Wilson Sporting Goods Company

1913

Adapted from Wikipedia:

The Wilson Sporting Goods Company is an American sports equipment manufacturer making equipment for many sports, among them baseball, badminton, American football, basketball, golf, racquetball, soccer, squash, tennis and volleyball. The company traces its origin back to a meatpacking company based in New York, Sulzberger & Son's, which operated meat packing slaughterhouses. In 1913 they founded the "Ashland Manufacturing Company" to use animal by-products from its slaughterhouses for making tennis racket strings, violin strings, and surgical sutures, but soon expanded into baseball shoes and tennis racquets. In 1915, under the leadership of businessman Thomas E. Wilson the company broke away from the parent firm and began to focus exclusively on the manufacture of sporting and athletic equipment. They acquired the Hetzinger Knitting Mills to produce athletic uniforms and a caddie bag company which produced golf balls, soon expanding into footballs and basketballs, in the process renaming the company "Thomas E. Wilson Company". In 1918, Wilson left to return to the beef-packing business, changing the company name to Wilson & Co.

Under new president Lawrence Blaine Icely, it acquired the "Chicago Sporting Goods Company" and struck a deal to supply the Chicago Cubs. It also hired Arch Turner, a leather designer who would design the leather football. In 1922, it introduced the Ray Schalk catcher's mitt which later became the standard. It worked with Knute Rockne to introduce the double-lined leather football and first valve football and the first waist-line football pants with pads. In 1925, it was renamed "Wilson-Western

Adapted from Wikipedia:

The Wilson Sporting Goods Company is an American sports equipment manufacturer making equipment for many sports, among them baseball, badminton, American football, basketball, golf, racquetball, soccer, squash, tennis and volleyball. The company traces its origin back to a meatpacking company based in New York, Sulzberger & Son's, which operated meat packing slaughterhouses. In 1913 they founded the "Ashland Manufacturing Company" to use animal by-products from its slaughterhouses for making tennis racket strings, violin strings, and surgical sutures, but soon expanded into baseball shoes and tennis racquets. In 1915, under the leadership of businessman Thomas E. Wilson the company broke away from the parent firm and began to focus exclusively on the manufacture of sporting and athletic equipment. They acquired the Hetzinger Knitting Mills to produce athletic uniforms and a caddie bag company which produced golf balls, soon expanding into footballs and basketballs, in the process renaming the company "Thomas E. Wilson Company". In 1918, Wilson left to return to the beef-packing business, changing the company name to Wilson & Co.

Under new president Lawrence Blaine Icely, it acquired the "Chicago Sporting Goods Company" and struck a deal to supply the Chicago Cubs. It also hired Arch Turner, a leather designer who would design the leather football. In 1922, it introduced the Ray Schalk catcher's mitt which later became the standard. It worked with Knute Rockne to introduce the double-lined leather football and first valve football and the first waist-line football pants with pads. In 1925, it was renamed "Wilson-Western

Sporting Goods" following a distribution agreement with "Western Sporting Goods".
After Rockne's death, the company focused on golf, introducing the R-90, a sand wedge golf club inspired by Gene Sarazen's victory in the 1932 British Open.
In 1931, it renamed itself "Wilson Sporting Goods Company".

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