S.A. back in game of bowling
Web Posted: 05/10/2007 02:53 AM CDT
Harry Page and Travis E. Poling
Express-News Staff Writers
Former executives of two defunct San Antonio bowling ball manufacturers are preparing to get back into the business with the formation of 300 Global LLC.
Columbia Industries, best known for its Columbia 300 balls, also owned the Track brand, and Cardinale had become an executive with Columbia.
Earlier this year, Ebonite International bought the brand name of Columbia 300 and its other products, including Track, and is moving production to Kentucky. About 100 people locally lost their jobs.
Some of those employees will be rehired in the coming months when production starts again with 10 to 20 hourly employees, domestic sales manager Eric Thomas said.
"The heritage that was in this building was just incredible," Cardinale said of starting the new company in the 40-year-old Columbia plant with some of the remaining manufacturing equipment. The first employees back will be those with a long history "who knew everything about building a bowling ball from the core to the finish," he said.
Cardinale said he expects to have San Antonio-made products for sale again by June.
"We have some of the most experienced people in the industry available to us, as well as some of the best resins, too," Sellers said. "If you add up all the experienced people and contacts we have, it would be unfair to call this a startup operation."
300 Global will be the umbrella company under which it will distribute Dynoroos, AMF300 and its own brand of 300 Global performance balls worldwide.
Dynoroos, a high-end bowling shoe, soon will be sold by 300 Global as 3G. Ebonite acquired the Dynoroos name in the Columbia acquisition, but Cardinale owns the technology rights to the shoe itself.
300 Global will distribute its own brand of high-performance high-tech products. It is in the midst of securing manufacturing for those products.
Thomas said the feedback from bowling retail outlets has been positive.
"They still want the little guy around" to keep the larger players competitive, Thomas said.
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300 Global/AMF 300 Sales Manager
Edited on 5/11/2007 8:38 AM
