Abe Wyse – Owner
Abe is the 3rd generational owner of Hit Trophy with 24 years of work experience and a lifetime of being around the business. Bud Hitt, (Abe’s Grandfather), originally opened Hit Trophy back in 1962. With the help of his wife Gertrude, they owned the business until 1994 when their son-in-law Tom Wyse bought the business from them. Tom, (Abe’s Father), owned the business from 1994 until 2019 when Abe took the reigns.
Since Abe has become the proprietor, the business has battled through some extremely tough times. Without going into the devastating financial effects of COVID on the business in 2020 & 2021, Abe also lost his mother Dawn in 2022 to a heart attack and in 2023 Abe’s father Tom passed away from his battle with Parkinson’s. To say this time period was challenging would be a vast understatement. Thankfully, things are slowly getting back to normal, both for the business’s sales and his family.
Abe is the leader of a great staff here at Hit Trophy and fully acknowledges that without them there would be no Hit Trophy. So please take a moment to learn about the rest of our staff below!
Kelly Schmucker
Office Administrator
Kelly Schmucker is what we call “a staple of Hit Trophy.” For over 34 years when people walk through the front door, Kelly is the person who greets them. Past that, if you call Hit Trophy, she is most likely the one who will be answering the phone more times than not. Because of her many years of experience, this gives her an unmatched knowledge of returning customers, repeat orders & how to best produce new orders as well. Kelly also adds her share of “family” to our family business as she’s a distant cousin to Tom & Abe. Give her a call or stop by to see her if you have questions about an item or if you’re ready to place an order. If she has some free time then you should discuss her love for dogs or ask her about the photo on the wall of her and Donny Osmond!
Brooke Snow
Art Department & Laser Engraving Technician
Brooke Snow has worked for Hit Trophy for 13 years and has a wide array of experience to show for it. She started out constructing traditional trophies, then moved over to the Full Color & Sublimation department and now she’s a Laser Engraving Technician. While her 13 years are important, it’s her vast knowledge of our overall business that keeps customers happy and helps our business to succeed. She completes smaller tasks such as inventory, creating a purchasing list each day & processing website orders as well. If you’re placing an online trophy, award or personalized gift order that needs to be laser engraved, then there’s a good chance that Brooke will be making the proof & personalizing it for you!
Jonathan Martin
Production & Packaging
Jonathan Martin has been with Hit Trophy for over 9 years now. Like many people in our small family business, Jonathan is a “do it all” for our company and he learned from the best. For years Jonathan worked hand-in-hand with our former owner Tom Wyse to learn all of the tricks of the trade when it comes to the production part of Hit Trophy. We’re very glad that he did because when Tom fell ill with Parkinson’s & no longer could come to work, Jonathan was able to take the reigns and keep things going. Cutting metal plates to size, assembling trophies, completing plaques & packaging shipments are just some of his tasks that he completes for us.
Alyssa Pitchford
Art Department & Full Color Process
Alyssa Pitchford has been with us for roughly a year & a half now. Her overall knowledge of Graphic Design definitely comes in handy as she’s the person who handles the orders that need to be completed with full color. No matter if we’re using our sublimation process or our full color UV printer, Alyssa will be the person who will be handling those types of orders. Name badges, full color plaques, engraving plates & medals are predominantly the items that take up most of her time, but she also does some eye catching work when adding full color to glass, crystal and acrylic awards as well. Every once in a while her dog Leo makes an appearance at Hit Trophy, so be sure to keep an eye out for possible social media posts with him in them!
Valerie Kinsman
Art Department & Laser Engraving Technician
Valerie has also been with us for over a year & a half. Like Brooke, she works as laser engraving tech personalizing many glass, crystal & acrylic awards. The focal point of her position is to process orders that are placed by local, walk-in customers and also most of the orders that are placed on our Amazon Store. She sets up & emails the Digital Proofs for all Amazon orders and then either sends the full color items to Alyssa or she completes the orders that need laser engraving. Both on our website and in our Amazon store we sell hundreds of sports trophies & name plates, most of which Valerie is the person to complete those orders. If you’re a customer that will be ordering on Amazon, then Valerie is the person who will be processing your order!