this type of goal. Can you make it? And we did if it was going to be safe. We made several variations of the type of goal we made for St. Jude for some different park districts, and eventually, we made quite a few for Milwaukee County Parks. But making goals to order had its drawbacks from an efficiency standpoint.

So, in 1983 we came up with our first standard model soccer goal - the M83. That stands for Moynihan 83. The goal was designed to be strong, durable, and easy to assemble, and it featured a counterbalanced design for safety. All things the parks people were looking for. and all the things Jim thought were important in a goal. The M83 is still a staple in our line of goals and goes by the name of the Mundial.

Five years later, the M88W was created. This goal is very similar in design to the M83, but it has five wheels built into the frame for mobility. These goals now go by the name of the Ultimate Wheeled Goals, and Keeper Goals now offers multiple versions of this popular goal.

After the World Cup in Mexico in '86, people saw shelters on TV; says Jim, “They were used at the World Cup to protect the players from the fans more so than the weather. People watching from the U.S. saw the shelters, and college teams wanted them. So, Keeper Goals started to make shelters in 1987. Other athletic facility equipment followed. By the mid-1990s, the company had shifted and was doing much of its business in the athletic facility equipment industry.

In September of 1990, Laura Moynihan was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. Jim Moynihan spent much of the year during her illness by her side. Tim Winn was instrumental in running the shop during that time. And John Moynihan who had just graduated from St. John's University and was working at Northwestern Mutual began helping. Tragically Laura passed away August 1, 1991. In 1992 John Moynihan came to work at Keeper Goals full time and by 1993 he was actively helping to run the company.

Two major floods in Wauwatosa in 1997 and 1998 led to the destruction of many houses and buildings along River Parkway. More than 46 buildings were reported at the time to have been purchased by the Milwaukee Metro Sewerage District and razed in 2001 and 2002. One of these buildings was Keeper Goals. So, Jim Moynihan purchased a new building at 12400 W. Silver Spring Dr., Butler, WI and by the winter of 2002 they were moved into the new location. This is the location the business is in today.

Read about Wauwatosa's floods of 1997 and 1998 and their impact on the community.
https://www.wisn.com/article/milwaukee-invested-400-million-in-past-20-years-to-prevent-major-floods/10204766
https://archive.wauwatosanow.com/news/wauwatosas-hart-park-has-grown-in-size-stature-since-floods-of-late-90s-b9960529z1-216651961.html

Under John’s leadership, Keeper Goals expanded its product line to include goals, nets, field and facility equipment for a wide variety of sports, site furnishing, and branding products. Keeper Goals is well known for providing custom equipment and is a leading manufacturer and distributor of athletic facility equipment in North America.

Family Ties - In keeping with the theme of family business. We are proud that John runs the business, Tim's daughter Mandy manages HR. Sue director of marketing. Todd sales and Devin - welder, Tyler - shop assistant, Mike Grellinger - recently shop Chris Bielefeld, engineer, son of Dick Bielefeld who designed the first Keeper Goal.