Serious play: Evansville's Escalade Inc. likes sports, but also spends time in the office.

• Author: McKimmie, Kathy
• Position: Sporting goods and office products

Beyond the luxury sport-utility vehicle, the name Escalade may not mean much to you, but Escalade Inc. is behind such names as Ping Pong tables, Ironman weights, Accudart dart boards, Harvard foosball and hockey game tables, Mosconi billiards and Step aerobic products.

They're just some of the brands that are either owned by Escalade or licensed for use on its sports products. There's also a good chance your office is using a Martin Yale folding machine or Swingline equipment, also part of the Escalade family.

Highly recognizable, respected and marketable names in sporting goods and office products are a mainstay at Escalade Inc., headquartered in Evansville. Sales at the public company (Nasdaq: ESCA) reached an all-time high of $155.5 million in 2002, up 4.4 percent over 2001. Its 2002 net income of $11.1 million and earnings per share of $1.72 were virtually unchanged from 2001 numbers. Employment typically peaks in the months leading up to the busy Christmas season, hitting 765, including 425 in Indiana.

The diversified company with various subsidiaries operates through two groups: Escalade Sports in Evansville and Martin Yale, the office and graphic arts products business based in Wabash. Escalade's Indiana roots date back to 1927 when Indian Archery and Toy Co. was formed in Evansville to make archery equipment for kids. It soon expanded to fill the need for quality archery items for adults and to produce other sports-related items.

Things got interesting in 1962 when the company was bought out by a group of investors, including Robert Griffin, who ran the business and is currently Escalade's board chair, and former Indiana Gov. Robert D. Orr. A series of mergers and acquisitions would follow, a strategy that continues today. The company's name was changed to Indian Indus tries in 1972.

In 1973, when it was big in the archery equipment and table tennis tables markets, it was acquired by Ohio-based Escalade Inc., which also had acquired Harvard Table Tennis Inc. a year earlier. Escalade had only recently been formed after a merger between a now-defunct Ohio-based manufacturer and retailer of women's and children's footwear, and Martin Yale Industries Inc., an Illinois manufacturer of office and graphic-arts products as well as toys and crafts.

Griffin, who was running the much smaller--$7 million--Indian Industries at the time, took over as CEO and president of Escalade Inc. and moved its headquarters to Evansville. Martin Yale's leisure-time product line was sold in 1979, but its office-equipment side remained in Illinois.

Escalade...