Nokona Ball Gloves Factory Interview with Rob Storey on the Alan Alford Sports Talk Show!!!

[Music] welcome everybody to another great episode of the Allen Alpha sport Su show I'm Allan and today we have a wonderful show for you we have none other than Rob story The Executive Vice President of nikona American baseball gloves that's right I was able to go ahead and visit nikona Texas stopped by the wonderful Theona baseball golf Factory I was able to interview Rob story right on site right at the factory the Naka American baseball glove Factory you're going to go ahead and get a chance to learn a lot about Theona baseball gloves Rob's story The Family story and a whole lot more right here on the Allen Alfred Sports show I'm going bring Rob's story on in just a few moments but before we do that let's go ahead and thank our wonderful sponsor STK Chef G's Florida barbecue sauce so delicious and addicting you may need a support group feel free to visit Chef G's right here in beautiful Tampa Florida at 301 South 22nd Street Tampa Florida and if you can't come down to Tampa that's quite all right feel free to visit my great friend Chef G's right here at FL BBQ sauce.com again it's FL BBQ sauce.com don't forget that great sauce so without further Ado let's bring on Rob story from the K of baseball gloves let's go all right welcome everybody to another great episode of of the Allen alred Sports show I'm doing something really different today and cool I'm here at the nikona factory and this is going to be awesome you're going to learn a lot about the Theona Factory their gloves and a lot more we're here with Rob story and let's start right there talk about your journey from starting from where you at to where you're at now certainly certainly so you're in nikona Texas that's no O Na and the name of our company is neona n o KO na this is our 90th anniversary of making ball gloves we started making the gloves in 1934 and through the years we've had our ups and downs but we are now the only ball glove Factory left in the United States and I've been doing it about 45 years or so now so you know been a been an interesting career and then you started out with your family you know Bob story talk about your Grandfather's Journey to leading to your opportunity certainly so our company started actually in 1926 so we'll be celebrating our 100th anniversary as a company here in a couple of years and when we first started my great-grandfather was a banker here in our little town of naona and he somehow ended up owning or the bank owned this little purse Factory and so he started running that and about that time my grandfather Bob story moved to town and met my grandmother the Banker's daughter and one thing led to another they became married and then the Great Depression hit in the Great Depression people didn't want to buy wallets and purses they just had no need for it because they didn't have any money so my great-grandfather looked to my grandfather and he says would you like to go work for the company and let's try to make something different and he knew that my granddad had played baseball at rash University down at Houston so he offered him a job and he says let's make ball gloves so it took three or four years to figure that out but in 1934 we made our first ball glove next year we made a football and the year after that a football helmet entirely out of L but the one constant from that point on has been the baseball gloves baseball softball gloves yeah and it's just amazing how I got a chance to just tore the factory how many people you have passionate people working here to make an awesome product talk about the employees that you have here to make such a wonderful gloves well it all goes back to the employees and particularly the nikona story because my my granddad had been making gloves for about 30 years or so when in the 1960s some of our competitors started moving to Asia particularly okanawa Japan for cheaper labor and my granddad was in his 60s at the time and we're in a small town so we have people working for us that have been lifelong friends we have family members working here and he didn't want to close down the factory like every other manufacturer did ultimately just to save a few bucks so he just kind of put his foot down and said we're not going to import and if I had to I would just take a bucket of worms and go fishing he didn't want to have to get rid of anybody so the people here in Theona the little town here they are the heart of the company and have been like I say going back to 1926 it's because of that decision to not import we've kind of gone off on a separate path so to speak we've we're a smaller company in relation to the big the Wilsons and the Rawlings of the world but I wouldn't trade it for anything because it's allowed us to keep our company going here in this small town we've had thousands of of local citizens work for us so it's it's truly kind of the backbone and the backstory of our whole company yeah and that's amazing that you still have a product that's completely made here in the United States and people take that to heart talk about that that fact that it's made in the USA well obviously it's our our big selling card is that we are USA made for for many years it didn't seem to matter to the public but over the past I'd say 25 years or so people have really you know had more of an interest in in coming back to our roots of the United States and and having the gloves that are and products that are made in the states so it's it's who we are we are as we say the American glove and couldn't be happier we were invited to the White House in 2019 to as a part of the American showcase that that they had at the time where they would choose one company from each of the 50 states that were making products in those States and so we were invited to go to the White House along with 49 other americanmade companies and show our products and we were super honored that year to represent the state of Texas wow that's amazing achievement I saw some of the pictures talk about how did that make you feel internally that you were the only you know company in the entire state of Texas to represent all 50 states we were so honored and and all I could think of was really was my my granddad and my dad who had passed at the time and you know and what they would feel like knowing that that all that hard work that they put in and all the other people that have worked for us through the years all that hard work was finally being recognized and so it was it was almost surreal yeah and it's and it's hard work that has a purpose like what I love about aona is that you always are looking for ways to make the glove more creative even better talk about that process of you know telling your stuff more to the client certainly we have really put an emphasis over the past I would say 15 years at least in being Innovative and offering something unique something different we we're starting to use a lot of exotic Leathers we have different models now that the construction's almost entirely different and the way that we stitch the gloves together some are completely hand stitched together and and we're we're looking and trying to improve the glove all the time we have a number of Pros that that wear our gloves and so we're on way always trying to make a better glove and and enhance that experience for our customers and we do a lot of custom gloves and our customers can literally pick from thousands of choices and and come up with unlimited combinations if they want a glove made here in the United States yeah and is that really the selling point compared to you know the other competitors that are out there the fact that you can customize it so much it's a it's a big part of what we do but we still obviously have a full line of what we call stock gloves and those gloves we literally designed those lines in in series to Encompass everyone from let's say a six-year-old that's playing t-ball all the way up to the pros so and and like when we break in our gloves we do do so with those folks in mind so that each segment's going to get get something that's going to serve them well and be the best performance glove they can get yeah and I know the pros are going to ask me how does it compare quality-wise when it's all customized versus some of the competitors well obviously I'm probably not the person to ask about that but I think that the materials that we put into the gloves obviously are superior or you know the best that you can get we do some things like when some of our threads are heavier we just make sure that we don't cut any corners and and then you couple that with the fact that we've got americanmade Craftsman here and and it's a very unique type craft to to build a ball glove we're really happy that we've got a decent foothold in the MLB now with some really good players and they recognize quality and the fact that it's made in the United States yeah it's it's astounding I was really impressed of how it goes through three inspections and it's vigorous that it's detailed that if it's not done properly it's you hate to waste it but you scratch and start all over yeah that's right we're not going to let anything go out of here that's a second or something like that it's it's got to be right when the when the customer gets it and if there is some problem you know we we pride oursel in our customer service not only we're the only company in the world that will take a aona glove or anybody else's glove and if they need to have it relaced or something like that we've offer that service we get gloves back particularly Noona gloves that may have been purchased 30 40 50 years ago passed down from Grandfather to son now to a grandson or a granddaughter and we're the only company in the world that you can actually send your product back to the factory being a ball glove Factory and and get that that service work on yeah I saw them relacing the glove back there and it's it's not something that's that easy it's it's a tough process oh no it's there's probably nothing really easy out there and and sometimes I laugh at you know people will say well do you know how to lace a glove well yeah but not not near as well as as our Craftsman you know there these people are are just something else back here I know you enjoying this wonderful content just as much much as we are right here on the island office P show we're going to take a quick little break and discuss something that's really cool about Tampa Florida and nikona Texas that they both share in common what does nikona Texas and Tampa Florida have in common guess what none other than my great friend Kurt McCrae of CTC M Mortgage that's right Kurt McCrae can help you refinance or buy a new home even if you don't have a large down payment Kurt McCrae has You cover just go ahead and visit ctcm mortgage.com again at ctcm mortgage.com or you can go ahead and call or text my great friend Kurt McCrae directly at 346 527-7541 77564 let Kurt McCrae know that you heard all about him right here on the Allen Alpha Sports show so without further Ado let's continue on with this wonderful content of the nikona baseball gloves let's go yeah and for people who don't know about nikona explain to them some of the options they can get like the Exotics okay certainly so we have always prided ourselves in being a little bit different I mean obviously we you know back in the day everybody had a tan glove and they had a black glove well in the 60s and then into the 70s we started offering different combinations of leathers one of them for instance in the' 60s was kangaroo skin in kangaroo brw skin was something we kind of stumbled on to but we found out that it was an extremely strong type of leather the tensil strengths two to three times stronger than cide and so kangaroo has probably been a part of what we've done now for like say 55 years or so but then we kangaroo and then a number of years ago we introduced American Bison now in our custom line you can get anything from American alligator Cayman alligator elephant giraffe shark just even stinger and each time that we're making it we're we're making it so that we we're having an emphasis on performance but it also allows the customer to have something that's unique to to them and allows him to kind of Express their personality in their glove yeah and that's what really caught my attention was on Instagram I was seeing some of the designs of some of the gloves I was like wow that's that's you know really really fascinating that you can make a glove the way you want it and be and stand out cuz a lot of our players now want to stand out oh oh definitely yes I I would say a large part of our customers especially our custom customers they want to be seen on the field it's it's it it isn't just about the the game anymore it's you know it's hey how am I going to look on the field and look what I'm bringing to the field along with with my skills I check out my glove that's right and I know Pros are going to ask hey what's in it for me explain to them what's the advance or incentive for getting in in partnership with Theona well well with with our players you know we're not the biggest company in the world so we're not out there offering them thousands of dollars to to wear our product like some of our competitors do but what we're offering them is outstanding worldclass product but also the fact that they're supporting Americans I mean America is you know baseball apple pie we go back to that and so it's that tie where they're using a glove that you know is truly American like the game it is itself so we we like to think of our players as authentic players because a lot of those players have grown up with Noona from you know all the way back to t-ball maybe so we've got a good group right now and really proud of them yeah I mean it's amazing what you do and then you do belts too you do other products as well talk about that that so that's a very unique item that's I I just I kind of laugh because we in started introducing about 5 years ago a product called show belt and we were marketing this belt that was customizable directly to the MLB players and all of a sudden it kind of caught on and we've got a sister Factory out in Phoenix that we make and and have been making those belts for the past four years our capacity has gotten to the point out there where they came back to us and said we need some more capacity so can y'all start making belts in Theona well that was funny to me because we're in our 998th year in business and in our little town in the past we've had several boot factories western boot factories but probably six different belt factories some that had been here for 40 45 years and after 98 years we're finally making belts here in Theona these belts are super super cool because the players and the teams design these again to express their personality we use all the Exotic Leathers we use patent leathers and we've just sent belts out just this week to the Baltimore Orioles and then we're working right now on a set of belts for the twins we'll be doing some of the Rangers belts later this month so it's something exciting to us because we've always loved making ball gloves but now we've got something fresh that's new to us and and kind of invigorates everybody yeah I saw the belts it's got the number you can put your you know design on it and shiny too people love it they're called show belts literally show belts and so just like the customized gloves you can go to nca.com and you can design your glove any way you want it three or four different styles types of construction and then you can go on there and design you a belt as well yeah it's it's a great products that you have and and it's something that's going to last you forever tell them that hey this is not something that it will only last a few years right right that's that's another thing is that we we pride oursel and that our products do last we've we've got a very good warranty program and we take care of our customers it's it's not like we're in China or somewhere and just you can spit it out there and not worry about who's going to be wearing it these these people they can come to our Factory if they want to and pick up a glove or talk to us about their glove find out what needs to be done to it so we're very proud of that we're rounding third base and we're almost home guess what you got yourself some Chef G's Florida bka sauce also purchased a great glove from the Kona baseball glove Factory and you got a new home right there CTC me mortgage you worked extremely hard and now you need to kick back and relax and guess what we got you covered for that too go ahead and visit pushpin adventures.com get us pushpin adventures.com make sure you reach out to them the connection there is Mo'Nique she's going to take wonderful care of you whether you need to go ahead and get a great Cruise do you don't want to cook Thanksgiving dinner she's got you covered guess what you want to get a great deal on travel she's got you covered Monique has you covered all you got to do is kick back and relax reach out to pushpin adventures.com let Monique take care of the rest for you you work too hard enjoy yourself enjoy your life and enjoy the rest of this wonderful content here on the Allen Alpha Sports show without further Ado let's continue forward with the Nona baseball glove Factory let's go yeah and if is there any other type of players besides a pro maybe Semi-Pro or any other players that if they wanted to give none a chance and use your product are you open to that certainly certainly yeah yeah we we have a few college teams that wear our wear our gloves and college teams you know those are usually the teams and all the decisions are made by the university but we do have some college teams and particularly in women's fast pitch softball at the collegium level we've really got a pretty good following there oh that's awesome and I know you mentioned that you have the 100y year anniversary coming up real soon is there any little Snippets that you going to have for somebody who wants to celebrate well hopefully you'll get a picture of our 30-in glove we have a 30-in glove hanging up here in our Museum and so we've got a new machine that we cut our gloves on now and at the time that we made that 30in glove it was the largest glove that we could make there have been rumors that a 6ot tall glove may be in the works for 2026 I won't go any further than that but we're looking forward to getting through that process yeah that's awesome and any other goals that you have from the corner that you have professionally and for the employees going forward well we just hope that we've had a kind of a Renaissance over the past 15 years and we just hope that that continues to go and that we can go into our second century and be as strong you know 50 years from now or 100 years from now whoever is running the company whoever is in our little town and and it's all about like I say our folks here in town our folks out in Phoenix and Americans that that take care of us yeah that's awesome you know continue success continue doing what you're doing and we appreciate you joining us here on the Allen Alfred Sports look show and thank you for your time thank you appreciate it man thank you so thank you