Wilson Football Factory

Wilson is a company dedicated to sport. Originally known as the Ashland Manufacturing Company, Wilson Sporting Goods was founded by Thomas E. Wilson in Chicago, Illinois as a daughter company of “Schwarzchild and Sulzberger” meat packing (later renamed to “Sulzberger & Son’s”). In 1941, Wilson became official provider of game balls for the National Football League, a partnership that continues to this day. Wilson Sporting Goods Company specializes in the manufacturing of sport balls, rackets, uniforms, various other sporting equipment, and apparel. 

Sulzberger & Son's, a meat packing company, founded the Ashland Manufacturing Company in 1913 to find a use for the animal-by-products from its slaughterhouses. By 1914, Ashland Manufacturing Company was producing tennis racket strings, violin strings, and surgical sutures, but soon expanded their business into baseball shoes and tennis racquets. In 1915, Thomas E. Wilson was appointed president of the Ashland Manufacturing Company and renamed the business Thomas E. Wilson Company. The company acquired the Hetzinger Knitting Mills to produce athletic uniforms, but soon expanded into footballs and basketballs by also using the animal by-products. In 1931, the business renamed itself Wilson Sporting Goods Company. During World War II, Wilson Sporting Goods Company debuted the Duke football, featuring high-quality leather, ends that were hand-sewn, lock-stitch seams, and triple lining. Wilson’s Duke football was later adopted as the official ball of the National Football League.

The Wilson Football Factory is located in the heart of a classic, small, American town. Since the factory’s establishment in 1955, every leather Wilson football has been built by hand in Ada, Ohio by a veteran team of skilled craftsmen and women. This factory is distinguished by its legacy, consistency, commitment, and attention to detail, hallmarks of a tradition dating back to more than 70 years ago. The Wilson Football Factory manufactures more than 700,000 footballs per year for games across the country ranging from high school Friday night lights, to collegiate teams country wide, all the way to National Football League’s most elite professional athletes. Every year, the Wilson Football Factory builds footballs for games, Super Bowl champions, MVPs, and Hall of Fame all stars. 

Year round, for $5.00 per person, the Wilson Football Factory employees will provide visitors with an informative and thorough tour of the facility. From cutting, to sewing, turning, lacing, and finally molding, visitors will have the opportunity to experience the steps and machinery involved in producing a football as well as how each football is distributed from factory to field.

In 2017, Ada decided to celebrate its football heritage and hosted the inaugural Made in Ada Wilson Football Festival on the night before Super Bowl Sunday. Every year since, hundreds of people gather from near and far to participate in the event’s activities and watch the football drop at midnight to welcome the arrival of the Super Bowl. The event includes performances by local bands, numerous raffles throughout the day to win commemorative Wilson footballs, demonstrations of how footballs are made, and an exhibit by the National Football League Professional Hall of Fame. Wilson pride is evident all over town. One of Ada’s two water towers reads “MADE IN ADA” and is painted with the Wilson logo and the National Football League shield logo.

From leather to laces, the Duke football is one hundred percent made in this small northwestern Ohio town. The team of experts who dedicate their life to perfecting every cut and stitch of each football is what makes Wilson unique and desirable to teams across the United States. Wilson is the chosen pigskin for every NFL and NCAA game. Next time you watch, know there is a product made by American workers that contributes to football, one of America’s favorite sports institutions.

Guerrieri, V. (2018, January). Made in Ada Wilson Football Factory. Retrieved from Ohio Magazine: https://www.ohiomagazine.com/ohio-life/article/made-in-ada-wilson-football-festival

Handmade in the USA: Ada, Ohio. (2020). Retrieved October 2020, from Wilson Sporting Goods: https://www.wilson.com/en-us/explore/football/ada-ohio-factory

Kahler, K. (2018, January 28). The Super Bowl is a Showcase for Ada, Ohio, the Town Where Footballs are Born. Retrieved November 2020, from Sports Illustrated: https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/01/28/super-bowl-52-ada-ohio-wilson-football-plant

Make History. (n.d.). Retrieved October 2020, from Wilson Sporting Goods: https://www.wilson.com/en-us/explore/football/nfl

Steiner, F. (2018, December 23). Water Tower at Eye Level. Retrieved November 2020, from Ada Icon: http://www.adaicon.com/feature/201812/water-tower-eye-level

Thomas, K. (2008, February 2). At a Small Ohio Facotry, Leather and Laces Mesh. Retrieved November 2020, from The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/02/sports/football/02footballs.html

Wilson Sporting Goods Company History. (n.d.). Retrieved October 2020, from Funding Universe: http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/wilson-sporting-goods-company-history/