One of Odessa’s longest-running businesses, Athletic Supply, has started a new chapter with a name change to Game One.
General Manager and Senior Buyer Ted Flowers said there was a lot of consolidation in the athletic supply industry.
There were eight legacy companies around the United States that formed Game One.
Along with Athletic Supply, several similar companies joined Game One. Flowers added that the company will be just as involved in the community as it always has been.
“And we wanted to have a national presence, so it made sense to merge into Game One so that we would have a national footprint instead of a regional footprint. It gave us some advantages to have some resources that we didn’t have as individual companies,” Flowers said.
One of their major mottoes is that they are “locally serviced and nationally supported,” Flowers said.
The company began in 1947, but it was in his family from 1972 to 2018. It had retail operations up until 2018.
“Now we just do league, team and institutional sales,” Flowers said.
His father, Ronny Flowers, is a legacy owner.
Along with himself and his father, his brother, Tim, and uncle Fudd Flowers and cousin Lane Flowers work for the company. His wife, Leah, works there and his mother, Pam, did some years ago.
Ted and Leah Flowers have one son, Ty, and Tim and his wife have six children together.
There are about 50 employees in Odessa — 30 at the building at 1107 N. Grant Ave. and the remainder are outside sales.
The business provides athletic equipment and apparel to leagues, teams and schools.That includes everything you would need for nearly any kind of sport — football, baseball, tennis, softball, soccer; plus they screen print T-shirts and hats and they have buckets to carry baseballs and lanyards.
They get uniforms from well-known brands such as Nike, Under Armour and Adidas. Flowers said there are numerous other brands that they use, as well, depending on the sport, the type of uniform and the time needed.
Most of the higher-end uniforms are made at the factory, but Flowers said they can decorate the uniforms in house.
Flowers noted that the company will still be just as involved in the community as it always has been.
Born and raised in Odessa, Flowers went to school in Greenwood and played football and basketball and ran track.
He earned a business degree from Angelo State University.
Flowers said the response to the brand change has been good.
“It was just getting them the information so that our customers knew that the service wasn’t going to change. It was simply a name change that would give us some resources that I think would give them some access to more resources, as well …,” Flowers said.
Flowers said Athletic Supply was looking for an opportunity to branch out and they talked to other similar companies who were all seeking the same thing.
“So that’s … how it all came about,” Flowers said. He added that it has taken a bit of time to come together.
Flowers grew up as an athlete and has always enjoyed athletics of all types.
“It’s given us an opportunity to stay involved in athletics. It’s also very rewarding when the teams that you provide uniforms and equipment for succeed at a very high level,” Flowers noted. “And it’s just rewarding to be able to help and you know that you had something to do with kids getting to continue to play soccer at a young age, play baseball, play Little League and that you’re helping provide that so that those kids can stay active and be a part of team sports.”
Flowers said the goal is to continue to grow and expand.
“I think it will provide new opportunities for employment here. We’re not reducing the amount of (employees). I think that’s been a fear that when you get bigger then some of the localization goes away. That’s the opposite of what we’re trying to do,” Flowers said. “This community means a lot to us. We’ve been here for a long time and have every plan to stay here and continue to be a community supporter.”
For junior high and high school helmets, Flowers said they will probably run 10,000 football helmets and about 5,000 pairs of shoulder pads.
“Helmets have a shelf life; shoulder pads not so much,” he added.
On the average, shoulder pads last about 10 years. The shoulder pads are specific to what the player plays — offensive line, defense line, quarterback. They come in sizes, too.
The technology that goes into the components has changed tremendously over the years.
“Fifty years ago, you played in a leather helmet and today you play in that. There’s been a lot of technology that’s gone into helmets because safety is one of our main concerns. We want to make sure you’re putting the best equipment that’s available on any player in any sport,” he added.
Jayme Wisely of Minneapolis, Minn., CEO of Game One said Game One is a collection of team dealer companies across the country that have joined to make a larger corporation so that they can provide goods and services to sports programs in schools, colleges, universities and at the pro level.
“That’s how the organization came together,” Wisely said.
The process of bringing together the group started in 2018. “Then I joined the company at the end of 2020 with the responsibilities of building it into a national company,” Wisely said.
The companies can now do “significantly more” together than they could separately, he said.
The Odessa operation has a large amount of the school business across the state and several colleges and universities as well.
Wisely said the Odessa group is a very important part of sports and sports history in Texas. He added that Ronny Flowers built an incredible reputation of quality and service to customers.
He said Game One is proud to have the company Ronny Flowers built as part of the network.
“… Today, most of the attention has been given to the coaches and athletic directors and the teams that we support. But as we continue to grow and expand as an organization, we’re expanding into areas of fan and spirit wear that will allow the students and the communities and the fans to be able to have products that will allow them to affiliate to schools and to celebrate the good work that’s going on in those schools,” Wisely said.
“All of that, we believe, will help to drive not only just school spirit and affiliation but we think that it has a significant contribution to helping schools improve graduation rates and school activity levels … the things that every administrator wants to have happen in their school house and every community wants to have in their school house. We think we can be a part of helping them to achieve those goals,” he added.
He said there is lots of information that shows the more students are involved in school activities, programs and sports, the higher the probability that they will complete school and graduate.
“We want to come alongside the schools and help to support them in their mission and we think that sports is an important part of that. But then we also feel that the fans, the student fans, those attending different sport activities, by them being affiliated through school-related products that can commemorate the school name and mascot — all of that that will help the schools achieve their goals …,” Wisely said.
Wisely said he has been in the school products group for nearly 30 years.
“I’ve been in just the athletic side of this for just the last year and a half. … I just absolutely love it. The people make everything better in this business. We have amazing … team members. We don’t have employees. All of our members of our organization are team members and we have amazing team members that are really knowledgeable and really care about the customers that they serve. That’s what makes it fun for me,” he said.
