Since 1997, Sports, Inc. has invested $430,000 through its
membership across the United
States to fund sports related facilities and
programs.  The funding program, which is
called the “Sporting Chance Award”, is given each year to two the Sports, Inc.
members via a drawing held at one of the group’s five trade shows.


Nancy Wilson, Sports, Inc. vice-president, and the person
who conceived the idea said, “We wanted to give something back to the
communities where our members do business. 
All of our members are linked because of their common ownership in
Sports, Inc.  Subsequently, they also are
linked to each other’s community and the success of the Sports, Inc. store in
each community.  The Sporting Chance
gives all of Sports, Inc. an opportunity to give something back to a local
member’s community, and the industry as a whole.”

 

When it started, the award was one $30,000 given out
annually.  Beginning in 2004, Sports,
Inc. started giving $40,000 in the form of two, $20,000 awards; one to an
outdoors store and one to one of its team stores.

 

The funds have been used for a variety of sports related
facilities, projects and programs through the years.  A recap is:

 

YEAR  Winning Store               Project

 

1997    Albertson’s
Sport Shop

Warsaw,
IN     Kosciusko County 4-H Shooting Sports
– Funding for equipment and supplies and construction of a new shooting
facility and rifle range improvements.

 

1998    Team Sporting
Goods

Marshfield, WI Donation to the Greise Park Project in Marshfield, which as a
community based project to develop athletics fields, basketball and tennis
courts and other facilities for area youth. 
One of the soccer fields was named in memory of Dick Weinfurtner, the
former owner of Team Sporting Goods.

 

1999    Carlson’s Sports Center

Red Wing, MN            Red
Wing Youth Sports Program donation for equipment and funding financial aid for
scholarships.

 

2000    Ed’s Sporting
Goods

St. Joseph, MO            St.
Joseph Bantam Football Donation. Funds were used to complete a football
facility for youth football including two new fields, fenced playground area,
new scoreboards, an equipment building, concessions stand and restroom.

 

2001    Cecil Cahill       Mr. Cahill was a longtime Sports, Inc.
staffer who was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease.  The Sports, Inc. Board, Staff and Membership
gave him the Sporting Chance funds in 2001 to help offset his medical
expenses.  Mr. Cahill passed away in
2002.

 

2002    Precision Gun
Works

Oshkosh,
WI    Donations to Oshkosh City Parks for the purchase of kayaks, life
vests and paddles to start a youth kayak program; Van Dyne Sports Club to
develop youth shooting and hunter safety programs, and other local sports
clubs.

 

2003    Buck and Bass

Memphis,
TN   Facility construction at the Memphis
Agricenter, site of the Ducks Unlimited Great Outdoor Festival.  The money was used to build a bird viewing
platform.


[First Year two grants are given]          

 

2004    Gerrells and
Co.

Devils Lake,
ND          Football uniforms for local middle school program,
breakaway rims and wall mats for local college and construction of a disc golf
course.

 

Rube Adler Sporting Goods

Salon, OH        Donations
to local sports teams and associations, including Cleveland Indians Charities,
which impacts 15,000 youngsters in the Cleveland
area.

 

2005    Brady’s
Sportsman Surplus

Missoula,
MT   Funded an archery program in the local schools, and funded a youth
fishing program

 

Sport-N-Center

Denham Springs,
LA    Purchased and donated school uniforms for students affected by
hurricane Katrina.

 

2006    Gunnies
Sporting Goods

Orem, UT        Provided 50% funding for a public
shooting range in Provo,
sponsored a “Learn to Shoot Day”, and sponsored Hunters Education courses.

 

Downtown Athletics

Charlottesville, VA       Used the
money to start foundation in Charlottesville  The foundation is being used to fund
financial aid for local youth to participate in area sports activities.
through the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation.

 

2007    D&G Sports
& Western

Glasgow, MT   Building a public shooting range in Glasgow in cooperation
with the county and state fish, wildlife and parks department.

 

Steadman’s Sports
Center

Bossier City,
LA           Built a playground at the city’s baseball complex, and the
city council voted to name the playground after the store’s founder, Bill
Steadman.  Steadman’s also used the funds
to remodel the entrance to their local high school stadium and to support
Special Olympics in Bossier City.

 

2008   

 

Sportsman Supply Co.

Butler, PA        Established
shooting sports training programs for handguns, self-protection and a youth gun
safety program.

 

Athletics Unlimited

Sacramento,
CA           Allowed local schools to submit a “Wish List” of items
they needed buy could not afford, and used the funds to fill as many of the
requests as they could.

 

2009   

Lafayette
Shooters Wilderness

Lafayette, LA   TBD

 

The 2000 award winner, Dick Carlson of Carlson’s Sport Center
in Red Wing, MN said, “It is a great asset to belong to an organization like
Sports, Inc. that puts the interests of furthering sports in such high
regard.  The Sporting Chance Award is a
direct benefit of this philosophy.”

 

One of the winners, Russell Taylor of Steadman’s Sport
Center in Bossier City, LA, said, “We could not have done it without
Sports, Inc.”


Sports, Inc. is a member-owned buying organization
headquartered in Lewistown,
MT.  The company has 400 members in its
group.