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March Madness is year-round business in Eldridge; company … – Quad-City Times
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Basketball hoop poles on display for customers to view at Douglas Hoops a sporting goods manufacturer located in Eldridge. They make all kinds of things from nets for tennis, pickleball to outdoor basketball hoops.
Nick Smith a welder at Douglas Hoops welds a base plate for a basketball pole. Douglas Hoops is a sporting goods manufacturer located in Eldridge. They make all kinds of things from nets for tennis, pickleball to outdoor basketball hoops.
Suzy Buck sews edging on a retaining net at Douglas Hoops a sporting goods manufacturer located in Eldridge. They make all kinds of things from nets for tennis, pickleball to outdoor basketball hoops.
Finished pickleball nets fill boxes at Douglas Hoops a sporting goods manufacturer located in Eldridge. They make all kinds of things from nets for tennis, pickleball to outdoor basketball hoops.
Lisa Coble sews in the top support for a pickleball net at Douglas Hoops a sporting goods manufacturer located in Eldridge. They make all kinds of things from nets for tennis, pickleball to outdoor basketball hoops.
Colleen Bourdeau sews edging on a retaining net at Douglas Hoops a sporting goods manufacturer located in Eldridge. They make all kinds of things from nets for tennis, pickleball to outdoor basketball hoops.
The success of the University of Iowa women’s basketball team has been making headlines all month long. In Eldridge, a sporting goods company is thinking about basketball — and a variety of other sports — all year long.
Douglas Hoops, 3441 S. 11th Street in Eldridge, has been a family-owned and operated business since 1967, but it was not always in the sporting goods industry. When it began, owner Jerry Douglas opened a small shop in Bettendorf that made industrial tarps for semitrailers and happened on sports by chance.
“A local school reached out and wanted a tarp made for a divider in a gym for tennis,” said Heidi Claeys, Hoops’ national sales manager.
The shop already had the material and was able to make it quickly. Soon after, Douglas realized he had tapped into a growing industry and changed up his business model.
“At that time, we realized there was a massive indoor tennis market, and there was a huge need for this,” Claeys said.
By the early 1970s, Douglas Hoops had created a range of products for tennis, baseball, softball, basketball, soccer, volleyball, and hockey. Soon after, the company moved to Eldridge, where it is headquartered now. Jerry’s son, John Douglas, is now the CEO.
In the company’s main building, the sound of sewing machines fills the air as workers make nets, windscreens and protective padding for gyms and basketball hoops. In an adjacent building, sparks fly as welders put the basketball systems together.
For basketball systems, the steel comes from a mill and is formed into the main pole with adjustable arms, said Chris Rickerl, vice president of operations. Backboards and rims are purchased from other companies to create the finished product.
Douglas primarily makes outdoor basketball units and ships between 400 and 500 systems annually, Rickerl said. March Madness sometimes plays a role in increased sales, but typically sales increase with the temperature.
“Generally, when the sun starts shining, people want to start doing stuff. We even get walk-in customers,” he said.
But basketball is a small piece of the bigger picture. Tennis is what brought Douglas into the sporting goods world, and it has maintained its footprint there.
For more than 20 years the company has been making the official nets for the U.S. Open. Pickleball is on the rise nationally, and Douglas has capitalized on that, too.
In 2022, the Margaritaville USA Pickleball National Championships were held in Indian Wells, California. Douglas had 50 nets set up, and the product was the official net of the tournament.
Another product tennis lovers purchase is windscreen to go around the court. Staff at Douglas picked up on that and decided to take it to another sport.
“The windscreen naturally goes into baseball, because a lot of outfield fences have it,” said Rickerl.
Locally, the company has a footprint all over the Quad-Cities. Black Hawk College in Moline recently overhauled its baseball fields and outfitted them with Douglas padding, netting and even batting cages. All area high schools and even the River Bandits have purchased from Douglas, Claeys said.
While the majority of sales are done nationally, being able to drive out and see their product in action is rewarding, Rickerl said. Having been in business 56 years and counting, return customers tell company leaders they are doing things right.
“I think the big thing is that we have always prided ourselves with quality and service,” said Rickerl. “We have never compromised on that.”
Claeys said the products are on the higher-end— the D-Pro™ 646 MAX Outdoor Basketball Fixed System will set a customer back nearly $3,000, but the focus has always been on making the best products they can.
“A lot of people come to us and are willing to pay extra money, because we are the manufactures and we have that 50-year history,” Claeys said. “We can walk out to sewing and see that person making it. It’s not coming from a shipping container.”
Making products themselves and being USA made is a point of pride, she said. Being able to adapt and continue making new products is another.
“We started out making tarps for semis and then realized there was an opportunity in tennis and then you have some success there,” she said. “Then you realize there is opportunity in this area and this area. Really, over the course of those five decades, we saw opportunity and jumped on it.”
That opportunity has translated into new products, new customers and now, a new build.
“We’re bursting at the seams,” Claeys said.
Construction on a 25,000 square foot building is weeks away from completion. Currently, shipping and manufacturing are sharing a building but are running out of space.
Once the new build is done, the shipping department will move in and the manufacturing department will expand into the space it once occupied. The company currently has about 35 employees but is hiring more.
In the next 12 months, the office side will be built out, too.
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Basketball hoop poles on display for customers to view at Douglas Hoops a sporting goods manufacturer located in Eldridge. They make all kinds of things from nets for tennis, pickleball to outdoor basketball hoops.
Nick Smith a welder at Douglas Hoops welds a base plate for a basketball pole. Douglas Hoops is a sporting goods manufacturer located in Eldridge. They make all kinds of things from nets for tennis, pickleball to outdoor basketball hoops.
Suzy Buck sews edging on a retaining net at Douglas Hoops a sporting goods manufacturer located in Eldridge. They make all kinds of things from nets for tennis, pickleball to outdoor basketball hoops.
Finished pickleball nets fill boxes at Douglas Hoops a sporting goods manufacturer located in Eldridge. They make all kinds of things from nets for tennis, pickleball to outdoor basketball hoops.
Lisa Coble sews in the top support for a pickleball net at Douglas Hoops a sporting goods manufacturer located in Eldridge. They make all kinds of things from nets for tennis, pickleball to outdoor basketball hoops.
Colleen Bourdeau sews edging on a retaining net at Douglas Hoops a sporting goods manufacturer located in Eldridge. They make all kinds of things from nets for tennis, pickleball to outdoor basketball hoops.
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