MILWAUKEE — The Milverine aka John Hamann is a Milwaukee icon. He's an unmistakable figure constantly walking the streets of the Cream City shirtless with his small dog Princess.
He also has his own bobblehead at the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame, there is a beer inspired by him at MobCraft, and in August he threw out the first pitch at a Brewers game.
But who really is the Milverine? Let's go beyond his love to walk and learn what he does for fun. Is the 60-year-old dating? What does he eat to stay in such good shape? What kind of music does he listen to? What does his kitchen look like?
So TMJ4's James Groh took off his shirt and went for a walk with the Milverine to learn more about this local legend.
The following are the highlights from a day of walking on the southside and boxing in his basement. Parts of the conversation have been edited for continuity and clarity.
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James Groh: Why do you always have your shirt off?
Milverine: "Okay, I walk every place I go. Anytime it's above 60, I sweat a lot. So if you got a shirt on, especially a cotton shirt, you just soak up a lot of water, and then you go into a store, especially in the summer with air conditioning, and you start freezing in there. It's like walking into a refrigerator."
James Groh: How many photos do you think you've taken in your life?
Milverine: "Oh boy. Hundreds?"
James Groh: Probably even thousands, right?
Milverine: "The thing is I came from a family that hardly took any pictures at all."
James Groh: Are you still working?
Milverine: "Well, I’m semi-retired, and I used to work construction, and I want to get back to work when I get 100 percent back to healthy."
James Groh: If you had to describe yourself, how would you describe yourself?
Milverine: "Just a simple Milwaukee person. Like just like a simple guy. Blue collar guy that lived in Milwaukee his whole life. He has no interest in leaving."
James Groh: If you could be anything in the world what would you want to be?"
Milverine: Probably an opera star, you know.
James Groh: Why?
Milverine: "Just because basically try to like bring it back. Most people have no idea how popular it was in the 1800s. It was the thing. It was the Hollywood."
James Groh: Do you have a favorite operatic, like, song? :ike this is my favorite song opera wise?
Milverine: "Like La donna é mobile from Rigaletto."
James Groh: Is that Italian?
Milverine: "Yea."
James Groh: So you have know a little bit of Italian to like opera.
Milverine: "Yea, the thing is I know all the operas. I don't need the subtitles. But I can't speak fluent Italian, but I know what they're saying in all those operas. I don't like it when they show those subtitles."
James Groh: Do you listen to pop music?
Milverine: "Well, maybe during the summer like - "
James Groh: Like who are you listening to?
Milverine: "Probably like ABBA, Seals and Crofts. There’s some musical soundtracks from the Broadway shows and stuff like that. But other than that I really don’t like modern music. Like I think Prince is a joke, and some of these other guys, like Taylor Swift, like a lot of girls like. I don't like that. I don’t like country music. That Chris Stapleton guy I don’t like that."
James Groh: But you like Broadway?
Milverine: "Yea, I like Broadway shows like real catchy songs I like."
James Groh: What’s your favorite Broadway show?
Milverine: "Probably Cats."
James Groh: You’re a good-looking dude.
Milverine: "Right."
James Groh: What’s the dating life like for you?
Milverine: "Okay, I almost got married last year. I broke up with some woman in late November. And I can’t tell you what her name is because she’s really a private person. But she was more of an inside person, and I was an outside person."
James Groh: How long were you together for?
Milverine: "About 3.5 months."
James Groh: And you were planning on getting married after 3.5 months?
Milverine: "Believe it or not."
James Groh: That's pretty fast.
Milverine: "I know."
James Groh: Are there ever, you know, people who say oh you want to go on a date, or like I would love to get your number? Anything along those lines?
Milverine: "Yea, sometimes people call me up. You want to take a walk someplace?"
James Groh: What do you say to them?
MIlverine: "Well, sometimes yes. Sometimes no. It depends on how much time I have."
James Groh: Where are you going to take a lady on your first date?
Milverine: "Well, this one idea was Nashville North, you know. One of her friends was playing in a band there. But I would actually want to go to the opera or Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra or something."
James Groh: Now you gotta get a meal before you go to the opera where do you -
Milverine: "I never go out to eat."
James Groh: Never go out to eat? Never?
Milverine: "No. Never go out to eat. I went to McDonald's like 40 years ago."
James Groh: You cook at home exclusively?
Milverine: "Yea."
James Groh: What’s your favorite meal to cook?
Milverine: "I very seldom cook anything I mean - "
James Groh: Well, how do you eat? You got to eat something.
Milverine: "Well, you can just dump stuff out of bags, you know. Drink like soy milk or some of those like pea protein milk like Ripple type of milk. I try to get it organic. Organic plain soy milk without the sugar, and basically like that. You can get these organic cookies, plant-based, like 16 grams, you know. You only need about 70 grams of protein."
James Groh: How often do you get haircuts?
Milverine: "Okay, I cut it myself probably once every 8 months."
James Groh: Why do you like the primitive look?
Milverine: "Because it basically be like you look like Gentleman's Quarterly. You're probably not going to want to walk and sweat in all that, you know?"
James Groh: What do you think about when you're walking?
Milverine: "Well, not very much of anything to tell you the truth."
James Groh: With all that quiet time you’re just letting your head be at peace?
Milverine: "Yea, cause I done it my whole life. It's not like I just started walking like recently. I mean I basically was never in a car. Never had a car."
James Groh: Do you still not own a car?
Milverine: "No I don’t like cars. My dad never drove a car."
James Groh: Why don’t you like cars?
Milverine: "I don’t like it, you know. I just - it makes people soft, you know."
James Groh: Cars make people soft?
Milverine: "If all they do is (get) in and out of a car and don’t get any exercise other than that, yeah then it does. Because the body's meant to move. Be active."
James Groh: Do you play any instruments?
Milverine: “No believe it or not I would be no good - I don’t have the patience for that.”
James Groh: What do you have the patience for?
Milverine: “Walking, running. I like boxing. I like to be a boxer or cage fighter. But when I was younger I couldn’t like starve myself to make a weight for one of those things. So I got into weightlifting, bodybuilding stuff like that. You can weigh anything.”
James Groh: Why do you like boxing?
Milverine: “Okay, boxing basically it was something I was good at right over. My brother was a boxer. So he’d bring all these boxing gloves over. He’d bring guys over from the neighborhood, and they’d think they could beat me easy. And basically, I was knocking these guys out with one punch. I’m left-handed. I’ve got a real good straight left hand. It’s basically - a lot of people can’t take that one straight left, so they quit right away.”
James Groh: Do you recognize the cultural impact that you’ve had on Milwaukee?
Milverine: "No."
James Groh: Why not?
Milverine: "Because basically, I'm on my feet all the time. I'm not like sitting around paying attention to things like that."
James Groh: For a lot of people you're a symbol of Milwaukee.
Milverine: "Yeah, I like that, but I don’t like really think about it, you know."
James Groh: What do you think about having a bobblehead and a beer after you?
Milverine: "Yeah, that's pretty good. I don’t drink but my dad had a bar."
James Groh: - So you’ve never even tried that beer?
Milverine: "No."
James Groh: Have you seen that bobblehead? Do you think that’s a good representation?
Milverine: "Yea."
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The Milverine is a modest man. He loves his walks, opera, and boxing. He’s just going about his day. Doing what he wants. And if people want to take a photo with him, he’s more than glad to do it.
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