Reconditioning Time

Well, it is that time of the year. Collect all the gear from the players and then send off all the helmets and shoulder pads to be reconditioned.

Once again, we will be sending our helmets and shoulder pads to San Antonio, Texas to the Riddell/All American reconditioning plant. I have been sending my teams equipment there for 25 years now.

I sent in there when I was the equipment manager at Sam Houston State. Back then it was called Alamo. Then, while I was at Washington State University I sent it there too. Now, in my eleventh year at UofA, I still send it there.

Riddell/All American have other plants around the country, and once or twice I would send my stuff there for more specific reasons like special paint jobs or something like that.

I have always been a big proponent of reconditioning. I see it as a necessity in terms of doing what is best for your team. There are many reasons I use Riddell/All American, but one of the biggest is the amount of liability insurance they back up their work with. One of the other big reasons I continually use them is because the kind of people that they are. I have been using them pretty much my entire career and they have had nothing but top notch people working for them. Mr. Cecil Jones is the best way to describe that. He was running Alamo when I was a student manager at University of Houston and he is still there today.

So a week from today, another couple of great guys will be here to bag up our gear for another year of reconditioning at Riddell/All American. Dan Vooletich and Jeff Watson will be here so we don't have to worry about our stuff being re-certified for another year.

This decision is one of the easiest things I do each year. Just pick up the phone and say "let's do it again".