Our Team
Jeff Spelman is the inventor, CEO and Head Coach of Jukem Football.
Jeff worked in college athletics from 1984-1991 at the Universities of Louisville, Virginia and Notre Dame. He worked day-to-day with Louisville's 1986 NCAA Championship basketball team, Notre Dame's 1988 undefeated national championship football team, Virginia's No. 1 ranked college football team in 1990 and he also ran a Heisman Trophy campain that year for finalist Shawn Moore. One of Jeff's favorite moments was attending the Heisman Trophy Ceremonies at the Downtown Athletic Club in New York
Jeff has worked in sports for over 20 years. After his career in college athletics, he shook up the Major League Baseball Scouting industry in the early-1990's by pioneering the Baseball "Showcase" concept.
Jeff was the first person to gather in one location the nation's best high school baseball prospects, Major League scouts from every organization and the recruiters from the country's top college baseball programs. Players increased their college and professional opportunities while scouts and college coaches saved time, travel, and were able to better evaluate players because they could finally see nation's top prospects compete against one another on the same field.
Current household names such as David Wright, Mark Teixeira and Roy Halladay are among the players Jeff recruited to his Showcases. Over 230 of his Team One Showcase players have reached the Major Leagues, including 24 Major League All-Stars. Jeff worked as the National Baseball Scouting Director for Rivals.com and wrote about baseball prospects for MLB.com, YahooSports.com, and CBSSports.com
Michelle Spelman is the company's Sales Manager, Cheerleader and Jukem Evangelist. She’s a Live Wire bringing play-by-play updates to friends and fans of the game. She loves connecting with people at the grassroots level and experimenting with social media and word of mouth marketing. Before Jukem Football landed on store shelves, Michelle already had over 1,800 fans following Jukem Football on Twitter. She’s a hands-on herald sharing the story of Jukem and has personally visited over 150 independent toy stores across the country, making lots of new friends along the way. Michelle and Jeff are a husband and wife team, raising three boys in the Greater Cincinnati area.
