TONEY, Alabama – Dave Millican grew to love professional wrestling as a boy watching the sport with his brothers as they huddled around the TV set in their Tennessee home.

Wrestling, known for its mix of athletics and theatrics, was huge in the South, especially in the Memphis area where Millican was raised.

At only 13 years old, Millican – now a Toney resident – made his first pro wrestling championship belt out of cardboard, aluminum foil from his mom's kitchen and a cheap paint-by-numbers kit he borrowed from his brother. It wasn't the type of ornate belt you see today on World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), but it was a start.

"I'm really glad it doesn't exist anymore," he told AL.com last week at his home in rural Madison County. "I would hate for anybody to see it."

Millican's belts have improved significantly since then. As a teenager, Millican upgraded to aluminum belts, then began making trophy pieces. By the mid-to-late 1980s, the former corrections officer graduated to real leather.

His championship belts are now used by WWE and are shipped to wrestling and mixed martial arts promotions around the globe. Millican, who used to make belts as a side job, now dedicates himself full-time to the craft.

"I've made belts for Madonna to KISS to golf tournaments to racing events," he said. "WWE is such a global entity that that's still my go-to. I guarantee you whether it's Target, Wal-Mart or Barnes & Noble, there's something there that pertains to me. There's something there, from a toy or a book, that has my work on it.

"That doesn't get old," he added.

Growing demand

The web changed everything for Millican, who was featured in a CNNMoney segment in May, about 15 years ago. Now his products, which he makes in his home garage, are seen and purchased by collectors and companies from across the world.

The average cost of a hand-crafted belt by Millican ranges from $1,000 to $5,000 each, but more elaborate belts have cost as much as $20,000.

Some belts can be so complex, Millican said he can make as few as 60 to 70 a year. Right now, Millican has more than 100 projects in the works.

"I wouldn't have time to do another job, even if I wanted to," Millican said.

Before Millican became the face for championship belt making, he was making and selling belts to a few Memphis-area independent wrestling shows. In the early '90s, he contacted Reggie Parks, who made the famous belts Millican saw on TV and in wrestling magazines when he was a kid.

He reached out to Parks, who is now retired and living in Arizona, to buy a belt of his own.

"I told him, 'I do what you do, just not on your level,'" Millican recalled. "He said, 'Why not? Why don't you do it like I do it?' He opened those doors, and 20 plus years later, here we are."

Parks took Millican under his wing and taught him to make belts used by World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling, according to CNN.

A couple of years ago, Millican began working with 36-year-old Mike Nicolau, who lives in Massachusetts and owns and operates MN Championship Belts, a full-service custom championship belt shop.

Nicolau's goal was to work with the best in the business: Millican, Parks and title belt designer Rico Mann. Nicolau had to start from the bottom and work his way up, without guarantee he would ever get there, or that there was even a "there" to get to.

He designed belts for other businesses for a while, then took up leather-crafting and taught himself to build his own custom championship belts.

"After several years of trying to hone my skills, and at the behest of my lovely wife to 'just email him,' I nervously reached out to Dave," Nicolau said. "I told him how much I admired his work and how I'd love to work with him in the future. He said he was a fan of my stuff, and that, maybe, possibly, someday, there might be an opportunity to team up."

'An invaluable asset'

Overjoyed but also concerned Millican was "just being nice," Nicolau soon got an opportunity to collaborate with Millican on the WWE Intercontinental Championship, which is one of Nicolau's all-time favorite belts.

Nicolau now works with Millican etching metal plates and buckles, fashioning and dying leather straps, mounting plates, cutting and grinding bolts, setting snap buttons, painting, taking pictures and shipping the belts to clients.

"Dave has been an invaluable asset to my development as a belt maker," he said. "To be able to get 'the rub' (as they say in the wrestling business) from the most successful and prolific player in the game is a major coup."

Championship belts, which have changed considerably since Millican was a kid imitating his favorite wrestlers on TV, have evolved from the basic "cut and dry design" with basic artwork and nickel plating to lots of layering and stone work.

While there are a handful of guys across the U.S. doing this kind of work, Millican said his reputation has made him the biggest name in the business.

Still, the father of two remains humble.

"All this attention has really caught me by surprise," he said. "I'm just a belt maker. To be remembered at all is something that I consider an honor."

Send Lucy Berry an email at lberry@al.com.