Striking the Jackpot
Game gear turns out to be a hit with umpires across the nation

More than one reader's eyebrows were raised in October when they glimpsed the cover of Sports Illustrated adorned with the screaming words "Kill the Umps!" Perhaps the tastelessness of the cover only drives home further the irrational, exaggerated antipathy that sports fans -- even so-called journalistic ones -- generate toward game officials. But not everybody slams umpires. Some people actually support them, do good things for them, even treat them as customers.

Take one Beulah Hester, 53, president and owner of Ump-Attire, an international manufacturing concern operating out of Stanford, Kentucky. To call the storefront inauspicious is an understatement. A mobile sign unit announces "For Sale: Sewing Machines." Simple stencil letters affixed to the glass entrance announce that you've found the right place for umpire gear, clothing and custom embroidery and appliqué work.

At Ump-Attire, Hester and her five employees are wearing out those sewing machines filling orders for customers across the country and in such faraway places as Germany, Mexico and Australia. The cutting work is subcontracted to Tillets Uniforms in Stanford, while some of work is farmed out to home-based workers in the area.

For umpires' looks as well as crew teamwork, coordination is the key. Ump-Attire offers caps, turtlenecks, pullovers and jackets to individuals and associations looking for that smart, official appearance.

"The umpire is the person in total control of the game. It's become part of the game to harass the ump, but a good one doesn't even notice. They don't change calls, they're pretty strong and can take a lot. They need to be respected. When they look good, they need to show that role. They're the boss out there. If a police officer looks sloppy, who's going to respect him?" explains Hester.

It's in the bag

It may be hard for the typical baseball fan to believe, but there's a lot of gear necessary to good umpiring beyond the proverbial better eyeglasses or closet full of light blue shirts. Beyond safety equipment like the face mask and chest protector, Hester saw one particular piece of regulation equipment that she thought she could improve: the ball bag.

"The people at the National Softball Association wanted me to make bags for them. They needed some improvement, so I pushed them to a different level," Hester explains. "We did a patent search, and found out that nobody had ever patented one -- most associations have a seamstress just making some bags for them."

Last year, the company sold over 5,000 of them, and she proudly displays a patent granted in August for its design.

"The patent is a utility patent, which allows for change in content.The Ump-Attire bag is different from all the rest," she points out. "It has pouches for the broom, indicator and pencil, an elastic front, six layers of fabric. The bag holds six baseballs or three softballs and weighs 12 ounces. The key, unique feature is this backside pocket: they can put pencils, lineup cards, keys, anything in that pocket, and it's easily accessible."

You'd expect an inventor to be enthusiastic about every detail of the invention. But it's those details that please her customers too. Umpire David Still, who calls balls and strikes for youth baseball in Pound, Virginia, says, "The Ump-Attire bag is the greatest ever made, no question. Anyone that says different hasn't used it. The pockets were easy to use, and I was amazed by how many balls it held."

That is music to Hester's ears.

"I've had a lot of e-mail begging me to contact associations. They say they go to call a game wearing our bag, and another official stops them and says they have to wear matching bags. NCAA officials use them a lot, the National Softball Association, the National Federation of Officials. People on the Internet contact us. There are a lot of associations with maybe 100 umps in them who call us to place an order.

"The neat thing is it's an official part of ump's uniform. They have to wear one," adds Hester. "There are as many as one million sanctioned umpires. They have to buy new equipment every seven years. About 10,000 new umps come on every year, so that's a good little market. I would be happy if I could just sell every ump in the U.S. one bag. A lot of them wear two bags, or need black in one league and navy in another. What I want to do is produce the highest quality I can for the best price I can."

Geared up for the future

Like many successful entrepreneurs, Hester is finding that the busy season suddenly seems to go year-round. Part of that business is due to Ump-Attire's website. However, if the customers choose to call, it's usually Hester who answers the phone.

Now Hester is faced with how to manage growth. She is presently negotiating with a company to make the bags, and she's looking for a company to help make jackets.

As for distribution, she is trying to get a line into a major international chain of department stores. Talks are also ongoing with the Kentucky World Trade Center and with the U.S. Department of Commerce Center for Rural Development Export Assistance Center to explore potential markets and partners. However, remaining "Made in America" is a staple of Hester's business plan.

"I'm hoping to add other things to my line," says Hester. "I'd love to make personalized brooms and indicators, gloves and jackets. We have an idea for pants that we could do now with a manufacturer. But we try to do one thing at a time."

Adam Bruns is a staff writer for The Lane Report.

Back to January Issue

Back to Entrepreneur Index

Copyright 1996-98, by Kentucky Business Online, LLC.  All rights reserved.

Editorial content is copyright 1998, Lane Communications Group
All editorial materials is fully protected and must not be reproduced in any manner without prior permission. 

Buzzword and the Buzzword balloon are registered trademarks of Buzzword, Inc.  The Lane Report is a trademark of Lane Communications Group.  All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.