Mark Lane, vice president of Operations at American Athletic Inc in Jefferson, was one of three featured speakers at the annual meeting of Western Iowa Advantage in Carroll Tuesday evening.
AAI is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, and Lane gave information about the organization of the company. “All 60 years have been in Jefferson, and we’re very proud of that,” Lane said.
AAI was purchased by Russell Athletic in 2004. Russell Athletic was purchased by Fruit of the Loom in 2006. Fruit of the Loom is now a subsidiary of Berkshire-Hathaway. Lane explained that AAI makes and sells gymnastics and cheerleading equipment and some gymnasium equipment under the AAI brand.
AAI has provided equipment for more than 240 major gymnastics championships including two Olympics, every Olympics trial since 1976, the National Championships since 1972, the American Cup since 1974, the NCAA championships since 1984, seven Malaysian Games and more. In 2014, AAI will provide equipment for 69 gymnastics events, including the World Championships in Nanning,China.
Under the Spalding brand, AAI manufactures institutional volleyball and basketball equipment like the backboards used at every NCAA tournament game. Spalding has been the official supplier since 2006 of nine consecutive NCAA Final Four tournaments.
Lane spoke of the 2014 men’s tournament, the first time Spalding has been used in all rounds of the tournament. “It’s been a great tournament. The slam dunks, the 3-point shooting, the buzzer beaters in this tournament, the close games, the huge upsets. The one thing that hopefully went unnoticed is that we were there for the whole thing, and that’s according to plan. We don’t want you to notice us. If you noticed us, we probably did something wrong. And when we do something wrong, the athlete’s game suffers. Our goal is to have every athlete play to the best of their ability… Athletes should be limited by their ability, not by the equipment. That’s why we do what we do.”
Spalding has also been a supplier to the NBA D-League since 2008, the NBA since 2009, including six consecutive All-Star games, and the WNBA since 2010. Spalding equipment has been used at more than 22,000 NBA, NBA D-League and WNBA games.
Lane also introduced the company’s newest product, Carbontek® shoulder pads under the Russell Athletic brand. He said they’re more than shoulder pads, but are “upper body protection system.” “The materials are unlike anything that’s ever been used before for shoulder pads before,” Lane said.
He said a protection vest is the core of the product. It uses an automotive foam that disperses 30 percent more energy than what is used in other shoulder pads. The foam is covered by a compression fabric that holds the vest tightly to the athlete’s upper body. Over that is an aerospace carbon fiber exoskeleton that disperses energy even more. “It’s unlike any product that anybody has ever tried,” he said.
The Carbontek shoulder pads are less than half the weight of other shoulder pads and have increased ventilation and moisture management. The pads do not absorb perspiration, so they’re the same light weight at the end of the game as at the beginning. “It may not sound like a lot, but you go out and play a game of football, and it makes a big difference,” Lane said.
The Carbontek pads are more odor and bacteria resistant than other pads, and have better impact dispersion. Lane explained that because the vest fits an athlete tightly, he has better range of motion and doesn’t feel a need to adjust his pads after every play. A final bonus is that by removing the exoskeleton, the pads are machine washable and dryable.
Lane said the Carbontek pads are in production in Jefferson. Russell is now taking orders and AAI is ramping up production. Last week 80 sets were constructed, and the company is looking for good growth. Five new employees have already been added to build the pads. “We’re excited about it…. We’re fired up that out of 33,000 employees (Fruit of the Loom, worldwide), they picked the 107 in Jefferson.”
“We’re fiercely proud of our brands and we’re proud of the fact that we’re making them. But the thing that we’re most proud about is that they’re made in Small Town, Iowa. That’s what we’re most proud of… We want you to be proud of these brands, too. These are your brands, too. They’re not just ours. They belong to Iowa,” Lane said.
Other speakers at the event were Keith Kerkhoff of Templeton Rye and Allan Petersen of Danish Countryside Vines and Wines.
Western Iowa Advantage is a collaborative effort of economic development officials in Greene, Adair, Audubon, Carroll, Crawford, Guthrie, Ida and Sac Counties. The consortium’s mission is to work cooperatively in an effort to effectively market the many viable economic assets of this region to help build a stronger local, regional and statewide economy.
